Futility

Sahej gasped as his lungs made a full recovery. Ajeet motionlessly stood right at his feet staring into his soul.

"Some forces must be on their way" Ajeet looked away at the horizon.

"Then maybe we should leave while there's still time"

"You really don't know me, do you?" Sahej wondered if he did. "They would only add spice to this, some thrill to this adventure."

"You are sick" Sahej got back on his feet. The look in their eyes signaled the fight was still on. Ajeet flew back, Sahej's punch barely grazing him. Sahej started running, and Ajeet took to the skies again. Sahej slid to a stop after passing below Ajeet and jumped, the ground cracking beneath, Ajeet barely dodged this time, his arms moving in quick succession to grab Sahej's wrists and spun both of them to throw him down again. Sahej's knee made contact with Ajeet's. Ajeet let go of Sahej's hands and straightened his leg with force, sending Sahej down to eat dust.

Sahej fell flat on his back, rebounding from the impact when Ajeet delivered a kick straight to his stomach, jumping back up by pushing into his torso and taking his place in the air again. 

Ajeet bent his fingers in a claw, his palm facing upwards, the white steam leaked from his hand and wrist, forming a ball of energy in the claw.

"Hwaaaaahhhh" Ajeet cried as he threw the ball to Sahej. The ball grew in volume as it approached and Sahej decided to run from it, turning on his heels when Ajeet kicked him in the face, he must have flown around in the split second Sahej decided his course of action. A second roundhouse kick to his arm sent Sahej into the ball of energy, his body absorbing it, the white steam enveloping his skin.

Sahej spun to land on his feet, perplexed by what happened. He looked over to Ajeet for an answer, who was expressionlessly looking back at him. Ajeet raised his right hand, pressing his thumb on his middle finger, his eyes locked on Sahej and snapped.

Sahej felt his insides burning and exploding. His nerves crying in unison. He could feel the outline of his skeleton, every bone felt like a cold support where the burning flesh was clinging. His cornea burned away, then the remainder of his eyes, his tongue cracked from the heat, his organs crumbling as the fire took away every drop of water, everything burned except his brain. Sahej couldn't cry from the pain, it was too much, too sudden. At some point, he fell forward but everything was hurting too much to register it.

He wished for death then and there, even hell wouldn't be this cruel in his punishment. 'Damn you', he bitterly thought.

'Damn you'

'Damn you'

"Damn you", Sahej blurted so softly that it couldn't reach his ears.

"Damn you", a little louder as he clenched his fists, summoning his energy.

"damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, Damn You, Damn You, Damn You, Damn You"

"DAMN YOU KAAL", his energy pulsed from his core to push away the fire, his vision returned in that instant. He tried to get up, but his muscles didn't hear him.

Ajeet's feet came into his field of view. He sat down cross-legged to get his face into view, "30 seconds", Sahej didn't realize what that was supposed to mean. "I feel a little impressed, to be honest, but.." he trailed off.

"But?" Sahej's voice came out scratchily.

Ajeet bent forward, "but it wasn't enough", he straightened back, "Even though we are supposed to be equally strong, your motive to keep it bottled up has left you unskilled," crooking his neck as if to appear curious, he continued, "but you certainly have gained a unique set of skills from that."

"What the hell is that even supposed to mean?", the scratchiness in his voice was gone, and he could finally move his arms and legs again to sit up.

"That maybe you aren't the challenge I wanted" Ajeet stood up, turned on his heels to face the city, "You said that you have no objections to my plans, even though you disagreed with my ideology, I forced you to come out of hiding by going after your girlfriend, which I had agreed to not do. I apologize."

Sahej could not bring himself to feel relief on that statement, something was lurking behind those words, he had the feeling that Ajeet didn't mean those words at all.

Ajeet started walking towards the city. "Humans are primitive creatures overpopulating the earth with their growing numbers, with no regard for the planet or themselves, throwing their shit around like the monkeys they look down on"

Ajeet raised his right hand, palm facing the city, Sahej got up to stop him, "The city in front us here shows how stark economic differences can be, and they have made their river so filthy it doesn't even count as one anymore, destroying it would create a huge gap in the Indian economy, completely in adherence to my plans, so, I'm sorry, but I have to do this today itself"

A ray of light shot from Ajeet's palm, going straight through buildings for a few kilometers and setting explosions.

"STOP IT" Sahej exclaimed in terror. His body made a complete recovery, and his rage threatened to make him lose control of his strength. Ajeet looked back without pausing his attack, his eyes widened for an instant.

"I SAID", a dense white cloud enveloped Sahej, "STOP IT!" An intense pressure wave shot off with Sahej at its center, the earth shook, windows far away burst into a thousand pieces, jets and helicopters headed in their direction were thrown off, and most importantly, Ajeet was nowhere to be seen.

Sahej fell on his knees, breathing in the dust he raised. A helicopter could be heard in the distance, he tore whatever remained of his shirt to cover his face, tying it around like a bandana on his mouth and forehead.

The helicopter approached the area cautiously, suddenly ringing through some speakers, "This is Captain Rapol with the Indian Army, we witnessed your fight with the Death Angel just now, are we right to assume you are on our side?"

Sahej wondered about that, and how to communicate his answer. He consciously energized his vocal cords and shouted, "Yes"

The helicopter speakers made a static noise, "Identify yourself"

Sahej looked at the ruins going through the center of the city.

"Life Demon"