"Sleep?" Aaryan asked. Stumbling and trembling, he pushed himself upright again. Fresh blood coated his face, yet instead of crying in pain, a small distinct smile rested there. "Who? Why?"
As he stood, gathering every ounce of power left in him, his body began to heal at an extraordinary speed. Bones reformed, torn muscle stitched itself back, and every broken part restored itself right in front of the one who inflicted the damage.
Kai.
Watching the regeneration unfold, Kai's expression twisted for a moment into utter confusion. Anyone would believe they had won after delivering such devastating wounds, but that was not the case here.
Kai blinked in disbelief. Within the next instant, Aaryan stood completely healed. Not a scratch remained. Even the harsh rhythm of his breath had faded, the earlier fatigue gone.
"I-Impossible." Kai stuttered, eyes widening, jaw loose. "How could you heal this fast?..... Not even a second has passed since I inflicted the wound on you."
"'Impossible', you say." Aaryan replied, wiping blood from his mouth. A flicker of light burned in his eyes, his smile forming like a drawn bow. "I think you know the Answer is painfully clear, isn't it?"
Kai let out a loud laugh as the words reached him. "Yes, it really is painfully clear."
Then, their battle commenced once again.
Aaryan tore himself away from the descending white ray with raw speed and force.
Even though Aaryan escaped the attack of the ray, he still couldn't escape the ring.
One of Aaryan's problem, the ray was gone but only temporarily, as soon as Aaryan stops, he will reach his end. "I really have to do something about this ring above me. But what can I do?" Aaryan thought. Suddenly, Aaryan's expression changed like he has found the ultimate counter to his problem. "Why didn't I think of this earlier?! "
As Aaryan said that, he used the plan he thought of earlier. Which was.....
Boom.
The ring above him shattered as he hurled a fire spear into the portal, destroying it completely. "One thing done," he thought. But he did not relax. His mighty enemy, Kaiser Kai, still stood before him. "Now, it's someone else's turn."
Freed from the constant deadly assault of the white ray, Aaryan launched toward Kai with impossible might.
Seeing him approach, Kai showed not a trace of worry. His eyes glowed with overflowing desire. "I can not wait to beat you, the strongest." His grin widened, his face burning with excitement.
"Oh, please." Aaryan replied, sarcasm dripping from his words. His expression remained cold as always, yet something different shimmered in his eyes.
Both of them shared something. Not a simple feeling, but something far deeper.
"I will crush you, Kai."
"I will crush you, Aaryan."
They shouted in unison.
The moment their voices collided, their bodies closed the distance. Hands flew. Feet struck. The barrage of punches and kicks erupted instantly.
They matched each other completely. Equal skill. Equal power. Equal ferocity. They were true equals, mirror-like in physicality. But was that the only similarity?
"Woah! You're good." Kai exclaimed.
"I know." Aaryan replied.
Kai chuckled, amused. "You really live up to your 'arrogant b—"
Swoosh.
Before he could finish, Aaryan's kick cracked against his head, sending him hurtling across the sky.
Kai spun through the air, blood pouring from his nose and ear, his noble blood marking the space around him. But Aaryan did not stop.
He shot forward instantly, so fast that the sound of his movement arrived after he did. Aaryan reached Kai before Kai had even processed his own momentum. Without giving him a moment to recover, Aaryan drove a powerful punch into his stomach.
Kai couldn't block it. He was flung even farther. Aaryan appeared again, this time delivering a perfect strike to his chin.
Then the assault transformed.
Aaryan unleashed the same overwhelming move he had used on the Rakshas earlier. A storm of countless blows. The attack he called Truth.
Ugh.
A scream tore out of Kai's mouth. His body was destroyed, blood flowing like a crimson river. Yet a faint smile still touched his lips. "Why're you hitting me?" he asked, his voice completely free of pain.
"What do you mean by 'why'?" Aaryan asked, his attacks relentless. A small, strange smile lingered on his lips, its source unknown even to him.
"I mean, can't you just trap me in your cube?" Kai asked.
"Oh, so you want to be trapped inside my cube." Aaryan replied. His eyes turned pitch black, and their surroundings darkened into an immense void. "If that's what you want, then."
He halted his barrage, seized Kai's head, and slammed a punch infused with a strange purple energy into him.
Thud.
Kai crashed to his knees. The impact was so intense he lost consciousness for a brief instant. Ribs cracked. Blood spilled from his mouth. Despite the agony, the smile on his face refused to fade.
Aaryan looked at him, uneasy. Yet the smile on his own face was even more unsettling.
"Now, taste the full might of my attack, my favorite one, a deadly one and the one to beat you, Truth." Aaryan said, staring down at the Fallen Emperor.
He stepped out of the darkness in a blink and snapped his fingers.
Snap.
The sound echoed across the entire sky. Six plates appeared around Kai, each aligned to a direction.
Above. Below. Left. Right. Front. Behind.
No escape remained. Only a single fate waited for him.
"So, that's what it looks like to face you, right?" Kai asked.
The plates slammed shut, forming a cube. The prison of the God's Chosen Emperor.
"Yes." Aaryan murmured. As Kai disappeared within the cube, Aaryan's faint smile vanished. He raised a hand to his lips. "Why am I not smiling now?" he whispered. A weaker smile appeared in its place.
His gaze drifted to the sealed cube.
"Also, Why did you do that Kai? Why did you try to open a portal which will only bring chaos? Why? Aren't you supposed to be 'The God's Chosen Emperor'?" Thoughts battered him from every angle. Now that Kai was trapped, the words came rushing out. Questions. Complaints. Frustration. But he received nothing in return. The one demanding answers was the same one who had silenced the answerer.
Aaryan let out a long sigh.
"Guess, you were just a psycho asshole, Kaiser Kai and because of your bitchy behavior, I will have to clean up this mess." He said, turning toward the giant portal devouring the sky.
Aaryan took off his flight towards the portal, ready to face another threat. Just to prove himself.