Devil Ash Days (Devil Ash Saga) (27 page)

As the dust cleared, Apsat pulled his face up from the ground, clenching his teeth with rage.
Across the street he saw Ash pick himself up from one knee. He stood tall, looking the opposite of dead, as Apsat had thought he left the boy.

“I haven’t properly introduced myself
yet,” the boy said. “My name is Ash Kaplan. I’m a half human, half devil, and the third member of the Knights in Satan’s Service.”

“Knights in Satan’s Service…?” Commander Stryd muttered
to himself, confused by all the chaos.

“That’s right,” Ash
said, holding his flame-wing pin out for everyone to see.

“KISS is here!”

Chapter Twenty-Two: Ash Vs. Apsat

“Ash?” Shiva
said, wondering how he found them.

“Ash!” Aura
said, ecstatic at seeing his friend still alive.

“The
human?”
Stryd said in disbelief. After seeing Shiva and Aura both struggling to survive, he had assumed Ash was already dead. He wasn’t the only one who thought that.

“
You were
dead!
” Apsat shouted, his rage building. He jumped up from the ground, his pain forgotten. It seemed Ash was now the center of attention, and all eyes were on him.

“Dead like a
fox!
” Ash said without giving his comeback much thought, confusing everyone there. “Besides,” he tucked his flame-wing pin back into his pocket and attempted to recover, “I won’t die so easily!”

“We’ll see about that!” Apsat dashed forward. Ash took a defensi
ve stance. With his new power, he felt ready for anything. For a split second, he had Apsat in his sights. But just like someone turning off a light, the monstrous man disappeared. Before Ash even had time to think about it he was flying backwards and his face stung.

Before he collided with a nearby well, he
could see Apsat reappear.
What speed!
the boy thought. His thoughts then quickly turned to
Ouch!
All the on-lookers sighed with disdain.

“Pathetic,” Shiva
said. 

“I’ll give him style points for the flashy entrance
though,” said Aura.

“The boy’s no savior,” Stryd called out to his men. “We’re charging in!”

With a battle cry that may have struck fear into the hearts of many a devil, Stryd and his men charged at Apsat. Like a man wearing his stomping boots in a room full of roaches, Apsat went about eradicating his enemies. Anyone who came swinging some sort of weapon was taken out before their weapon even had a chance to swing down on him. Some were burned up in a flame-thrower type fire blast. Others didn’t even make it to him before they were knocked back by
members of their own team
being used as projectiles against them.  Apsat didn’t cave in or slow down. He was on an unstoppable rampage of fury.

“I’m going in to try and stop him,” Shiva told Aura.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked her.

“I have a theory,” she told him, “that if we can remove God’s Blessing from him, he may lose all that power he’s gained.”

“Got any evidence to back that theory up?” Aura asked, hopeful.

“Nope,” Shiva answered as though it was okay. “We can use Stryd’s men as a distraction, but I’ll have to move quickly.” She climbed to her feet and dashed strategically through the crowd. Only a few soldiers and
the Commander still remained, though they weren’t faring well against the monster. Luckily, Stryd and another man were distracting Apsat at that moment. There was a clear opening for the necklace, so long as he didn’t notice her coming.

Apsat
grappled with the other soldier and easily won when he slammed the soldier into Stryd, sending them both tumbling backwards. With split-second precision Shiva reached forward, her arm completely outstretched and-

Apsat grabbed
her, stopping the girl dead in her tracks. Right away, she threw a punch with her free hand, which Apsat also caught. Now with a cross-arm hold on the girl, the big brute pulled her in close. Their faces were only inches apart, and Shiva could feel his raunchy breath on her face.

“Up close, you aren’t so bad looking!”
said Apsat. Shiva clenched her teeth, unsure of what to say to such foul commentary. “Maybe when I’m king, you can be one of my wives!” He laughed at the thought. “You’ve always wanted to be a
queen
, right?”

“That’s enough,
Crap
sat!” the familiar voice shouted from somewhere behind the villain. Apsat cocked his head around and saw Ash standing once more.

“Let her go,
” Ash said. The tone in his voice sounded so relaxed, so in control that it actually offended Apsat and angered him even more.

“Oh, I ge
t it. You want her for yourself,” Apsat said. “Well go and get her then!”

With
all his strength, Apsat launched the girl straight at a nearby brick wall. All Shiva could do was close her eyes and hope the impact wouldn’t hurt too much. Aura tried again to stand up in an effort to do something to help, but there was simply no time. Her eyes closed, Shiva awaited the pain that was soon to follow. But instead, she felt something soft and comforting.

Shiva
opened her eyes and looked up at Ash. She was sprawled out in his arms, merely a foot from the brick wall she had been heading towards only a split-second before.
How?
she thought.
He was just over there a second ago!
Ash set her down on the ground a few feet away from Aura.

“Fast catch, man!” Aura
said, astonished. “How’d you do that?!”

“Sit tight guys, while I finish this up.”

“Take the necklace!” Shiva told him. “With speed like that it should be easy for you now!”

“No,” Ash replied
. “I’d rather beat the crap out of him.”

Shiva, Aura, Commander Stryd, and the rest of his men were all
wide-eyed and speechless. This kid, who only a moment ago was getting his butt kicked, was now making bold statements? Half of the crowd wasn’t even sure they heard the boy correctly.

“Stay put,” Ash
said to Shiva, who was still too shocked from his previous statement to even start to digest his latest sentence. As he turned his back to her and started pacing towards Apsat, she came to her senses and called out to him.

“Don’t be an idiot!” she
said. Ash didn’t respond.

“
Seriously
? You want to try again?” Apsat asked. “The girl put up a better fight than you!” He was stalling. He knew Ash had been the one who
really
activated God’s Blessing, and was sure that he must have also received some sort of power from it. But as always, the man was overly confident.

“I don’t know why, but I
’m sure I can beat you,” Ash said, taking an offensive stance. He leapt forward but was no match for Apsat’s speed. The boy threw a punch, but as Apsat had demonstrated many times before, he was able to catch punches with ease. The man simply caught Ash’s fist in mid-air before it reached him. Apsat then threw a few left-hooks of his own. One by one, each punch hitting Ash dead center in his face. After four punches the boy fell backwards. He would have fallen over too, but Apsat pulled him back in and drove his knee straight into the boy’s stomach. All the air in his lungs escaped as he fell over, defeated. His teammates watched, utterly helpless.

I don’t get it,
Shiva thought.
When Ash first arrived, he had so much power! Where did it all come from? Unless… He touched the artifact! That doesn’t make sense though, since God’s Blessing isn’t even supposed to work on devils! But it clearly worked on Apsat… And he has it around his neck, so where is Ash getting his boost of power from?

Apsat moved into position, standing above the motionless
boy. He stepped down on Ash, bringing his heel down directly on the boy’s spine. Ash let out breathless screams of pain, but they were barely audible.

Think, Shiva, think!
She wracked her brains, desperately trying to find a way to save everyone.
The first time he flew in and saved us, we were both in danger… And after that, when he became super fast it was because I was in trouble again! This is totally crazy, but I think I know what to do!

“Hey
Crap
sat!” Shiva shouted as loud as she could, drawing his attention away from Ash. It worked, as Apsat had come to despise being called by that name. He stopped crushing Ash and looked at Shiva. She could do little more than launch a weak fireball in his direction, which fizzled out before it even reached him. Apsat laughed at her worthless effort.

“You’re still going?” he
said, amused. “You’re dumber than him!” He motioned to the lifeless body of Ash and kicked him aside. “Alright, I guess I’ll end this now. After all, I have a Kingdom to conquer!”

Unable to flee, unable to fight, unable to even defend herself; Shiva crouched there and waited. “Ash! Get up!” she shouted
to her motionless companion. All the while, Apsat approached the girl slowly, laughing more of his sadistic laughter.

“It’s no use calling to him, he’s dead already,”
the beast said.

“Come on, Ash!” Aura joined in, calling to his downed friend. “
Get up and kick his ass! I know you wanna!”

“
I said he’s dead!
” Apsat was starting to get fed up, and picked up his pace heading straight for Shiva. This was it. Now or never.

“
Ash!!
Get up and save me
right now!!”
Shiva screamed at the top of her lungs. The monster of a man raised his fist, ready to strike Shiva dead in a single blow. She closed her eyes, accepting her failure. Accepting death.

When nothing happened after a few seconds and she heard struggling, she opened her eyes just in time to see the sight she had been hoping
for all along.

“You again?!”
Apsat said with Ash standing behind him. The boy had a tight grip on Apsat’s arm, keeping him from striking Shiva. With his patience lost, Apsat turned around and threw a sloppy, furious punch aimed for Ash’s head.  To everyone’s surprise, Ash held up a single hand and stopped the punch with what seemed like no effort. A faint, misty glow emanated off of Ash’s body.

Shiva was elated to see that her prediction was right. It appeared as though Ash’s sudden bursts of soul power were brought on by his will to protect them.

“Not cool, dude,” Ash said with disappointment. He wound up and threw a strong punch that connected with Apsat’s cheek, sending him sailing into a nearby merchant’s wagon.

Everyone was stunned. Speechless. Astonished. They had no idea what to expect from this kid. At times, he appeared to be their savior. Other times, he was getting beaten bloody. Was he some sort of comeback kid?

“Sorry for that sloppy display a minute ago,” Ash said, apologizing to the public. “But I’m all fired up and ready to go now!” He brimmed with confidence and loosened up a little by shaking his body. No one said anything. This moment was beyond words. They were either all doomed, or in safe hands. And at this moment, no one really knew which it was.

Picking himself up from the wreckage of the wagon he had just collided into, Apsat regained his ground. No more banter. No more exchanges of dialogue.
The boy was seriously pissing him off now, and he had to die. The man rushed forward with lightning quick speed again, only this time, Ash could see him. He wouldn’t be caught off-guard again.

When
Apsat reached striking distance, he threw another lightning-fast punch, aiming once again for Ash’s face. This time, it was Ash who snatched the man’s fist from the air, and in another super fast display repaid Apsat for those four punches he had given him earlier – with interest! Ash smashed his face over ten times until the hulking beast-man threw a wild swing with his free hand. Ash released him and jumped back.

Apsat staggered backwards and tripped
over his own feet. No one saw as Ash moved so quickly he disappeared, only to reappear again right next to Apsat. He crouched low and swept the man’s feet out from under him. Apsat tripped and fell onto his back. Ash jumped, raising his foot high above his own head, and brought his heel down on Apsat’s stomach with all the force of someone dropping a bowling ball from a skyscraper.

Apsat moan
ed in pain and coughed up a bunch of gunk.

“He…he did it?” Shiva said, unsure of what just happened.

“You kicked his ass!” Aura shouted.

A roar of cheers arose from Stryd’s men. A menacing stare from Commander Stryd silenced them all. With Apsat lying motionless on the ground, Ash turned his back to him and smiled at his teammates.

“Sorry about all this, guys,” he said.

“What happened?” Shiva asked.

“I think I’m to blame for
that
,” Ash said, motioning to Apsat.

“What
do you mean?”

“Hold on,” Ash said,
as if he knew what was about to happen. And judging by his quick reaction, it seems he
did
know somehow. Apsat, fueled by rage and the power of the pendant, lunged at Ash. The boy didn’t even turn around.

He simply threw his right fist up, cracking Apsat in the face. “This is it!” Ash shouted. It was time for the boy to demonstrate one of his new talents. He gathered an amount of flame in his ha
nds and when he closed his fists, they were literally ablaze. With fists of fire, he turned and dashed at the maniacal Apsat. First came a strong right hook to the face. Second, the boy buried his left fist in Apsat’s gut. Each hit left burning hot scorch marks where they connected. Third, a right upper that connected with the bottom of Apsat’s jaw, sending him flying straight up into the air.