Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (38 page)

Podavek’s front legs pushed off the ground and the demon reared up on its bottom pair of legs. Though the legs looked thin and fragile, they were surprisingly strong to lift Podavek’s body weight with such great ease. The greater demon’s new wiry red legs wriggled in the air with excitement as the big bug towered over the devil girl.

“
Good
,” replied Shiva, holding her chin up. “To be honest, I was a little upset that my partner over there got to burn up all your legs.
I wanted to do it.
And now I can!”

Shiva moved in, swinging her bolas at a tremendous speed to build up power. Instead of aiming for the demon’s body again, Shiva whipped her flaming bolas at Podavek’s left side. A chunk of legs around the demon’s midsection were incinerated on contact as the fiery metal weapon slammed into them. True to the demon’s word, new legs sprouted from the wounds as soon as the flaming weapon was removed.

I guess it wasn’t lying
, thought Shiva. The girl retreated to a safer distance while her foe tested the new appendages.
Looks like we’ll just have to break through that armor instead
!

Shiva tried attacking the armored bug head on. Each time the monster took a pass at her, aiming to crush the girl with mass alone, Shiva would leap away using her wings for a boost. Once in the clear, Shiva squeezed every drop of soul power and flames she could muster into her bolas. She whipped the weapon at the greater demon with a strength she’d never reached until now.

Too bad her attacks weren’t making a lick of difference. Every time her bolas struck the armored back, midsection, head, or exposed belly, the result was always the same. It would leave the faintest of a black mark that was already hard to see on the creature’s black armor. The mark would smoke for a few seconds, then the demon would carry on like normal.

So Shiva dodged, attacked, waited, and repeated. She tried to focus her energy on attacking a single spot, but that proved difficult as she struggled to predict the creature’s hectic movements. In all this time, Uverstarr contributed to the battle by blasting away at the demon’s wiry little legs that powered the creature like nuclear engines. The only time the big centipede ever slowed down was when he temporarily lost a few legs to Uverstarr. Those extra seconds were critical to Shiva, who began to realize there was a huge problem with this fight.

We can’t hurt it with weapons or flames,
the girl thought.
The only open spot it has is its mouth. But its also an expert at dodging. I could waste the rest of my stamina trying to target its mouth and never succeed. There’s got to be a better way…

The girl’s stamina had dropped so much that she lost a step in her repeated pattern. Now it was wait, dodge, wait, dodge, and repeat. She wouldn’t waste any more of her strength on attacking in vain. Instead Shiva concentrated on just watching out for her safety as she avoided the overgrown centipede’s assault.

The streets of North Hell weren’t exactly the ideal place to fight. The crowds had all fled, but the road was still cluttered with plenty of obstacles. Informational signs and kiosks were trampled, merchant booths destroyed, public property like benches and fountains were demolished. Nothing could withstand the weight and force of the mammoth greater demon slamming down on it.

One misstep put Shiva in the path of one of Uverstarr’s flame attacks. The boy had spent a few minutes charging up a powerful beam projectile. Despite not putting any soul into the move, it still packed quite a painful wallop when it collided with Shiva’s back. She was lucky she had her armor on or she might have been removed from the fight.

“
Watch where you’re aiming
!” Shiva screamed in fury at the boy. She rolled across the ground and sprang off a light post to get back on her feet and dodge the oncoming demon once again. “
You’re supposed to be helping me, but so far you’ve been useless
!”

Uverstarr peeked out from behind his hiding spot, a pile of large storage crates next to a festival merchandise booth. The boy looked slightly embarrassed, but equally frustrated. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going, yo!?” he replied. “We’ve been doing the same pattern this whole time. But then
you
go and change things up and end up getting hurt. Then you try and pin the blame on me! That’s not cool, yo!”

Podavek continued to pursue the duo with such tenacity that Shiva and Uverstarr grew tired quickly. As the fight dragged on, the numerous Royal Guards that had come running to the area expecting to find a lesser demon of minimal harm and instead encountered a full-grown, extremely lethal greater demon were less than enthusiastic about joining the fight. They waited on the edges of the connecting streets, gripping their weapons and trembling as they watched the Royal Princess and orphan child flee.

It was when one particular soldier felt brave enough to join the fray that they all started to move in more seriously. Some carried long spears, others carried swords. There was even an axe or two and a few crossbows. Their choices in weapons didn’t really matter. Nothing worked. No one made a difference. Every guard that charged in when Shiva or Uverstarr were in the middle of dodging only met with a gruesome fate, crushed under the massive weight of the greater demon.

Shiva watched helplessly as her backup died. She tried to warn them that weapons wouldn’t work. She told them to keep away from the demon, that she would handle it herself. Unfortunately, without their Captains to give orders, the Royal Guards weren’t in the best state for strategic combat. They listened to the fear in their hearts and the survival instincts in their minds and faced their deaths like their ancient ancestors must have done so long ago.

It took five casualties before Shiva realized she couldn’t do this any longer. More and more people were dying because she was taking too long to defeat this demon. Still, she could see no end to the battle. She simply didn’t have the means to defeat the creature. She was even beginning to consider fleeing this fight, to seek help from Draxler. That thought sent a shiver down her spine. She became fired up all over again, striving to never
willingly
ask for help from the death toucher.

“
This has been a wonderful workout after being stuffed away in those devil bodies for so long
,” said Podavek. The giant centipede stood on its rear section and slammed the front part of its body against a Royal Guard that charged forward with a sword. The man went flying through the air and hit the stone street with a loud
THUD
and didn’t move again. “
But all this exercise has really worked up my appetite, so I’ll be eating my lunch now
!”

Shiva thought the demon’s banter ludicrous. She could still dodge for another hour before she lost all her energy, now that she wasn’t attacking anymore. But as she prepared to leap aside for the umpteenth time as the greater demon charged by like a bull on parade, the girl tripped instead and fell to the ground. She had a split second to roll to the side before getting trampled by the oncoming bug.

When she finally looked down to see what she tripped on, Shiva was in for one
disturbing
revelation. On the girls ankles, popping out from her armor were two short stubby wires. For a brief second Shiva thought she was entangled in a pair of the demon’s detached legs. Then she saw them
wiggle
.

The girl let out a disgusted yelp in shock. “
Oh gross
!” she said, calling to Uverstarr. “
The legs
! It can grow them
anywhere
!” She blasted the two tiny tendrils with a burst of flames, incinerating the legs instantly, and climbed to her own feet.

“You don’t have to tell me, yo!” said Uverstarr. The boy had four of the little centipede legs growing out of his clothing on his arms and legs. He swatted at the little wiggly appendages as they kicked and whipped the boy. His only option was to burn them all off.

“
Infinite Arms just keeps on getting better, doesn’t it
?” the demon Podavek said with a haughty tone. “
Since you won’t hold still, I’ll just have to bring you to me
!”

“I don’t like the sound of that…” said Shiva with a nervous scowl.

The greater demon finally stopped powering after the devils, allowing them a much-needed moment of rest. Instead the massive creature paused in its tracks, its legs never coming to a complete stop as they wriggled in the air. The demon looked to its left, then to its right. It seemed to be contemplating something, but Shiva didn’t know what. Instead of trying to figure out the enemy’s odd behavior, Shiva made a break for Uverstarr.

The two met in the middle of the battle-scarred street. Wooden scraps that used to be vendor booths littered the ground. Avoiding wreckage wasn’t their only obstacle. The little red legs of the centipede demon kept popping out of their armor and clothes. The most problematic were the ones that sprung from their ankles that would try to trip them as they moved.

“This is no good!” said Shiva as she blasted away the set of legs that sprung from her ankles. “Our evasiveness was all we had going for us. If it keeps tripping us up like this, we’re eventually going to make a mistake and then its lights out for good.”

The demon invasion siren that used to ring out daily could finally be heard, grinding to a slow start. More Royal Guards flooded into the area, still uncertain as to what to do without their Captain to lead them. Most resorted to the default action to take whenever a demon invasion was underway: attack! Though their attacks never hurt the creature, they did at least give Shiva a few more seconds to plot.

“
Annoying
,” Podavek said, sounding agitated. “
These weaker devils are so annoying
!
I never thought I could tire of murdering devils, but it is no different than swatting down lesser flies. My top priority is the devil Princess and her dwarf companion
.
After I deal with them, I can have as much fun as I want slaughtering devils by the thousands
!”

“Not if you’re
dead
!” said Shiva, standing tall to oppose the towering demon. It was a pretty stupid threat for someone in her position to make.

The demon laughed. “
You still act like you’ll kill me, even though you’ve been reduced to fleeing my advances in terror. I expected a better fight from devil royalty. I certainly didn’t expect to have to use this technique. I usually save it for cowards who try to run away
!
Just try and escape from this
!”

The ground started shaking slightly as the demon froze like a statue. Uverstarr gripped Shiva’s arm. Neither of them knew what to expect next. For the time being, the little demon legs had stopped growing off them as Podavek focused his efforts elsewhere. Out of the corner of her eye, Shiva saw movement across the street from where they were standing.

Three wiry red centipede legs sprouted out of the wall of a nearby building. The legs were aligned in a vertical row near the front of the building. The shiny red appendages grew longer than any of the legs had stretched yet, and bulked up considerably as they extended. More movement surrounded them. The pair watched as more and more of the centipede legs appeared, growing out of walls and pillars and street lamps all around them. When the legs reached the buildings on the opposite side of the street, the sharp pointy ends of the demon’s legs were able to pierce the building walls and form a new wall of their own.

Shiva quickly realized they were trapped in the middle of a four-way intersection, which was quickly becoming closed off by the sudden appearance of bug parts. “He’s trying to trap us!” she said, pulling Uverstarr along. “Quick! Blast away those new legs!”

The duo sprung into action with flames blazing in hand. Shiva drew from a drained flame stock that was running on empty. The boy fared much better, despite not having quite the stamina of his partner. The two wailed on a wall of demon legs that grew thicker and more full of legs by the second. Every time they burned away one section of legs, a whole new crop popped up to replace them. It was like fighting a mythological hyrda, but with gross squirmy bug legs instead of terrifying monster heads.

Though their attacks weren’t making any progress in freeing them, Uverstarr did happen to notice one important development to the situation. He looked up in time to see a set of legs form on the top of the building’s front face. These legs grew long and stretched all the way across the intersection, piercing the top of the building across the way.

“Up! Up!” Uverstarr shouted. “He’s going to seal off the top next, yo!”

“Let’s fly!”

The pair brought out their wings. Instantly, the wall of demon legs reacted by attacking. The devils leapt back, retreating to safer distance before beating their wings. With their feet leaving the ground, the two raced against the growing legs as they climbed through the sky. More and more red wires shot out from neighboring buildings at all corners of the streets they were trapped between. These higher legs would eventually form a ceiling if they continued to grow and spread like invasive mutant weeds.

The devil duo barrelrolled through the air avoiding the tendril-like legs that shot across the streets. Podavek’s laughter could be heard down below. Shiva felt an ominous wind blowing. Something was off. She was working her wings as hard as possible, but it seemed like she wasn’t getting anywhere. She felt heavier, like her body was suddenly harder to lift. The girl craned her head sideways to get a good look at her wings. She didn’t like what she saw.