Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (39 page)

Podavek’s legs were growing off the girl’s wings like vines in a jungle. No wonder she felt heavier: there must have been an extra hundred pounds added to her load. The legs grew thicker and heavier, dragging the girl down. She peered at Uverstarr below her, suffering from the same fate. The boy’s lighter body had an easier time lifting the excess weight for a short time, but eventually they both couldn’t support the weight any longer. Attacking the legs was too risky as well, since they could risk losing their wings.

All they could do was recall their wings. As the wing tissue returned to an almost liquid-like state and sucked back into the devil’s bodies, the demon’s legs that had grown off them disconnected and fell off. They were glad to be freed from the disturbing additional attachments, but without wings they plummeted to the ground as the legs closed around them, forming a tight leg top to the biological container they were now trapped in.

“
Prison Bound
:
that is the name of this special room I use to catch prey that dares to try and outrun me
!”

It was tough to see inside of Prison Bound. The legs grew so plentiful that they actually blocked out most of the light from the sun. The devil duo instinctively lit guiding flames in their palms to see by.

“Looks like we’re alone in here,” said Shiva. Her voice came out in a whisper, though she wasn’t sure why. She was already broadcasting her location with the flames.

“Except for that
psycho
demon,” Uverstarr replied. “Now he can see us but we can’t see him!” The boy reacted to his revelation by floating his fireball a few feet into the air and expanding the size. Its luminosity grew and bathed more of the room in light.

Something caught their eyes suddenly, speeding at them out of the darkness. It was Podavek, hoping to take the young devils by surprise. It shot forward like a runaway roller coaster. The devils could only jump away, bringing out their wings just long enough for more creepy wriggling legs to start sprouting out of them. Flying certainly wasn’t a long-term option.

“I’ve had enough of this bastard thinking he’s so superior because he has a bunch of stupid legs!” said Shiva, feeling fed up. “I’m going in for another round of attacks, armor be damned!”

The girl flew forward at the demon, swinging away with her flaming bolas until her arms ached and her legs grew tired from jumping around so much. Uverstarr blasted forward more of his flame beam attacks, but Podavek began to sprout new legs on the ground to shield its attached legs. The boy couldn’t help to slow the demon down anymore, and it was starting to gain on Shiva. In a move of total desperation, the girl struck at the demon’s eyes with her bolas, hoping to stun the creature for at least a few moments.

Not surprisingly, Podavek could grow his legs out of anything, including his own eyeballs. The legs sprung out of the demon’s eyes in time to kick away the flaming weapon, knocking Shiva to the ground with it. The girl rolled and scampered away to a safe distance by her terrified partner.

“
Has it sunk into your primitive devil brains yet
?” Podavek asked in delight. “
The fact that you will both be dying soon, that is
!
I do love the taste of despair on a devil, if you could please feel that for me before I eat you!”

“
Shut up, demon
!” Shiva replied. “We’ll get out of this and kill you in the process, just you wait and see! We’ve got a plan!” She turned to Uverstarr and looked the boy in the eye. “Okay Uverstarr, what’s the plan?”

“I don’t have a plan!” the boy said. “I don’t want to be here anymore! I want to go back to the orphanage!”

“Then we’ll just have to kill that demon,” Shiva replied. “But we’re getting nowhere with that indestructible armor covering every inch of its body.”

“
Almost
every inch,” replied Uverstarr. The boy kept his guard up and never stopped moving his eyes as he scanned the surrounding area, keeping at maximum alert in case of another demon attack. “The only spots that don’t have armor are the bloody wounds left behind when we blast off his legs.”

“
What
?” Shiva said, the seeds of an idea planted in her mind. Her thought process was interrupted by the oncoming demon scuttling by. It passed several feet away from Shiva, keeping to the shadows where Uverstarr’s light could not reach it. The demon then came flying back at Shiva much faster than before.

Shiva pushed Uverstarr to the ground as she felt several of the demon’s connected legs brush against the top of her hair when it went soaring by inches over her head. She picked the boy up and pulled him along as they fled. Uverstarr pulled his bright ball of flames along with them, keeping the light focused on the action. The pair could see Podavek climbing across the wall of his own legs on the other side of the room.

The big bug made its way up the wall of limbs and clung to the appendages forming the ceiling. There it crossed the room heading to the spot directly above the devils.

“It’s coming! It’s coming!” Uverstarr cried.

“Let’s go!” Shiva said, pulling the boy away as the demon launched itself from the ceiling. It collided with the ground where the devils had been standing, leaving behind an indent that resembled a small crater.

“What you said before…” said Shiva as they raced across the room. “Gave me an idea. I think I know how to beat him, but I need your help. I need you to hold a lot of flames on him. I mean
a lot
of flames. Enough to keep his legs from growing back for just a few seconds in the area around his midsection. Think you can manage that for me?”

Shiva looked into the boy’s eyes expecting to see fear. What she saw instead was the determination of a foolish boy. He nodded.

“About time you come up with something, yo!” he replied. “Of course I can make that much flame! Just watch. I’ve got a trick that will douse that big caterpillar in flames!” The boy began collecting flames in his hands. “Buy me some time though, will ya? It’s going to be a few minutes to charge up the amount of flames I need.”

Shiva begrudgingly accepted the role of distracting the greater demon, which involved a lot of running, jumping, and swinging her bolas which were beginning to feel heavier by the minute. The sealed room they were trapped in was hot, and the girl was already drenched in sweat. She couldn’t last the workout much longer.

“
Stay still
!” Podavek said. The greater demon came too close for comfort on more than one occasion to actually crushing Shiva with its lethal kicks and armored body slams.

“
Are you done yet
?” Shiva screamed at Uverstarr as the greater demon went soaring by yet again, almost clipping the girl’s chest.

“Amost…” Uverstarr replied. The balls of flames in his hands weren’t particularly large, but the boy was deep in concentration. It wasn’t the size of the projectiles he was trying to manipulate. The boy began to slowly rotate his hands in small circles. The surging balls of flames mimicked the boy’s actions and started swirling along. Shortly, the fireballs rotated and spun like miniature suns. The boy willed the balls to stretch and constrict, all the while speeding up the flow of their rotations.

Uverstarr released the fireballs from his hands and jumped back, focusing all his mental strength on keeping the dancing flame figures spinning. He rotated his arms in sync with the flames, creating two small funnel shapes that spun in the air just above the ground. While moving his arms to keep the rotation alive, the boy continued to pump up the size of the mini flame cyclones. After a few minutes of Shiva buying time by running from the foul demon, Uverstarr formed the flames into two flaming tornadoes that rivaled the demon in size.

“
Look out
!” Uverstarr shouted. “Two special flame attacks coming through!”

The boy launched the flaming funnels forward. Podavek, who’d been so obsessed with chasing after Shiva, turned around to see the child’s small fireballs had apparently become big swirling tempests of fire. The demon, confident in its abilities, wasn’t deterred by the new fierce attack. It stood patiently in harms way, like it had done before.

The whirling gales of flame slammed into the demon from both sides. An entire row of legs around the demons’ midsection burned to a crisp at once as the flame tornado came into contact with it. As soon as the flames burned the legs down to tiny bleeding stumps, new legs were ready to sprout. The new limbs grew only inches before burning to a crisp and the cycle repeated itself.

“That’s good!” said Shiva. “Keep it up!” The girl swung her bolas above her head. She only needed to lock it in place long enough to spring the next phase of her plan.

With a deep breath, she launched her chain-linked weapon at the demon, howling in pain as Uverstarr continuously burned off its limbs. The demon tried to escape by stepping away from the flames. Uverstarr willed the flaming hazards to follow, no matter where it ran. The demon could not escape as the flames cleared away row after row of wiry legs. Before the demon knew what hit it, Shiva’s bolas were wrapped around its midsection. The two metal balls rotated and spun around one another, tying together around the huge centipede’s body.

“
What’s this
?” said Podavek, its voice amplified with rage through the torrent of burning flames. “
Some lame attempt at squeezing me
?
Don’t you know by now you can’t break through my armor
?”

The demon wailed in a blood-curdling mixture of agonizing screams and laughter as it struggled to break free from the flaming tornado attacks. Uverstarr sweated bullets struggling to maintain the projectile attacks.

“
Hurry Prin-sis
…” he said, grinding his teeth.

“I’ll only need a few more seconds!” said Shiva.

The girl concentrated, closing her eyes and balling her hands into fists. She left two small fragments of her soul inside the metal bolas that she planned to manipulate. She concentrated with all her might on pulling at those fragments of soul energy, tugging the metal balls they were stored in as well. The chain that connected the balls rubbed against the bloody open wound left behind by Uverstarr’s constant barrage of fire.

“
Just a little more
…” Shiva thought, peeking through a crack in her eyelids at the demonic foe. The chains bore down on the tender burnt flesh on either side of the creature’s body, sinking into the open wound like a spoon through a pudding cup.

“
Wait
!” the demon said in surprise. “
What are you-
”

The next sound Podavek made was another excruciating scream of pain as the girl’s weapon tore into its body. The wounds enlarged on either side as the chains pulled, never letting up. The flames continued clearing away any hope for growing new limbs in time to cover the bloody injuries. Without his ability to replace the lost legs and fix himself, the force of the chains against his weakest points finally became too much for him. Shiva felt her weapon fall to the ground, no longer struggling against the resistant flesh of her enemy. She looked up to see Podavek split in two.

Uverstarr saw it too, because he instantly stopped his flame tornadoes. The spinning projectiles shrunk until they fizzled out and disappeared with the breeze. The demon centipede fell to the ground with a
SPLAT
in two pieces, a top half and a bottom chunk. Around them, light filled the room as the strands of insect legs that made up the walls of the Prison Bound room shriveled up and fell apart. In the greater demon’s final moments, Podavek wriggled erratically in a pool of blood and guts. With a final burst of life, the demon lashed out one last time by spinning both ends in random directions.

Shiva dove for Uverstarr and tackled the boy out of the way as Podavek’s top portion whizzed by. The greater demon cackled like a madman until its voice became inaudible. The top portion died before the rear, which continued to wiggle for another few minutes before stopping.

The thousands of tiny red insect legs that had sprouted here and there throughout the streets and walls dropped and withered away as the demon died. The pair of survivors sat still finally and gathered their breath.

“Time to go,” Shiva said to Uverstarr as Royal Guards flooded the area. The pair ignored them and climbed to their feet.

“Glad that’s finally over,” Uverstarr said with a sigh as the pair walked away. “I can’t wait to see the look on Ash’s face when I tell him that we beat the nasty demon that was giving him trouble!”

“Not
over
,” Shiva said, failing to join in the boy’s enthusiasm.

Uverstarr looked at her, eyes wide in surprise. “You mean there’s
more
?”

Shiva didn’t reply. She just kept walking.

“…I should go find Ash.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight: You Can’t Win This Fight

The harsh afternoon sun beat down on Ash as he continued his slow pursuit of the demon-infested Commander. The human boy made sure to keep a safe distance between them as he followed Stryd down a crowded West Hell walking path that lead away from the festival grounds. They passed enthusiastic spectators and festivalgoers, some of who even attempted to talk to the gruff Commander.

The demon Prince in control of Stryd ignored the chatty devils and moved past them all without a sound. Nothing could distract the demon royalty from his mission.

God this sucks
, thought Ash, his eyes glued to the Commander’s back.
If the demons have already gotten to Stryd, who else could they have
?
Prince Killian, King Al, maybe even Goddard
.
I have to warn Shiva and Aura, but I can’t just bail on a demon in my sights. It sucks, but I’ll just have to keep following him and hope I don’t die
…

The Commander moved away from all the festival commotion and out of the populated areas, arriving at the top of a sloping path. There he paused, as if to give the human boy one last chance to back out. But Ash paused there too, waiting to see what Stryd would do next. After only a few seconds, the black-armor clad man continued moving down the next hill.

When Ash reached the top of the hill he saw the Commander heading down the unkempt gravel path that winded from side to side, descending about a half mile into a small valley surrounded by tall canyons. The landscape there was covered in a thick overgrowth of shabby shrubs, brambles, and trees. A shallow riverbed flowed through the canyon valley, dividing the valley in two.

Okay,
Ash thought.
Super serious strategy time. Do I keep following him down into that hidden valley and let him call all the shots
?
Or do I attack him now while he’s probably not expecting it
?
If he’s leading me to such an isolated place, I expect he’ll finally ditch the devil body and fight me in his demon form. So far, I’m just lucky to be standing. If it weren’t for Goddard’s medicine I’d probably be puking my guts out both ends right about now…

Sirens pierced the air. Ash turned his head instinctively toward the sound. It was coming from East Hell. The boy moved down the slope after the demon-possessed man. He couldn’t start worrying about his friends when he was in his own dire situation.

I’m sure Aura can take care of himself,
thought Ash.
After all, he’s basically got a super power to back him up. I got a super cold, and all its doing is kicking my own ass. I’d rather just attack him now and get it over with, but I can’t risk killing Stryd. As much as I dislike him…

Ash made his way down the winding slope, careful to step over the sharp rocks and deep potholes on the way. He had been down there once before in his exploration of West Hell, so he already knew the area had nothing to offer but pebbly sandbars and the shallow stream. People rarely went down there, as there wasn’t much to do.

Near the bottom of the slope, Ash saw Stryd disappear behind the thick brush. The boy took a deep breath. His hand instinctively glided over the pillbox in his pocket. Before he even realized it, the pillbox was in his palm and he was opening it up to pop another little black pill into his mouth. He heard someone at the top of the slope and turned to look back up the path, but there was no one there. Cursing his jumpy nerves, he swallowed the pill and hoped it’d help keep him alive a little longer.

There could be more of them watching me, after all.

Ash followed the crude pathway between two humongous thorny shrubs. He found himself standing on a rough and rocky riverbank, the waterbed lying several yards away. Further down the beach was the Commander, standing at the river’s edge with his back pointing at Ash.

No backing out now,
the boy thought. He took a deep breath.

“Who am I speaking with?” asked Ash. “Because I know it isn’t
Commander Stryd in there calling the shots.”

“
Heh
,” the Commander laughed. “You willingly follow me to your death, then waste time speaking instead of attacking when my back is turned. And for what? To spare my devil host body’s life?” said the Commander. He still sounded like Stryd, but his tone was far more sinister than the devil could ever accomplish. The Commander turned to face Ash. “Humans are stupid creatures, it seems.”

“It’s Otozek, right?” Ash asked. “I need to know so I can tell my friends which demon I eliminated.” The boy tried to sound brave, but his knees were shaking.

Stryd cracked a faint smile. “
Prince
Otozek,” he replied. “You have a distinct scent, human. There’s something more to you. I smelt it on you earlier. It’s fainter now, but I can still smell it. The scent of
death
.”

A shiver ran down Ash’s spine. He tried his best not to look uncomfortable. “I was a little under the weather,” Ash said with a shrug. “Now I’m
less
sick, and ready to actually fight you.”

“Admirable,” said Otozek. “But
foolish
. You can’t win this fight.”

“We won’t know till we try,” said Ash. He took a wider stance and flexed his arms. “What I need to do now is get pumped up!”

Ash let his flames flow free. It was one thing to focus his flames in the palm of his hands, or emit fire from his fingertips. But when Ash really cut loose, his flames erupted from all over his upper body. The boy’s arms and shoulders burst into flames and so did his head. His own flames would never burn or hurt him, so he wasn’t worried about losing his hair. The process even felt good, and left the boy feeling more than warmed up.

The demon Prince watched, unaffected. “I’ve seen your past battles through this devil’s eyes,” said Otozek. “I’ve raided his memories and discovered everything I need to know about you,
Ash Kaplan
. It seems you’ve been lucky in the past. That ends now. As we speak, my group of talented soldiers is hunting your friends and taking over the devil’s castle. We’ve already won-”

Ash sprang forward, his feet radiating a small amount of soul power for an added speed boost. His flaming fist shot forward and connected with Stryd’s smug face.
SMACK
! The Commander’s feet left the ground and he soared through the air, landing in the shallow stream with a
KER-SPLASH
!

Ash let his flames continue to rage as the valley went silent. The Commander’s head bobbed above the water, his expression solemn.

“
Get out of that body, demon
,” said Ash, pulling his sword from the sheath attached to his back. “
Get out here. Let’s end this.
”

Stryd looked up, his eyes blank. “
Yes
.”

Stryd shot out of the water like a rocket and landed on the valley floor several feet in front of Ash. The Commander stared at Ash with lifeless eyes as he opened his mouth. Something black appeared in the back of his throat and extended until it protruded out of his mouth. The tip was pointy and black, but the longer it stretched the color turned to blue. When the appendage lengthened to two feet and still continued to grow, the Commander’s knees buckled and he leaned forward.

The pointy tail-like appendage shot into the ground and stuck there as Stryd bent over to throw up the demon. The rest of the greater demon came out as one thin strand. Stryd’s jaws had to stretch to impossible proportions to allow such a large deposit, but the demon Prince exited the Commander in one piece. Once exposed to the outside air, the greater demon stretched to his natural size and shape, giving Ash his first real glimpse of Prince Otozek.

The greater demon Prince was humanoid, and mostly covered in a dark blue smooth skin like a frog’s. He had no hair and stood a full head shorter than Ash. His body was covered in patchy black spots. His long tail that ended in a pointy black tip swung side to side, playfully.

“
Now you see me as I truly am,
” said Otozek. “
Come at me however you wish.
”

Ash screamed, gripping his sword in fury. He rushed forward preparing to swing at the demon.

Otozek flicked his tail forward. The pointed tip split open and several long black barbs shot out. Taken by surprise, Ash could only swing his sword in defense. He took out two of the barbs with one swing, but a third stinger evaded the blade by bending at an odd angle and moving itself out of Ash’s reach. Ash had to jump back just to avoid it. He blasted the barb with a round of flames, having to hold the fire on the tendril for several seconds before it finally burned to ash.

There’s a neat trick
, Ash thought.
Kinda ruins my short game, though. I guess I’ll back up and see how the long-range fight goes.

As Otozek stood patiently with his arms crossed, willing to let his tail do all the work, Ash backed off. After taking a few big jumps back the boy lowered his sword and redirected his wild flames. He pointed his empty hand at the demon prince. In a matter of seconds there was a fireball the size of a boulder floating in front of his open palm.

Let’s see how you deal with this
!

Ash fired.

The giant ball of flames raced across the riverbed shoreline heading for Otozek. The demon prince showed no signs of reacting. He did not uncross his arms or step aside. Only his tail moved.

With lightning fast speed and perfect accuracy the demon prince’s needle-like tail cut the fireball in half. The two fiery portions passed Otozek on either side, fizzling out and leaving the demon unharmed.

Crap spackle
! Ash thought, starting to sweat.
Okay
then
,
let’s see if he can keep up
! He stuck his sword back in the sheath and pointed both his palms at Otozek. The demon stared coldly at Ash and stuck the tip of his tail in the ground. Ash wasted no more time and started rapidly firing off blasts of flames from both hands.

He was certain he’d hit the demon Prince with at least one of the fireballs. But before the first blast even got near Otozek, something black shot out of the ground. The long black
thing
stretched tall enough to block the demon prince from sight.

It’s a wall of those stingers that come out of his tail
, Ash realized.
That’s why he stuck his tail in the ground. He can spread them out anywhere through the ground and even use them to block my attacks
.
So cheap
!
Wait… that means he could… oh crap
!

Ash stopped his pointless barrage of fireball attacks and brought out his wings. In mid jump, the ground split and a black stinger shot out from where Ash had just been standing. The stinger sliced through the air, cutting Ash across his exposed ankle. If he hadn’t jumped, it would have been his throat cut instead.

The demon prince’s wall of tail tendrils sucked back into the ground, exposing the demon once more. The stinger that attacked Ash sucked back into the ground as well, and Otozek pulled the tip of his tail out of the ground. The demon prince shook his tail a few times to get the dirt off, never taking his eyes off Ash.

“I can see why you’re the Prince,” said Ash, inspecting his small cut. “That’s one nifty ability you got there. Any chance it’s got a secret weakness or something I could exploit? Any limitations I should know about?”

“Begging for hints already?” replied the demon prince.

“I’m just mining for information,” said Ash. “Usually boss characters like to ramble on and on about their strength before a fight, and sometimes they give away critical information to winning the battle. Happens more often than you’d think.”

“If it is information about my tail you wanted, I would be more than happy to tell you about the despair that is to come in your near future,” replied Prince Otozek. Now a wicked smile spread across his face sending an avalanche of shivers down Ash’s spine. The Prince’s tail wagged playfully from side to side as he spoke.

“I did not strike a fatal blow, but I do not have to. My tail has many abilities. One of them is the powerful toxin that my skin secretes. It coats the tip of my tail and infects anyone I sting, no matter the size of the wound. Perhaps you’re feeling it now.”

Prince Otozek took a step forward, narrowing the gap between them. Ash tried to back up more, but his back was already up against a large overgrowth of dried vines with sharp thorns. The boy had other problems, as the leg he got cut on tingled and refused to cooperate.

“The toxin is like a poison, but don’t worry, it’s nonfatal. One of the effects is a paralysis-like calmness. Depending on the dosage, I could put your entire body into a state of idle bliss.  This power to calm my opponents also puts them in a state where they’re easier to influence and control. I call this toxic cocktail Ultra Relax.”

The demon prince took another step closer and wasn’t slowing down. Ash tried to step away, but his leg was limp as wet ramen.

Damn
! thought the human boy.
He ‘relaxed’ my leg with just that tiny scratch
!
I’ve got to be more careful or I’ll end up skewered with more of that status ailment junk. I should keep him as far away as possible.