Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (7 page)

“Don’t underestimate the power of a man’s carnal desires!” Aura gloated.

From somewhere in the stands he heard a recognizable girl’s voice shout, “
Sometimes you make me glad I’m blind, bro
!”

On her next turn Lorin played a new combatant, “Lavos: Devourer of Time”. This powerful new creature was way more than Aura could handle at the moment, but luckily it couldn’t attack on the first turn it was played.

Aura’s luck held out. On his next turn, he drew an important card. At least, he thought it might be important as he played it.

“Aura uses
Tidal Wave Goodbye
,” Hakusho commented. “This crush card floods the battlefield and washes away any non-aquatic combatants, meaning Lorin’s only combatant Lavos is toast!”

“
Sweet
.”

“Although, the card states that neither player’s KP is affected, so no damage is done. She keeps her clothes.”

“Damn!” Aura’s eyes flicked through his cards. “That’s okay. I’ve gotten rid of her monstrosity and I can still attack her KP directly this turn. Which I’ll do right now!”

In response to his declaration of attack, Lorin played an instant crush card from her hand, “Right Back At Ya”.

“Lorin plays Right Back At Ya, which halves the opponent’s attack and sends the other half back at him. Both players take damage to their KP!”

More cheers erupted from the viewers in the stands as Aura’s time to strip was finally here. Both players rose to their feet and stared each other down. Aura pointed at Lorin’s tunic. Lorin pointed at Aura’s gauntlet. Both players quickly stripped the targeted items off and sat back down.

“I got off pretty easily,” Aura said with a delighted grin as he feasted his eyes on his opponent’s new look. Though he normally hated showing off his blackened appendage, this was an occasion he was okay with. “Let’s keep going!”

Aura had finally found his confidence. But Lorin had a pretty nasty surprise in store for him to ruin all that.

“I play “Endless Ocean”,” she said, slamming the card down on the table. “And I’ll follow it up with a new combatant, “Tsharknami”, which can attack the first turn its played, and attack your Captain Coral with it.”

“Quite the power play by Lorin!” Hakusho commented. “Endless Ocean is a card that powers up aquatic combatants, and her Tsharknami definitely fits that description. Aura’s combatant gets a bonus too, but its just not enough to fend off Lorin’s shark attack. Aura loses KP!”

Disappointed but not letting it show, Aura stripped off his jacket. The situation had taken an unexpected turn and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Lorin’s Endless Ocean card was helpful to both players, but how many aquatic combatants did her deck even posses? On the flip side, most of Aura’s cards were water-types that would gain a bonus from her card. For the moment it seemed like he might have an advantage.

Her Tsharknami is way stronger than my Mermanatee
, he deduced.
But if I can just get a stronger combatant out there, I should be fine. One more attack and it’s time to set the twins free
! he thought, grinning from ear to ear.

“Thanks for the power-up,” he said, drawing his next card. “Let’s see if it doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass.”

But of course, Lorin had her reasons for using a card that at first seemed like it only provided an advantage to Aura. It wasn’t apparently obvious at first, but on her next turn when she played a card called “Sharkbait” to wipe out Aura’s remaining combatants it became evident to Ash and any other Devil’s Duel experts exactly what kind of strategy she was now using. Aura seemed oblivious as he rebuilt his army. He laid another combatant, “Coral Conquistador” in hopes it would buy him some more time.

Lorin had a few aces up her sleeves, or she would have if she had any sleeves on at the moment. She played two cards, a combatant called “Hydrothunder Down Under” and a kingdom card “Superconductive Coral”. Together, these cards were a powerful combo that greatly overpowered the death toucher.

“What a combo by Lorin!” Hakusho beamed, shouting into her megaphone. “The Superconductive Coral card grants a mega-bonus to any water-and-electric types, like her Hydrothunder! Let’s see how Aura recovers from this!”

It was now apparent even to Aura that Lorin had simply copied his water deck strategy, albeit with more overpowered cards directly from the creator’s freshest mint. There was no way Aura could survive the next attack. He didn’t have a single card that could save his butt.

There was no way he could
win
, but a different strategy formed in his mind. He wouldn’t need to
win
to see Lorin strip off her top. For that, all he would need to do is cause a small amount of damage to her KP. If he could just land a successful attack once more time…

That’s when a combatant’s effect caught his eye. Seeing it as his only opportunity, Aura added the “Superior Stingsquid” combatant to his army. Lorin scoffed at first, seeing the monster’s attack points were much lower than any of her own creatures. Aura surprised everyone by declaring an attack.

His Stingsquid attacked Lorin’s more powerful combatant, and as expected, it was destroyed. The crowd went ballistic, as Aura appeared to have lost on purpose.

Hakusho quickly declared Lorin the winner. The smug servant stood up, anxious to get some clothes back on. Another staffer dashed to the stage to deliver a robe, which she quickly put on. All the while Aura sat confidently, unmoving.

“You better remove that robe,” he said smugly, “because we’re not done here yet missie.”

The death toucher revealed his trump card, the Superior Stingsquid’s, special effect. He explained that any time it does battle with another combatant, the enemy takes damage as well. Not enough damage to make a difference in most cases, but this was a rare occasion when the amount didn’t matter. All he needed was to
scrape
her KP, and he’d get what he wanted.

“As the rules of the strip addendum clearly state:
take damage, lose clothes
. The damage has been done, but so far clothes have only been
added
.”

Lorin looked down at the comfy concealing robe she had on. The robe she didn’t want to lose. With no less than a thousand spectators staring at her, Lorin
really
didn’t feel like disrobing and then some. She grit her teeth and looked at Aura with disgust, who only made her angrier with his upbeat attitude about it all. She looked to her master in her private box, but Marni was too busy obsessing over the overwhelming popularity of her new invention.

Judging by the crowd’s reactions, the strip addendum was an incredibly popular and profitable tool she could add to her career-building arsenal. There were plenty of places in the Kingdom of Hell that you could go to see naked men and women, but her game gave everyone an equal chance at sexual exploitation.

She knew people would pay big skorch for such a service. Her mind ran wild with all sorts of marketing possibilities and monetary projections while her number one guard looked like a lost, sexy puppy down on the game stage.

Things looked ugly for a few minutes as Aura and Lorin stood on stage arguing while the referee looked over the rulebook to determine just what should be done. However, with no written word of the strip addendum yet, she found nothing helpful. Hakusho looked to Marni for the final word, but strangely it was not Marni who put an end to the situation.

“
Enough
!” It was the roundish Noble Vashi Tansa, climbing the steps up to the gaming stage. “Enough of this nonsense! Both of you, down! Now!”

For his size and stature, the Noble moved gracefully. He took Lorin by the hand and guided her to the stairs. With her gone, he turned to face the disgruntled Aura. “You too,
boy
. Move along now.”

“Who gave
you
the right to call shots around here?” Aura asked, giving the red-bearded Noble the ol’ Draxler stink eye.

“
As the next competitor I will not stand for any more delays
!”

Now that Vashi was involved, Marni sprang into action. Clutching her own megaphone, she quickly tried her hand at deescalating things.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you enjoyed that game, I’m pleased to announce more strip addendum games will be coming in the future! Please wait patiently and I promise to give you the best show for your skorch, guaranteed!”

Her promise was enough to instill calm in the crowd, but Aura still stood defiantly on stage. “I’m not leaving till I see the boobies I was promised. You gonna show me your boobies, old man?”

“
Watch it
, Draxler…” the old Noble said through gritted teeth.

Vashi and Aura stared each other down intently, neither one willing to give any ground, growling like wild animals. Then a voice cried out, “
My turn
!
My turn
!” and Aura was bulldozed out of the way by a charging human.

“It’s finally my turn!” Ash said, throwing his hands in the air. “Sorry Aura, but you’re cutting into my time now.”

“You’re a high spirited one, young man,” the Noble said. He took his place at the table while Aura rubbed the parts of him that stung as he slunk off to the waiting area to watch from the bench.

With the distractions cleared up, Ash and Vashi took their seats across from each other at the gaming table for the last semi-final match.

“Well met, boy,” said Vashi with an icy tone. He would not even meet Ash’s eyes directly. “I hope you can provide me with a sufficient challenge after all the unpleasantness involving that degenerate
Draxler
boy.”

There was something familiar about Vashi’s tone when he said Aura’s last name. Few people in Hell referred to the death toucher by his last name. Ash felt an unshakable sense of déjà vu staring at the red bearded man.

“The Noble Vashi Tansa, or the human Ash Kaplan,” Hakusho said. “Who will go on to the finals and face Lorin? We’re about to find out!”

Chapter Four: Vashi Tansa

At the game table Vashi Tansa started the battle strong. He laid down several kingdom cards that boosted his army’s attack strength. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he had his strongest combatant on the battlefield on his first turn.

“I’ll start my army with “Archdevil Asmodeus” and end my turn.”

Man its gonna be hard beating his devil deck with my angel deck,
Ash thought.
Hard, but not impossible. I know his strategy and I know he prefers attacking to defending. I think I can get around that, but it’s going to be tricky.

“I’ve got a few kingdom cards to lay down,” Ash said. "First, I'll play "Holy Barrier" which lowers the attack of non-angelic combatants. Then I'll start my army off by adding "Little Cherub". Your move."

Vashi Tansa drew a card. "Your combatant is too weak," he said. "Even with that holy barrier I can defeat it. Watch me!"

Go right ahead
, Ash thought.
I dare you.

Vashi Tansa started his turn by drawing a card. With little to no thought about it he declared an attack. Ash smirked in response.

"Right on schedule," he said. "I can't believe how predictable you are."

"
So
?" Vashi Tansa asked, unperturbed.

"Oh, its nothing," Ash replied. "You killed it. Good job." He moved the fallen combatant to his cemetery pile. Vashi Tansa glared briefly at the boy, but still refused to lock eyes.

"My turn," Ash said, drawing his card with a sly grin. He went about his turn playing a few more kingdom cards and then laid down a new combatant. "I play another Little Cherub."

On his next turn Vashi Tansa played another powerful combatant, "Wicked Firestarter". Together with his archdevil the army was much stronger than Ash's. Feeling confident and thinking himself invincible, Vashi Tansa declared another attack. Even with the holy barrier in place his combatant army was too strong for the cherub.

By now Ash had lost a sizable chunk of his kingdom points. With nothing good in his hand, he started his turn by drawing a new card. He was in luck. Ash played the crush card he just drew, “Life Recycle”, that added the attack points of his fallen combatants to his overall kingdom points. This provided him an extension of time to hopefully draw some more useful cards.

"Quit stalling," he said. "Your entire deck is at a disadvantage here. You
will
lose."

“You doubt the power of my angels?” Ash asked, skeptical.

Vashi Tansa scoffed. “
Angels
,” he said. “Those bird-brains can’t even compare to the awesome strength of the devils. Everyone knows that. That’s why no one but you plays with an angel deck. Because angels are
weak
.”

“Then I’ll just have to show everyone they’ve been wrong this whole time,” said Ash. “I’m guessing angel decks are about to become way more popular.” He could do nothing more, and ended his turn.

It was Vashi Tansa’s turn and once again he added another powerful combatant, “Flaming Sword Juggler”, to his army. He declared an attack with all three of his combatants and Ash watched the extra KP he’d only just gained deplete. He wasn’t in a good situation and would probably run out of KP in only two more turns. With a heavy heart he started his turn by drawing a new card.

Ash exhaled a big sigh of relief. “I’ll use this crush card, "Hell Freezes Over". It freezes your side of the battlefield for one turn. I have to discard a card to use it, though."

"Big deal," Vashi Tansa said. "I can destroy you any time I want. Your pesky stalling methods can't save you forever."

It doesn't need to last forever
, Ash thought.
Just until I draw the card I really need!

Since Ash's crush card prevented him from attacking this round, he changed strategy. With a concealed wicked grin, Vashi Tansa played a new card. “Even if I can’t attack, there’s
other
ways to hurt you. Take this crush card, “Firestorm Falling”, for instance. It reduces your KP by five-hundred. And on my next turn I’ll win when I wipe out the rest of your kingdom.”

Ash could hear the conviction in his voice and knew he was probably right. The outcome depended on this next draw. He wasted no time in finding out the answer and picked up the next card on the top of his deck.
Moment of truth
, he thought just before looking at the card.

Ash smiled. The tables were about to turn. “Good news,” he said. “The game isn’t going to end anytime soon. In fact, I’m about to show you something awesome.”

“
What
?”

Ash added a new card to his kingdom. “I’m doing a little redecorating in my kingdom. See, I’ve got this lovely “Tribute to Cupid” card. Want to know what it does?” The card depicted a large stone statue of the angel, Cupid.

“Do not make this take any longer than it already must,” Vashi Tansa warned him.

“I won’t keep you in suspense,” Ash replied. “I wanna get this over with just like you. My tribute allows me to summon a new combatant, Cupid, from my deck, so long as I have three Little Cherubs in my cemetery. Which I do.” Ash sifted through his deck until he found the right card. He laid it down on the table. “The “Archangel Cupid” is exactly what I needed to turn this game around. Are you familiar with the legend of Cupid?”

“Of course! What is your point?” Vashi Tansa replied, agitated.

“Great, then you shouldn’t be surprised by Archangel Cupid’s ability. Once per turn I can order Cupid to fire his arrow of love at one of your combatants and then I get to take control of that combatant for my turn!”

Uh-oh
, thought Vashi Tansa.

“I think I’ll take your Archdevil Asmodeus, please.”

The ref confiscated and passed the card to Ash.

“Now I’ll attack your Flaming Sword Juggler with Cupid and Asmodeus.”

Vashi Tansa’s combatant lost, and he discarded it to the cemetery pile. “
Done yet
?” he asked.

“I’m just getting started! I’ve got one last play for my turn, and it’s a
doozie
. I’ve been waiting this whole time to use this card. I play “Ritualistic Suicide”, which sacrifices one of my combatants lives for some extra KP. Guess which combatant I’m picking.”

“
My Asmodeus
?”

“Bingo!” Ash said. “Do devils say bingo? Do you know what I mean by that? It’s Earth slang.”

“
Yes I know what you mean
!” Vashi Tansa barked. “You sacrificed my combatant to fuel your own kingdom points!”

“So you see, in just one turn I’ve destroyed two of your combatants and completely changed the game. You were on top and about to crush me, and now we’re even. Isn’t this game awesome?”

“I’m
painfully aware
of how tedious your deck is,” said Vashi Tansa. “But in the end none of this will matter when you lose.” Vashi Tansa added a new combatant to his army. “All I’ve got to do is kill Cupid. That will be easy with “Archdevil Beelzebub” in my army.”

Vashi Tansa ordered his army to attack, and sure enough Ash’s Cupid card couldn’t hold out. Ash lost another chunk of KP as well as his only combatant, but that wasn’t even the worst part. “By the way, Beelzebub has an ability I neglected to mention earlier,” he said. “At the end of each turn he siphons one hundred kingdom points from both of us. Of course, as long as my KP stays higher than yours I’ll be just fine.”

Yikes
, Ash thought.
I was afraid he’d play this guy. I guess I should just be grateful he didn’t bring him out earlier in the game
or I’d be toast.

Ash had to play the next couple of turns very smart. One wrong or unfortunate move and it would all be over. This is when it really started to bother him that he still knew so little about his opponent. There was something oddly familiar he couldn’t explain. The Noble Vashi acted like the Nobles he’d met before, but something was also different.

“Are you going to make your move yet?” Vashi Tansa asked, throwing off Ash’s train of thought. He had his arms crossed in agitation, tapping a busy foot under the table.

“You betcha,” said Ash. He looked over the cards in his hand once again. He was stuck in a dilemma. The only strategy he had left was the toughest one to pull off in his entire deck. He had two of the cards necessary, but he required one more to make his play work. Without wasting more time he drew.

That’s it
, he thought as he looked at the card.
The exact card I needed
!

“I’d like you to meet the combatant that’s going to finish you off now,” Ash said smugly. “His name is “Angel Arthur”.” He set his new combatant on the table for all to see. Vashi Tansa wasn’t impressed however.

“You’re lying. That combatant is weak. Its attack strength is nowhere near my Beelzebub’s!”

“Sure,” said Ash. “He’s pretty weak
right now
. But when I equip him with this crush card combo, “Sword in the Stone”, combined with “Knights of the Roundish Table” he becomes something
much
stronger!”

The ref explained the rules of the two cards, which allowed Ash to search his deck for a new combatant so long as Angel Arthur was in his army. Then he could add a new champion to his army, a powerful upgrade to his Angel Arthur card.

Ash played his new combatant with glee. “Say hello to “Archangel Arthur, King of Angels!” This new card had bigger numbers on it than Vashi Tansa’s cards. That was definitely a good thing. “Would you look at that!” Ash said. “An angel that’s stronger than a devil! Did you ever think you’d see such a sight? Kinda shatters your whole world, doesn’t it?”

“
Your voice annoys me
!” Vashi Tansa said. “
I’ll put an end to your pathetic archangel as soon as my next turn comes.
” It was a tense moment, as victory laid just around the corner for one of them. Unfortunately, his next turn would never come.

CRACK
!

The table they were playing on snapped down the center in an instant. Something grew from the ground underneath the table, something big, thick, and dark green. Anyone in the lower section ran for cover. The spectators in the seating sections jumped to their feet. Many fled, suspecting a demon attack. Some stayed, like Amos Draxler. He gripped his daughter tightly by her arm, protecting her from the stampeding crowd.

In the competitor area, most of the people had fled with the rest of the crowd. There were only five people left. Two of them, Ash and Vashi Tansa, stood motionless in the exact same spots they had been sitting at moments ago. The sudden arrival of a giant demonic plant did nothing to deter them from their game. The giant plant thing grew until it collided with the giant mirror ball hanging above the game table. Shards of glass rained down as Ash and Vashi dove out of the way.

“
My gaming arena
!” Marni wailed in distress. “
That thing just cost me thousands of skorch in repairs
!”

“This…
thing
just made a very big mistake in denying me my victory,” Vashi Tansa said, pushing himself off the ground. He stepped closer to the enormous plant, which had grown several long branches up and down its thick stem. “We will burn it down and continue our duel.” He raised an arm to strike, readying a small ball of flame in his hand.

“I’m not sure you should go near that thing,” said Ash. He didn’t like the way the plant-thing moved. There was no wind inside the arena, yet the plant swayed back and forth, its branches moving independently from its stem. It looked
alive
.

“This thing is clearly a demon of some sort,” said Vashi Tansa. “Best to attack it before it attacks us. That way I can get back to beating you.”

“You were
not
beating me!”

Vashi Tansa wailed loudly as he fell to the ground. Some of the giant plant roots popped up from the ground and wrapped around his ankles. He lowered a flame to scorch the creature, but the roots grew thicker and tighter. The flames did nothing.

“I’m coming!” Ash said, rushing in to help. He had Vashi Tansa in his sights when he came under attack himself. One of the plant’s branches turned suddenly like a whip, connecting with Ash’s stomach and sending the boy flying backward, utterly winded.

“Crap! Hang on guys!” Aura said, dashing forward.

Lorin charged in leading her small security team of a few men equipped with swords. Ash struggled to climb to his feet after colliding with the wall all the way across the arena. Aura couldn’t make it to Vashi Tansa in time. He reached her just in time to witness the bizarre plant beast wrap it’s roots up Vashi Tansa’s body, stretching up his body, underneath his clothing. The demon plant worked it’s way up his face and found the access point: his mouth.

It was like a tape measure rewinding. The plant suddenly shot into Vashi Tansa’s mouth as if he were sucking the creature in like a strand of spaghetti. Vashi Tansa froze, unable to move a finger as the demon forced itself inside of him. Before the last of the plant could enter his body, Aura grabbed a hold and pulled with all his might. He thought he could simply pull it back out of her, but the plant could not be stopped. It tossed Aura aside as the last of its green tendrils concealed themselves inside Vashi Tansa’s body.