Devil Ash Days (Devil Ash Saga) (19 page)

“We’re not calling ourselves ROAST,” said
Shiva, ending their fun.

Another n
ame idea popped into Ash’s mind. It was so perfect he just had to offer it. “How about ‘Knights in Satan’s Service?” he asked, smiling. The two thought on it for a moment. Aura smirked, figuring out what the acronym would be.

“Knights in Satan’s Service…” Shiva
said. “The Knights, they’d call us for short…” She remained pensive about it for another moment, before stating “I like it.” Ash and Aura smiled, and weren’t the least bit surprised that anything having to do with Satan’s name, Shiva would be for. And so the group KISS was formed.

As they waited, Aura
took notice of many Royal Guards stealing glances at them. “These men can’t seem to stop checking us out,” Aura whispered to Ash. “Hey!” Aura said, catching one guy looking right at him. “Got a problem?”

The guard muttered a barely audible “no” and quickly turned away.

“Then what’s with the one-way staring contest?”

“My men are very interested in you,” Captain Pace said. “A death toucher and a human are quite an unusual sight.”

“Even if we are, it’s rude to stare!” Aura said.

“
Half
-human,” Ash said. He hoped that in time, he would no longer be singled out as a ‘human’. Then he felt saddened for being ashamed of his humanity.
What was wrong with me? I shouldn’t care what the devils think of me. I should be figuring out how to get back home! Not sticking around Hell long enough for the devils to accept me as one of them.

“Perhaps it would liven the mood if we were to invite you to join our activities,” Pace
said. “We were just about to start a sparring session.”

“Excellent, I was getting bored,” said
Shiva.

“I’d rather not,” Aura said.

“Yes you will,” Shiva replied. “You’ve
barely
proven your combat skills. It’s time for a real display of your so-called ‘talents’ in fighting.”

“Fine,” Aura
said with a sigh and gave in. “Sitting around was beginning to bore me anyway. Nothing like a little sparring to get the ol’ blood flowing, eh Ash?” He stood up and started to stretch.

“Me too?”

“You too, Ash. You haven’t had any training today, and frankly I think you could use all the practice you can get,” she said.

“Of course. I didn’t think I was getting out of this,” he said, standing
up. “Will you be joining us?”

“Nope,” Shiva replied. “These guys won’t fight against me. They’re too
chicken
. Give these two a workout, okay?” she said to Pace. “
Especially
him.” She motioned to Aura.

“Of course, my Lady,”
the Captain said with a smile. “Alright men, into the sparring room.” The men stood up and filed into the sparring room next door. Some seemed anxious to fight against them, others seemed nervous. Ash and the rest followed them through the door in the back of the barracks, which lead to a wide-open gymnasium-like room, complete with benches along the sides for spectators to sit. Shiva and Captain Pace took their seats along the side, waiting for the show to begin.

“The use of armor is not allowed in sparring,” Pace announced to Shiva’s group. He tossed Aura a leather glove. “We’ll let you wear this instead of your metal gauntlet, for obvious reasons.” Though he disliked wearing anything other than his own metal gauntlet, he understood and switched it out for the leather glove instead.

The various soldiers of the Royal Guard removed whatever armor they were wearing. Many of them remained in their normal clothes, some of them even put on training robes. When they were done they all lined up.

“Alright men, whatever order you’re standing in will be the order in which you’ll engage them,” Pace said. “If the two of you would stand in the center of each circle you see painted on the floor,” he
said to Ash and Aura, “the object of sparring is to force your opponent out of the circle. The use of flame is prohibited, so keep it to hand-to-hand combat only.”

Ash was happy to hear this rule, as he had not yet managed anything more than a few sparks. Any time he fought against someone, he ran the risk of being at a major disadvantage for it. 

The two of them took their positions on opposite ends of the room, stepping inside their circles. The men lined up, waiting to get inside the circles and spar. Shiva yawned, wishing they would just get started already.

“You may begin,” the captain
said. The first two men in line stepped forward, one to Ash’s circle, and one to Aura’s.

“Hey Ash!” Aura called from across the room to him, “I bet
I can beat more guys than you!”

“You’re on!” Ash yelled back, though he wasn’t quite so sure he could outdo Aura.

His opponent, a young man wearing a dirty white training robe, didn’t say anything as he faced Ash. He took a fighting stance while Ash just stood there and watched him. After a deep breath, the man punched forward. It wasn’t much of a punch, compared to anyone Ash had fought thus far, allowing Ash to easily grab the man’s arm, put his foot behind his leg, and trip him to the ground. Once on the ground, Ash tightened his grip on the man’s arm and dragged him out of the circle.

He
looked over at Aura who was staring down his opponent.  

“That’s one for me, Aura!”
said Ash.

“Hey friend,” Aura whispered to his opponent, “Want to see my death touching hand?” Once again, Aura held his arm before him and gripped it with his other hand. His opponent, overcome with fear, stepped back until he was
conveniently outside the circle.

“That was cheap!” Ash said.

“1-1,” Aura replied, keeping score. Their next opponents joined them, and they started anew. Ash’s second sparring partner was a bit craftier. He was a small guy, who used his size to his advantage. He wormed around the circle, sneaking past Ash’s attacks and landing a couple weak hits to Ash as well. He couldn’t really do any real damage, though. Once Ash caught him, he was easily able to toss him out of the circle.

Aura’s second opponent was even easier. All he had to do was rush forward and grab him. The man put up very little of a fight, and Aura was able to easily push him out. The score was tied again, as their next opponents entered.

The two of them continued playing like this for an hour. Ash discovered that in a fair one-on-one fight he could really hold his own. Even without the use of fire he was doing well. He wondered if he had always been latently good at fighting, or if it was the devil blood that gave him his talent. Heck, maybe it was all the video games he played! Whatever the reason, he knew he had come a
long
way in a short amount of time.

Aura wasn’t too shabby either. Shiva had been skeptical of his fighting ability, thinking he was only on the team for his death touch. She was surprised to see an intelligent, capable combatant in him. He was a more tactical fighter than Ash, and would always wait for his opponent to
strike first. He assessed them and created strategies based on who he was fighting, factoring in body size, strength, and fighting style.

While Shiva
silently watched them from the sideline, another man entered undetected into the sparring room. He watched for a moment, allowing his anger to rise to a boiling point that was as brutal as it was uncalled for. Finally, Commander Stryd could take no more of watching the death toucher and the half-human make a mockery of his soldiers.

“What is going on here?!
”
the Commander of the Royal Guard screamed.

Chapter Fifteen: Stride for Stryd

The men stopped what they were doing and fell in line. Captain Pace jumped off the bench and stepped forward to explain the situation to his enraged Commander.

“Commander! Lady Shiva is here to see you! While they were waiting, we challenged them to some sparring!” By the way he frantically tried
to explain himself, everyone could see the severity of the situation. The Commander stood silently now, his eyes moving from Lady Shiva on the bench to the circles where Ash and Aura stood. Shiva stood and took over the explanation from the fumbling Captain, who was not at all bothered to be out of the spotlight. 

“Commander Stryd, we’re here to ask you some questi
ons about a recent theft,” she said.

The soldiers, along with Ash and Aura, remained still, uncertain of whether or not they should continue sparring.

“So, Lady Shiva,” Stryd said, “your
crack team
has been assembled and you’ve been given a mission, huh?”

Shiva remained silent.

“And I see you’ve added the infamous
death toucher
to your group,” he said, motioning to Aura. The look on his face read disgust.

Aura knew there were certain times when he should just stay silent. This was one of them. He had heard all the stories about Commander Stryd. He knew him as a ruthless, dangerous, strong man who had cut down many criminals and some that weren’t even guilty. A few of them were men that Aura had known personally. He was very lucky to have avoided any interaction with the Commander thus far.

“We’re here to ask you some questions,” Shiva said, trying to assert herself. The only thing she succeeded in was turning the Commander’s attention back to her.

“My men are p
atrolling the streets right now searching for the thief,” Stryd said. “When we find him, you’ll be informed.”

“We were assigned to this case,
Stryd,
” she said, dropping the formalities.

“I am not obligated to share any of my information with you.”

The room came to a standstill, as no one knew what to do. The Royal Guard soldiers were too frightened of their Commander to move, and the other two were waiting to see how Shiva would handle the situation. The tension was high and it seemed that Commander Stryd was calling the shots.

“How about a game?” Stryd
said, changing gears.

“Go on,” Shiva
said.

“A spar
ring match between your two men and myself.”

“You want to spar against those two? At the same time?”

“How about it?” Stryd asked them. “I’ll take you both on at the same time. If you can knock me out of the circle, I’ll give you the information you’re after.” 

“What do you want if you win?”

“I want you to sit on your butts and leave this to us.”

Ash knew that would result in that much talked-about discipline scenario. It was a no-brainer to him to decline the challenge and continue
looking for clues on their own.

“Deal,” Shiva said. “Don’t mess this up you two!”

“Thanks for consulting us on the matter!” Aura said to Shiva as they huddled together before the sparring match. Commander Stryd had gone to his office to change. All around the room, the various men that they had been sparring with only minutes ago now sat on the benches and floor, waiting to see their Commander in action. The room
became loud and intense.

“Look,”
said Shiva, “I’ve seen Stryd fight. He’s good, but you two are alright. And two ‘alrights’ make a good, so it’s kind of like an even match.”

“Was that a compliment?” Ash asked.

“No!” she said. “It’s two against one in sparring! You’ll be fine!”

As Commander Stryd reentered the sparring room, the Royal Guard members burst into an uproar of cheers and applause. 

“Maybe! But if we lose this, we lose our first mission too!” Ash said.

“Use that as your motivation. Now get in there!” she
said, pointing at the circle with Commander Stryd awaiting them in the center. Luckily he wasn't wearing his black spiky armor, or this sparring match would be impossible to win. Instead, he wore a simple white robe like the other Royal Guard soldiers had. Except his was exceptionally clean.

“I’m waiting,
children
,” Stryd said. They left their group huddle with Shiva and made their way towards the circle.

“Okay, basic strategy,” Aura whispered to Ash, “since we haven’t fought together yet, let’s keep our attacks separate. Don’t interfere when the other person is attacking, got it?”

“Sounds good,” Ash replied. He didn’t have a strategy of his own to offer, so it was nice to at least have some idea of what to do once they started. He hoped that Aura was wiser than he led on.

Together, they stepped into the sparring circle. Commander Stryd threw a couple practice punches into the air, warming up. He somehow managed to look even more intimidating without his armor. “Been a while since I’ve had a challenge,” he said. “I don’t have very high hopes for this, though.”

Ash and Aura both put up their defenses, waiting to see what Stryd would do. For the moment, Stryd was looking down, focusing on his feet. Ash saw this as an opportunity, but Aura saw it as a trap. Ash moved to attack, and Stryd was waiting. As soon as Ash stepped forward, Stryd went low, sweeping the ground. Ash jumped it, but Stryd was back up with a roundhouse kick, knocking him to the ground.

Shiva and Captain Pace sat at the sidebar, watching.
While Pace twirled his mustache admiring his Commander, Shiva sat disappointed. She had thought she taught Ash better than to fall for such a simple trick. All it took was one wrong move and the battle would be over.

Aura crept up from behind, attempting to put Stryd in some kind of hold. However, Stryd reacted too quickly and jabbed his elbow straight back into Aura’s stomach. Gasping, Aura jumped back, not wanting to fall prey to another attack. Meanwhile, Ash was in the process of standing back up, but Stryd was moving in on him. The Commander threw a kick, aiming for Ash’s jaw, but the boy caught his foot instead and held on.

This gave Aura just enough time to retry his idea of putting Stryd in a hold. He crept up from behind again, but Stryd anticipated it for the second time. The Commander instead grabbed him by his shirt and tossed him into Ash, causing Ash to lose his grip on Stryd’s leg. The two boys were dangerously close to the edge of the circle, and all Stryd had to do was push them out.

“Idiots!” Shiva stood up and shouted. Seeing their pathetic display of fighting made it all the harder to sit back and watch. Captain Pace’s sly smile and the way he twirled his mustache with his finger only increased her anger. Even though he was smiling because he was happy to see his Commander in action, she took it as an insult.

“How about we try a team attack now?” Ash said, standing up.

“Good idea. I’ll go high, you go low,” Aura replied.

The two of them charged at him, side by side. Aura threw a punch aimed at Stryd’s face, while Ash kicked at his stomach. Stryd simply reached out and plucked their fist and foot, as if they were merely dangling in the air. Shiva stood again and made a loud, disappointed, painful sound.

“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Stryd
said, tightening his grip.

Simultaneously, Ash punched while Aura kicked, making Stryd release them. They jumped back to a safer distance.

“Yes!” Shiva shouted again. She was really getting into the match, and rightfully so. Her pride was at stake, after all.

“The team attack didn’t work,” Aura said. “Hang back for a second, I’m going to go one on one with him.”

“Have at it,” Ash said, panting.

Aura rushed forward while Stryd braced himself. At the last second before he would have run into him, Aura sidestepped
instead, attempting to throw him off. It worked, as Stryd threw a punch where Aura was no longer standing. Seeing an opening, Aura threw a solid punch right at him, which connected with Stry’d face.

Stryd stumbled backward, but caught himself and stood his ground. While he was staggering, Aura got around to his other side and jabbed straight into his torso with his leather glove. Stryd shouted in pain and anger.  Shiva erupted with cheers from the sideline as Aura hopped back to where he left Ash standing.

“He’s old and slow. That’s how we’ll beat him,” Aura told Ash.

“Now you’ve got him!” Shiva
said. Captain Pace’s smile disappeared, replaced by a look of worry. It was the first time anyone had actually hit the Commander during a sparring match. Of course, the Commander rarely joined in any sparring sessions anyway, but still it was a first for him.

Stryd could only gasp for breathe and stare in rage at them.

“Zig-zag patterns, then?” Ash asked.

“Let’s go,”
said Aura.

Together, Ash and Aura zoomed forward, darting unpredictably back and forth. Stryd was clearly having problems keeping track of both of them at the same time, his eyes bouncing back and forth between the two. When Aura went low to kick out his legs, Stryd guarded by stepping backwards, but he wasn’t prepared for Ash standing behind him.

Ash placed his hands on Stryd’s shoulders for grip, and his foot on the small of his back. Putting all his weight into it, he rolled backwards on the ground, flipping Stryd over. Stryd quickly climbed to his feet, but realized that he was now dangerously close to the edge.

“You got him!” Shiva shouted her lungs out. “Finish it!”

“One last push,” Aura said.

Again, he and Ash rushed forward, keeping a straight path this time. They started throwing punches, most of them wild and meant to distract Stryd from the real punches. Stryd
had no problem deflecting and dodging their attacks, but every hit that actually landed slowed him down more and more.

The Commander finally managed to throw his own attacks into the mix, which Aura and Ash did their best to avoid.  When it became apparent that they themselves were being pushed back, Ash had to think of something quick.

The room was so loud with the soldiers’ cheers that it was hard to think. Shiva and Pace were on the edge of their seats. The match was close to being over, but as Stryd pushed and pushed, the two were losing ground.

“I have an idea,” Ash
said. “Get behind him and kneel down.”

Aura
tried to work his way around Stryd while still trading blows with him. Ash tried to keep the Commander preoccupied and allow Aura some freedom to get behind him, but Stryd was too experienced of a fighter to just simply allow an enemy to flank him. Ash started to really step up his game, throwing punches faster and more randomly, but something else was missing.

Ash needed an element of surprise and confusion that would cause Stryd to lose focus on Aura for only a second. He thought about what he could do, and came to only one conclusion.
The boy stepped back and brought out his wings, spreading them wide open.

“
What are you doing?”
Stryd and Shiva shouted in unison. This little break was exactly what Aura needed, as he took his place kneeling on the ground right behind Stryd. Ash smiled, seeing Aura in place, and jumped high, planting both his feet on Stryd’s chest and kicking him backwards.

It wasn’t a strong kick, but it didn’t need to be. Stryd expected to only take a step backward, but tripped over Aura and fell back, outside of the circle. His men all shouted in outrage. Shiva leapt from her seat, cheering only for a moment. She realized what she was doing, and collected herself into a more composed figure. Captain Pace rushed in to help Stryd to his feet.

Ash and Aura took a moment to breath a huge sigh of relief. They couldn’t even believe they had done it! They slapped each other a high five, smiling triumphantly.

Commander Stryd
tried his best to push away the helpful hands of Captain Pace and a few other Royal Guards that decided to help him up. Shiva approached her teammates, hoping they didn’t see her joyous outburst a moment ago.

“I told you that you could beat him,” she said.

“I guess we’re better than ‘alright’, huh?” Aura asked, fishing for a compliment.

“It was two-on-one! Of course you would win, regardless of your skill.”

Back on his feet, Commander Stryd and his posse of Royal Guard marched over to the three. Stryd was noticeably furious, as this had been his first loss in years. Not since he was a young rookie himself had he tasted defeat. The fact that it had come at the hands of such a motley duo just added insult to injury.

As Stryd approached, it didn’t look like he was going to start talking. Ash was still catching his breath, and was completely off-guard at the moment. His rage getting the better of him, Stryd took the opportunity. With all his fury and strength backing him, he threw a lightning-fast p
unch aimed square at Ash’s face.