Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) (37 page)

The current carried the boat up and then fed into a connected column of water that ran horizontally away from Aura. The boy took a giant breath and shook out his nerves. Once more, he decided he would need to plunge back into the water. Though he completely and utterly dreaded the thought of going back in.

“
Think I don’t know what you’re up to, stupid devil
?” Orkazek’s voice rumbled through the water as Aura leapt and glided across the rocks. “
You want to use that boat to escape
!
But there’s no way you can get it out of the water
!
My Stream Queen is too powerful, that boat will never escape the water’s pull
!
But just for fun, let’s raise the stakes a little. The killer whales on Earth like to play with their food, and I’m no different
!
Instead of crushing all your hopes right now and ejecting the boat, I’ll only send it my way instead. You have until the boat gets to me to rescue it and make your great escape
!”

The demon cackled with arrogance, causing some of the water streams to bubble. Aura returned the challenge with a smirk and a scoff.

“You think you’ve got me all figured out, demon?” Aura asked, keeping one eye on the boat and the other on the demon whale. “Why would I escape when I’m about to kill you?”

“
Go ahead and think you’ve won
!” the demon replied, her temper noticeably more foul. “
As soon as you entered this cage you became my next meal
!
Remember that
!
I’ve been civil by prolonging your death, but I could just as easily end your life now if you insist on being so rude to a lady
!”

“Lady?
Lady
!” Aura replied. “Marni Narnya is a
lady.
Yazma Bethilda is a
lady
. Aralia’s a lady too. Heck, even
Shiva
is more of a
lady
than you! You’re just a big
dumb
whale.”

Aura hustled to keep up with the boat as he moved across the rocks. The water current seemed to be speeding up; no doubt a tactic of the frustrated demon, meant to keep Aura from reaching his goal.

Stupid devil,
Orkazek thought.
I’m so smart I can see right through his plan. He’ll jump straight at the boat and try to ride it out of the stream. All I have to do is capture him in a stream before that happens
!
I can’t wait to taste the defeat in his blood
!

“
Come on death toucher
!” the demon wailed. “
Let’s see what you can really do
!”

Two new columns of water shot out of the cage just feet away from where Aura currently hung in the air, mid-jump. The gravity-defying water columns surrounded him on both sides. With nowhere to run, Aura adjusted his wings to cut the air and push him
down
. The death toucher dropped and caught the edge of the next rock. In response to his dodge, the water streams changed course as well.

The first stream collided with the top of another rock that stood between them. It didn’t redirect itself or give chase after that. The second water column grazed the top of the rock he was clasping and gave his head a good soaking, but failed to pull the boy in. As soon as Orkazek abandoned those streams, the water stopped flowing and Aura pulled himself up on to the rock.

So it seems there are at least some limitations to her streams
, he thought.
Maybe there’s a limit to how many she can create and control at the same time. That’s good, because I’ll really have the exploit the crap out of it if I want this plan to work
!

That was the end of the thought break. More streams blasted out of the nearby water columns, completely surrounding the death toucher.

“
Aw cheap
!” Aura shouted as he dropped to all fours, hugging the top of the rock. Two of the streams collided above him as he rolled off the edge of the rock, pushing off it with his feet and jumping over to the next rock. Two more streams ran into the surrounding tall rocks, and Aura jumped up and out of the way of the last stream.

More were on the way. The death toucher cursed as he ducked, rolled, dove, jumped, glided, and kicked off rocks to avoid the oncoming onslaught of water columns chasing him. He moved around the battlefield strategically avoiding the attacks, always watching the location of the boat. He still intended on hitting it at a certain time, when it had reached a certain place.

That time was approaching.

The boat rounded another corner like a torpedo and shot into a connected stream. It went faster than a motorboat now, but Aura was close enough that it didn’t matter. The boat was heading straight for him. Behind him, Orkazek waited in the water to tear the boy to shreds.

Now or never
, Aura thought. Before the next barrage of water columns could give chase, the death toucher broke for the rock platform closest to the water stream. He landed on that rock and waited on the edge. The boat was almost at the point he needed it to be, but it would be a few more seconds. Seconds that he didn’t have, because of the invading water columns.

Aura jumped, hoping the boat was
exactly
where he wanted it. He had time to speak only two words before he crashed into the water stream for the last time.

“
Oh nooo
!”

SPLASH
!

Aura collided with the water stream that carried the boat. The boat, however, hadn’t arrived yet. It was still about three feet behind him. That meant Aura arrived too early to attempt knocking the boat out of the water. He struggled against the current, pointing his head forward and extending his arm as he flailed.

He’s done for now
, thought Orkazek, pulling the current toward her as fast as possible like a fisherman reeling in a catch.
He can’t escape and there’s no way he’ll get me with that cursed hand before I bite down and end his life instantly
!
The victory, and the meal, goes to the smartest. And that’s me
!

Orkazek opened her jaws wide, filling the entirety of the water tunnel. There would be no escape from her this time. The current dragged the devil to a collision with certain death mere moments away. Instead of the seemingly random flailing he was doing earlier, Aura moved his body in a new, strange manner. He crunched his legs and abs together like he was pulling himself back on something.

In actuality, he
was
. The death toucher’s feet were wrapped around a small thin breasthook in the bow of the boat behind him. Using that as an anchor, he was able to pull himself back on top of the boat, almost like he were riding it. Even underwater, the boy instinctively smiled. He managed to wedge his feet behind the back seat of the rowboat. Focusing a small amount of soul power to his feet, Aura propelled the wooden rowboat forward like a submarine firing a torpedo straight into the demon’s open mouth.

Dumb whale,
Aura thought in those last seconds that seemed, to his drowning brain, to last forever.
As soon as you were sure enough of your victory to stop watching the stream ahead of you, you lost.

The boat collided with the demon’s unsuspecting jaws. Orkazek had been expecting a small, soft devil treat to tear into. What she got instead was a five-hundred pound wooden boat slammed down her throat. Even though she reacted instantly, biting down and nearly breaking the boat in two, there was simply just too much for her to handle. It seemed she had bitten off more than she could masticate.

The moment of ensuing uncertainty and prolonged panic by the demon was what ultimately led to her death. Aura, too, was moving at an incredibly fast speed, and was right behind the boat. There was just not enough time for Orkazek to react, or even think about reacting. Aura slammed into the big dumb whale demon’s big dumb whale head fist first.

Death punch
!

Blue bolts of lightning danced across the black hand, jumping off the boy’s skin and into the greater demon. The two hung there in the water for seconds. Minutes. Aura couldn’t be sure, as his oxygen-starved body was experiencing difficulty keeping track of time. All he knew was that he had to keep pumping his remaining soul energy into forcing out the demon’s soul, or he was done for.

Then Aura felt the wonderful, warm sensation of dry air hitting his face, blowing back his hair. He blinked several times to clear the excess moisture in his eyeballs so he could see properly. What he saw was perfection.

Orkazek’s limp, lifeless corpse hung in the air with Aura’s fist still connected. In the air hung a dense, purplish cloud of mist. The little ball of demon spirit energy flickered and wavered as it hovered there, slowly returning to its home beyond the stars. Behind them, the cage made of free-flowing water columns fell apart. Everything that was sucked into the currents and trapped was dumped on the rocks below, the water falling back to the sea.

Aura was in full view of the beach, where he could see a giant mass of people gathering there to watch his duel. He could see multiple boats on the water; among their occupants the death toucher could make out the sight of both his unconscious challenger, the Captain, and former nemesis, Bora. Both were safe and sound.

Funny,
thought Aura as he hung there in the air.
In the end, you lost because you were too stupid. Though I must admit, I only won because I had Bora’s boat. That means technically Bora saved my life
, the death toucher though, depressed. He took a deep breath and sighed before plunging into the sea.
But I saved his life too, so that cancels it all out. I guess I should be nicer to him from now on. It was pretty cool of him to row out here to try and help me.

The death toucher swam for the nearest rock.
I kind of want to be his buddy, actually. He’s a pretty cool dude. Though I will never, ever, tell him any of this.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Infinite Arms

The card tournament was ruined.
Again.

Alarmed cries erupted from the spectators as the colossal greater demon rose off the ground before Shiva, towering over the Princess and her injured orphan friend. While everyone else saw the demon, turned tail and ran, the Satan girl took a defensive stance and plotted strategy. It was not easy, considering the troubling size and shape of her demonic foe.

Tables flipped and cards spilled through the air as panicked gamers fled from the greater demon. The beast looked like a giant armored worm, standing so tall on its hundreds of long, thin, red legs that it had to arch its elongated body just to keep from tearing down the tent. The demon waved two thin antennae attached to its head, where six eyes and a gaping mouth all pointed at the devil Princess.

“
It’s good to finally get out of that stuffy devil body and stretch my legs
!” the demon said, looming over Shiva with an expressionless face. The demon’s many legs wiggled and waved like weeds in the wind. From where she was standing, Shiva could see the brilliant red coloring on the demon’s underside.

“
Princess of the devils, Shiva Satan, is it
?
Nice to eat ‘cha, you can call me Podavek. My Prince has given me the task of feasting on your corpse
,
which I was perfectly content to do until I ran into the little runt that hurt Prince Otozek
!
I knew my Master would appreciate the gesture of me bringing the little dungling to him for an afternoon snack. Looks like I can take care of both of you at the same time now
!”

The colossal armored centipede’s legs wiggled erratically as it swayed back and forth in joy at the fortunate turn of events. Shiva ignored the giant insect demon and cocked her head to check on Uverstarr. “Can you get up, kid?” she asked, gripping her flaming bolas defensively. “I’m going to have to kick some ass here. If you can get up and run away, you should do it.”

Uverstarr sat up and climbed to his feet trying not to wince too much. He wanted to look tough in front of Shiva. “I’m fine,” the boy stated. “I wanna stick around and kick this demon’s butt too… if it even has one!”

“You’ll only get in my way, kid,” Shiva replied with a smirk. “Leave the demon busting to the professional and go hide. Don’t make me tell Mr. Kurdis on you!”

“Fine, fine!” Uverstarr replied, backing off in the opposite direction from the demon. “You better
exterminate
that pest, yo!” he said, leaving the covered tent and entering the now-emptied cobblestone streets of a ritzy North Hell neighborhood.

“Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll take care of
big bug
here,” Shiva said, brandishing her weapon with an anxious grin.

Podavek stood mostly still, aside from erratically waving around its little red legs. As the panic in the crowded streets grew, whistles from the Royal Guards pierced the air around the tent. Shiva could see a squad of the crimson armored guards circling the gaming area, encroaching slowly on the unpredictable demon. Shiva saw the creature’s eyes rolling around in their sockets, scoping out the situation. One eye stayed eerily focused on her though.

With the fire raging inside her bolas, Shiva leapt forward swinging the metal ball and chain weapon. She aimed for the demon’s fiery red belly, a large target. Podavek seemed more interested in the surrounding Royal Guards, because the demon didn’t even try to avoid Shiva’s full frontal assault.

The girl made certain to pump a lot of extra flames into the ball, swinging it with all her strength. Her bolas struck the demon’s underside. The weapon slammed into the demon’s belly with a loud
CLANK
. The demon didn’t even flinch as the bolas dropped to the ground.

“
Uh oh
…” Shiva gasped.

“
Was that a serious attack
?” asked Podavek, directing all six of his eyes back at Shiva. “
Or was it just a light belly scratching
?
I’ll come back for more of that after I stop that little devil from getting away
!”

The humongous centipede demon lowered its front half to the ground before Shiva. The girl backed off slightly and prepared to defend. She didn’t even see the attack coming as Podavek whipped its entire body around and swatted Shiva across the tent with its rear end. The demon did a full three-sixty rotation, and without Shiva blocking the way anymore raced after the fleeing boy.

Shiva rolled across the ground and slammed into a flipped table. She was more disoriented than hurt, and was on her feet in seconds gathering her bearings. She spotted the giant centipede crawling down main street and rushed out of the covered tent after it. She saw the long demon bend its body around so that its front and rear ends connected. Locked like that, Podavek rolled like a runaway wheel after Uverstarr.

“
Uverstarr look out
!”

The boy had a decent head start, but the demon was faster. It caught up to him in seconds, rolling straight over him before he could even turn around. Uverstarr collapsed to the ground under the weight of the demon. It rolled off the boy and turned sharply, disconnecting its ends and rearing up tall on its hind section.

Shiva caught up with Uverstarr and kneeled to inspect the boy again. “You alright?” she asked. She could see the boy breathing and hear him moaning faintly. His eyes fluttered a few times, but he pushed himself off the ground and sat up. Blood dripped from his nostril, but the boy wiped it away and grit his teeth.

“Okay,
that
does it,” he said. “I’m gonna lay the smashdown on that big bug!”

“Looks like it’s not going to let you go so easily,” said Shiva. “Might as well use you as a distraction while I work on a plan to finish it off. Just don’t get in my way, keep to a safe distance, and back me up with your flames.”

“You don’t have to tell
me
how to fight, yo,” the boy replied with a cocky sneer. “I’ve gotten away from you and Ash before, remember? I’m super fast!”

“Then put that speed to use and
dodge
!”

The odd couple jumped back, splitting apart to avoid the charging Podavek. The centipede demon’s running speed was nothing short of
insane.
It spun a one-eighty and pointed its head at Shiva, much to the girl’s surprise. She’d expected the demon to go for Uverstarr again, and so she leapt forward to attack. Facing the demon’s gross bug face didn’t change her plan much. She still brandished her bolas, both ends fully lit and stocked with an extra dose of soul power.

Shiva swung her bolas, certain that the damage from a direct hit to the head would at least
stun
the demon. Every one of Podavek’s little legs moved in unison to take a step to the side, totally avoiding the flaming steel ball. Shiva’s bolas struck the ground with such force the metal ball became lodged in a deep hole. Podavek kept motoring forward until his head was at Shiva’s side. Before the girl could even let go of her weapon, the demon spun around another three-sixty and slammed against Shiva with the many legs of its midsection. Shiva soared across the courtyard and hit the wall of a nearby shop.

“
Prin-sis
!” Uverstarr said in dismay as he watched, helpless while he escaped. The boy balled up his fists in determination, no longer able to contain his foul temper. He put his hands together and started gathering flames between his palms. “Get ready to die, demon! This is my ultimate attack, the Uverstarr special Inferno Beam, yo!”

Podavek turned to face the young devil in time to see a bright beam of orange and red shoot out of the devil boy’s hands. The sly demon, though it could have dodged the attack with ease, instead chose to get hit by the beam of flames. The demon arched its midsection and lowered its head, taking the brunt of the attack head-on. Uverstarr maintained the beam of flames for a few seconds before running out.

The demon lifted its head again and stared at the boy. “
I let that attack hit me on purpose to show you just how utterly insignificant your attempts to fight back are
.
And that was your ultimate attack, you say
?
How pathetic
.
Flame tricks are so boring.
”

Uverstarr stared in shock at the unscathed demon. The patch of armor on the demon’s back that got hit was smoking lightly, but looked otherwise the same. The attack had failed to cause any significant damage. Now Podavek’s attention was back on Uverstarr. The mammoth centipede crawled slowly forward, pausing to taste the air with its long disgusting mandibles. Every one of its thin legs squirmed as it inched forward.

“
Uverstarr
,” said Shiva. She managed to climb back onto her feet, with the help of the wall she ran into for balance. A splatter of blood ran across her forehead. “I’m coming! Try to run away!”

Shiva started wobbling toward them, but there was no way she could get there before the demon. Not on her shaky legs. Podavek was only feet away from reaching the boy and Uverstarr had yet to either run or fight back. He just stood there with his face down in despair as the demon closed in on him. Podavek stopped within inches of reaching the boy, arching up so tall it cast a shadow over Uverstarr.

“
Go to sleep for a while, would you
?
I’d prefer you be alive for my Master to eat, but I really must deal with the devil Princess first. It’ll only take a minute, okay
?
Enjoy your last nap until then
!”

“
Hehehehe
…”

The demon came within a second of striking, but paused. “
Is that…laughter
?
Do devils sometimes laugh in times of great despair
?”

“Who ever said I was in despair?” Uverstarr replied. The boy lifted his head and Podavek saw a wily smile as the boy pointed at him. “I got you right where I want you demon! You can’t tell because your eyes can’t see what’s
underneath
you!”

“
Under
…?”

Shiva was close enough now to see what Uverstarr was talking about. At once she realized the boy had actually crafted an amazing plan. Scattered all around the ground where the demon stood were hundreds of marble sized balls of flames. There was no way that Podavek could have seen the flames with his eyes so far off the ground and pointing straight ahead. The flames were just too small for him to notice, and now the beast was completely surrounded by them.

“I don’t need my ultimate attack to beat you! Try my exploding flame caltrop field instead!”

With a wave of his arms, the spread of tiny flaming orbs exploded simultaneously. The boy being the expert he was made sure to pump in tons of extra oxygen to make the explosions as large as possible. With so many explosions happening so close together, the resulting blast was like a blazing inferno lit under the demon. Podavek’s entire underside was bathed in flames that washed over its long body and even reached parts of its back.

The hundreds of wiry legs burned and withered away. Podavek fell to the ground, no longer able to carry itself. The greater demon writhed on the ground in pain, shrieking in horrified rage.

“
Whoa
,” said Shiva. She steered clear of the demon’s flopping body and circled around to check on Uverstarr. “Way to go kid! You got him good! Now that he can’t get away, we can just keep focusing our attacks on a single spot until it finally breaks and we kill it!”

Shiva moved slowly to join her comrade. The demon wasn’t making much progress moving without its legs, so she wasn’t in a rush. Up closer she could see the bloody wounds where the demon’s legs used to be connected. The Royal Guards that had been patrolling the area earlier and only watching up until now finally started to move in.

Figures,
thought Shiva as she observed the hesitant soldiers.
They wait till the demon can’t fight back until they move in to help. What spineless cowards. Uverstarr is more useful than them, and that’s pretty sad.

Shiva was alarmed suddenly when Podavek stopped screaming in pain. The giant legless centipede stopped wriggling around aimlessly as well. Instead, it turned to look at Shiva and laughed.

“
You think I’m finished, do you
?” the greater demon said. “
Our time together has only just begun
!
It’s high time I showed off my special skill
:
Infinite Arms
!”

Shiva and Uverstarr stared at the demon, dumbfounded by its sudden cockiness. Then they saw why Podavek was laughing. The bloody, oozing holes where the demon’s legs used to be connected all simultaneously erupted blood like geysers. Little red growths protruded from the wounds. The wiry red strands grew longer and thicker until they reached the ground. The pair of devils gasped in terrified awe as Podavek rose off the ground on a fresh new set of disgusting centipede legs. 

“
This is my power
!
I can arm myself with as many legs as I require, an infinite amount of times
!
You were confident you could beat me without my legs, but with the power of Infinite Arms I’ll never run out of legs, and you’ll never be able to defeat me
!”