"The Book told me." Ruby Knowby held the coverless Book of the Dead tightly against her chest, her expression turning cold as she watched young Ash. The living artifact had apparently told her exactly what happened at Books from Beyond - that Ash had used its contracts to summon one demon after another, killed them inside Lionel's containment circles, and frightened most of the weaker survivors into canceling their agreements.
Once Ruby compared those events with the abilities Ash had displayed afterward, especially Hellfire appearing after the Flame Demon and his strange supernatural charisma after killing succubi, the pattern had become impossible to ignore.
Young Ash had already accepted that the Book of the Dead possessed its own awareness, but Ruby's relationship with it was something else entirely. "So the book actually talks to you?" he asked, keeping his attention fixed on both her and the artifact. Ruby's eyes suddenly turned completely black, while her voice seemed to come from every corner of the cabin at once. "Of course it does. I helped write it."
Older Ash, still recovering from being thrown across the room, slowly looked up. "You're one of the Dark Ones?"
Ruby smiled.
That explained far too much.
She was not merely Professor Raymond Knowby's mysterious daughter or an unusually experienced demon hunter. She was an ancient being connected directly to the creation of the Books of the Dead, which also explained her knowledge of its rituals, the demonic residue surrounding her, and her extreme regenerative ability.
Ruby stared at young Ash with genuine curiosity now. "What are you? I have seen humans steal artifacts, bargain with demons, inherit curses, and borrow power through contracts, but I have never seen someone take abilities directly from the spirits of creatures he kills." Her black eyes narrowed. "You destroy them, and something they possessed becomes yours."
Ash shrugged. "If you figure out the answer, let me know."
He was not joking.
Even now, he still did not understand the true origin of the force that strengthened him after supernatural kills. It rewarded him with physical enhancements, spiritual growth, and occasionally abilities, but whether it came from some divine system, an unknown cosmic law, or something stranger remained completely outside his knowledge.
Ash glanced at Ruby and added, "Whatever it is, I seriously doubt it's a god. If it is, it's a pretty stingy one."
Older Ash finally pushed himself upright, one hand pressed against his aching chest. "Forget junior for a second. You're telling me you're an ancient Dark One who wrote the damn book?" His gaze traveled over Ruby's burned and regenerated body before his usual lack of restraint returned. "And this whole dramatic reveal had to happen after your clothes got turned to ash? Real subtle."
Ruby's expression darkened.
Young Ash emerged from the shadow beside older Ash and immediately interrupted before the argument became even dumber. "How bad are you hurt?"
Older Ash coughed once and rolled his shoulder. "Nothing broken, I think. Give me another minute and I'll be ready to make bad decisions again."
"That's basically your natural state."
"Exactly."
Once he confirmed older Ash could still move, young Ash disappeared again. Shadow Travel carried him through a nearby patch of darkness cast by the furniture, and he emerged directly beside Ruby with one hand already reaching for the Book of the Dead. His fingers almost closed around the exposed pages when something suddenly burst out from between them.
A grotesque little demon head lunged straight at him.
Ash reacted on instinct.
His hand closed.
There was a wet crunch.
The creature's skull collapsed between his fingers, and Ash accidentally dragged the headless little body halfway out of the book before realizing what he had done.
He looked down at it.
Then at Ruby.
"Was that one of your kids?"
Ruby stared at the limp imp in his hand.
Ash gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry. Reflex."
Ruby inhaled sharply.
Then screamed.
The sound hit like a physical weapon.
It was not merely loud; the shriek carried supernatural force that stabbed directly into the skull and inner ear. Young Ash, standing only a few feet away, felt as though someone had driven needles through both eardrums while the cabin windows rattled violently under the pressure.
Older Ash suffered even worse.
Blood immediately ran from both ears as he staggered backward and tried to cover them. His left hand sealed one side while the mechanical attachment on his right arm could only awkwardly press against the other, leaving him swearing through clenched teeth.
Young Ash grimaced and forced himself forward despite the pain. "Okay. That's annoying."
Ruby screamed louder.
Ash threw a punch straight toward her mouth.
His fist stopped inches from her face.
Five more small demons had crawled out of the Book of the Dead and wrapped themselves around his arm. Ten wiry hands clung to his sleeve, wrist, and elbow with surprising desperation, combining their strength to keep the blow from connecting.
Ruby immediately broke away.
Ash looked down at the imps hanging from him.
"Seriously?"
Hellfire exploded around his arm.
The creatures shrieked as infernal flames raced over their bodies and burned through flesh and spirit simultaneously. Ash swept his hand outward, releasing a circular wave of fire that reduced the remaining imps to ash and continued toward Ruby.
She slapped one palm against an exposed page of the Book of the Dead and spoke a short Kandarian phrase.
The air warped.
Ash's flames struck something invisible and scattered violently to both sides.
For a fraction of a second, Ruby smiled.
Then young Ash appeared directly in front of her.
The shadow cast beside the cabin doorway had carried him around the barrier.
His fist punched through Ruby's abdomen.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
Ruby's entire body jerked.
Ash looked almost disappointed.
He had been deliberately holding back in several of his attacks because Ruby was ancient, effectively immortal, and one of the Dark Ones responsible for the Book of the Dead. Everything about her background suggested she should possess terrifying personal combat power, so Ash had expected some hidden counterattack the moment he committed too heavily.
Instead, he had found something strange.
Ruby was not particularly strong.
She was stronger than an ordinary human, certainly, and her durability was irrelevant because of her regeneration, but her speed and raw physical strength were nowhere near Ash's level. Without the Book of the Dead, her spells, immortality, and supernatural knowledge, she would have been surprisingly unimpressive in direct combat.
Ash pulled his arm out of her body, bringing blood with it. "You're weirdly weak."
Ruby's black eyes locked onto him.
Ash realized how that sounded and added, "That wasn't an insult. I genuinely expected more."
Ruby clearly did not believe him.
Her expression twisted with fury.
Then she spat blood directly into the air.
The droplets turned black before they hit the floor.
The blood pouring from the hole in her abdomen darkened at the same time, spread unnaturally across the boards, and began bubbling as small shapes emerged from it. Within seconds another pack of malformed imps crawled free, snarling and throwing themselves toward Ash.
He sighed.
"More?"
Hellfire swept through them.
The creatures died almost immediately.
They were fast and disturbing to look at, but individually they possessed little more physical strength than an ordinary human. Without Ruby using them as distractions, they were barely worth considering as opponents.
The rewards were not much better.
Ash received Demonic Fluency.
Again.
And again.
Several nearly identical impressions merged into the ability he already possessed, strengthening his instinctive understanding of demonic languages and supernatural communication. After enough duplicates, however, the improvement became negligible.
Ash frowned.
"So even stacking has limits."
Apparently, killing endless copies of the same weak creature would not let one ability grow forever.
The imps were not the only new power on his mind. The ability extracted from the massive tree demon outside had finally settled enough for him to understand it properly, and compared with Hellfire or Shadow Travel, it was almost comically mundane.
Bark Camouflage.
When Ash remained in contact with wood or stayed close enough to dense plant material, he could temporarily alter the texture and coloration of his skin to resemble bark, leaves, or the surrounding vegetation. It was essentially supernatural camouflage, useful for hiding in forests or wooden structures but far less exciting than ripping through space or burning demons from the inside.
Combined with Invisibility and Presence Concealment, it was almost redundant.
Still, another tool was another tool.
Ruby watched the last of her imps burn away and finally accepted that fighting Ash through attrition was not going to work. Her expression hardened, and she slammed one hand against the Book of the Dead while rapidly chanting a much longer passage in the ancient Kandarian language.
Young Ash immediately felt the atmosphere change.
Not demonic pressure.
Space itself.
Outside the cabin, the air folded inward.
A small point of blue light appeared above the clearing.
Then expanded violently.
Within seconds, a huge rotating vortex filled the darkness outside, its center glowing with deep blue energy while the surrounding air twisted around it. Dirt, dead leaves, broken branches, and loose debris lifted from the ground and flew toward the opening.
Older Ash looked through the doorway.
His face went pale.
"Oh, come on."
Young Ash turned toward him. "You recognize that?"
Older Ash stared at the vortex with a mixture of anger and dread. "I recognize enough. Last time Kandarian magic started opening giant holes in reality, nothing good happened afterward."
The suction intensified.
Older Ash grabbed the edge of a table.
The table moved with him.
"Damn it!"
His fingers slipped.
He flew backward.
The enchanted shotgun lying on the floor lifted into the air at the same time, spinning after him as both were dragged through the open doorway.
Young Ash reached toward him.
Too late.
Older Ashley J. Williams disappeared into the blue vortex.
The shotgun vanished behind him.
The portal did not close.
Young Ash planted both feet and lowered his center of gravity as the pull turned toward him. For one confused second he thought the living cabin had started attacking again, but the direction and nature of the force made the truth obvious.
The Book of the Dead could open dimensional rifts.
Not just summon demons.
It could banish people somewhere else.
Another world.
Another place.
Possibly even another time.
"Of course it can."
Ash dug his fingers into a wooden beam.
Ruby remained almost perfectly stable in the middle of the chaos.
She was still chanting.
A faint layer of supernatural energy covered her body, apparently shielding her from the vortex while everything else in the cabin was gradually dragged toward it. The Book of the Dead stayed open in her hands as though the artifact itself were anchoring her to reality.
Ash narrowed his eyes.
"If you can do that, you could've just left earlier."
Ruby smiled coldly.
"This isn't for me."
She turned the Book toward him.
A sharp Kandarian syllable left her mouth.
Invisible force slammed into Ash.
He crossed both arms and blocked the telekinetic strike without difficulty, his enhanced body barely moving from the impact itself. Under ordinary circumstances, Ruby's telekinesis would not have been enough to throw him anywhere.
But ordinary circumstances did not include a dimensional vortex trying to swallow the cabin.
Ash's footing shifted.
That was enough.
His body lifted several inches from the floor.
He immediately activated Shadow Travel and dropped into the nearest cast shadow, expecting the dimensional transition to break the pull.
It did not.
The shadow itself stretched toward the vortex.
Ash felt the same impossible force grabbing him even while his body was merged with darkness.
His eyes widened.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Shadow Travel could avoid physical attacks.
It could cross obstacles.
It could hide him inside a cast shadow.
But this was not a normal force acting on his physical body.
The dimensional vortex was pulling at his entire existence.
Ash was forced back out of the shadow as Ruby struck him with telekinesis again. He blocked the attack, but the impact destroyed what little balance he had managed to recover.
His feet left the ground completely.
The cabin rushed away beneath him.
Young Ash floated toward the roaring blue vortex.
Ruby watched from behind the Book of the Dead.
And this time, there was nothing between Ash and the portal.