I imagine either a few scenarios.
- She's messing with him in her own dark way.
- She copied him and used the copy instead of the original.
- Red is probably invulnerable (Considering he is a magical shapeshifting imp after all)
- Cartoon Logic (we see famous cartoon characters die all the time and yet they still manage to be alive in the next episode.)
These are just a few of the scenerios I've came up with.
To me, the first one seems the most likely considering that if she can actually use Red as an ingredient in that potion, She would have probably done so beforehand and not have to bother with Orbulon. (Plus who says Ashley can't have a sense of humor every now and then?)
The second one is also pretty likely because it's pretty much known that cloning yourself is very much possible in the Marioverse, from the Double Cherries from 3D World
To those Ashley cat badges
To the fake Bowsers in the main series.
So it's certainly possible that Ashley used magic on the guy and basically copied him
And then she used that copy instead of the real deal.
As for the other two?
Welp you got me? They're just theories that popped in my mind.
The third one is pretty out there but still likely as Red is obviously not a normal creature
And the foruth one is sorta the most realistic of the four especially since Warioware generally has very loose continuity