(Flint): You’re certainly a persistent bunch. Especially you, demon. You’re still alive.
(Dust): It’ll take a lot more than a room of heavily armed elves to take me down, cub scout.
*Dust removes his trench coat and tosses it on the ground*
(Dust): I want my car keys back.
(Flint): What? You mean these?
*Flint shows Dust the car keys to the Sharkfang and puts them in his pocket.
(Flint): If you want them so bad come and get them.
(Dust): Fine. I will take my car keys back here and now. You and me. You want to prove you’re better than the Demon’s Shadow well now’s your chance. Let’s do this, Carpe Arbor.
*All the dark elves gasped at Dust’s challenge. They all knew Flint was the man when it came to Carpe Arbors. They’ve seen him challenge multiple elves, but never have they seen someone openly call him out*
(Flint): You’re serious? You’re challenging me to Carpe Arbor? Haven’t you heard? I never lose at these.
(Dust): Neither have I.
(Flint): Fine. I accept your challenge. But only if you can reach me.
*Flint said confidently as the only thing standing between Dust and Flint was the Bansika Family members*
(Lylah): We’ll clear a path for you, Dust.
(Dust): No. This is my fight.
*Dust steps forward where two members of Bansika stand in front of him. Dust and them stare each other down for a few seconds, and then the members of Bansika step aside to let Dust through. Other members began to step aside and let Dust pass through them until Dust was finally in the middle of the group completely surrounded*
(Flint): All right you guys, get Dust Balor.
*Dust looked around waiting for one of them to attack him, but they all stood still and didn’t move. Dust continued to move forward as members of the Bansika family stepped aside. Flint was shocked and angered by what he was seeing. His own family was disobeying his orders*
(Flint): What the hell are you waiting for!? I said get him! Get him! Stop him dammit! Get Dust Balor! What the hell are you doing!?
*Dust was nearing the other side*
(Flint): Britter! Get him!
*As Dust finally cleared the pact he was met by Britter looking down and staring at him. There were bruises on his face, he had a black eye, and you could see medical tape wrapped around his rib area*
(Dust): Hey big guy. You got a problem with me?
*Britter shook his head and stepped aside to let Dust through. Britter walked over to the side of the room followed by the rest of the family members*
(Hibana): Well that was unexpected.
(Jordan): It’s respect and fear for the boss. If this had been anybody else they would have jumped him. But even after all these years Dust’s reputation remains strong within the clan.
*Dust was now only a few steps away from Flint who was stunned by what he just witnessed*
(Dust): Sorry for the wait. Now-
*Focusing on the magic within his body, a black parrying knife appeared in his left hand followed by a gun appearing in his right hand. Dust twirled the gun and knife in each hand and took up a fight stance*
(Dust): Let’s begin.
(Jade): The Demon’s Tools. He’s taking this fight more seriously than I originally thought.
(Brigit): Is this a rare occurrence?
(Raika): Dust only uses this form of fighting when he’s finally serious. The last time he used those was when he fought against Ryuuji for the first time.
(Kai): So this is his him at his best? I’m surprised he doesn’t use it all the time.
(Amarti): He says he likes fighting with his wires the most. It gives him more creative freedom to hurt his opponents.
(Jordan): Even back when he was in the clan it was rare to see those tools.
*Flint responded to Dust’s actions by removing his jacket and summoning his weapon which was a pair of huge nichirin blades tied together by a metal chain. The swords were black and yellow and emitted blue sparks of electricity. The two dark elves charged at other where Dust blocked Flint’s blades with his knife and gun. The impact from the attack pushed both elves backward*
(Flint): Not bad. That’s the first time anyone’s blocked my first strike.
*All of a sudden a cut appeared on Flint’s cheek and blood started pouring out. Flint wiped the blood off his cheek just as three more cuts appeared on his body. The first one was on his right shoulder followed by a second that appeared on his left knee and a third one on his chest*
(Dust): Looks like I’m out of practice. I was trying to cut you three times but I only got two hits in.
(Kai): Three times? Then why did four cuts appear on his body?
(Sanada): It’s his power, divergence. Whenever he hits someone there’s a delayed second hit. The second hit is usually stronger than the first one.
(Kai): I get it. When he slashed Flint twice, he got two more free hits in. That’s quite the dangerous power. Still, I always thought the Shadow Beast technique was his power.
(Zia): Only his first power. Divergence is his second power.
(Amarti): Supposedly, he learned it from his dad.
(Lylah): He inherited the Shadow Beast technique from his mother, and the divergence strike from his father.
(Morgan): Hmph. Inheriting two of the best dark abilities out there. It’s so unfair I can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it.
*Flint recovered from the attacks and swung his blades at Dust which released blue waves of electricity at him. Dust dodged the waves with a sidestep to the right followed by a sidestep to the left and then flipped into the air to avoid the last two attacks. While upside down in the air, he shot four bullets at Flint who sliced through the bullets with his blades and destroyed them. After Dust landed, Flint charged at him, but immediately stopped when he felt four bullets hit him in the back and he lurched over in pain. This momentary distraction allowed Dust to approach him and hit him with an uppercut followed by a punch to the stomach and then a slash from the knife. Dust’s first wave of attacks didn’t do much damage, but his second wave sure did as a bigger slash mark appeared across Flint’s chest and he screamed out in pain. Flint fell to one knee gasping for air*
(Flint): I don’t understand. I destroyed the bullets so how did he-
*All of sudden Flint remembered what happened. When he destroyed the bullets the shattered remains touched his body. Even though they didn’t harm that still counted as a hit and Dust’s divergent magic kicked in*
(Flint): I see! So that’s what happened!
*Flint rises to his feet and rips off his shirt to show his muscular upper body and the cuts along his chest courtesy of Dust. Picking up his blades he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a vial of Smile. He drinks the drug which instantly heals all his wounds and turns his eyes purple. With the power boost, Flint charged at Dust and swung his blade which Dust barely dodged by jumping backward. Flint continued his assault by swinging his blades at Dust who blocked his attacks with his gun and knife. As Dust was blocking Flint’s attacks, the blades were releasing electricity which made its way to Dust and shocked him. Dust’s body was starting to get paralyzed by the electricity and Flint caught on to this. Flint continued his assault until he managed to hit Dust’s left shoulder with his blade and shock him directly. Dust gritted his teeth in pain and then received a shoulder tackle which pushed him back. Dust’s body was completely paralyzed by this point and Flint laughed hysterically as he went in for the killing blow. In order to get his body moving again, Dust shot his right leg and stabbed his left leg to shake off the paralysis. This worked as Dust was able to jump out of the way towards a lab which he used to stay standing. Flint pursued Dust and swung his sword at him only to miss as Dust spun to the right to dodge while still using the table to help him stand. Flint swung at Dust multiple times trying to hit but Dust kept spinning to the right to avoid getting hit. When Dust reached the edge of the table he jumped forward and rolled through to return to his feet. Flint swung his blade just as Dust was trying to shoot him which resulted in Dust’s gun getting knocked out of his hand. Despite this, Dust remained focused on Flint who was swinging wildly at him. He was starting to get overzealous and believed he finally had the upper hand against Dust. However, Dust didn’t seem too panicked at all and used his knife to block all of Flint’s attacks. Flint’s electricity didn’t seem to affect Dust anymore as he used his Shadow Beast powers to neutralize the electricity entering his body. Flint was starting to get winded and Dust saw his opening. He delivered a kick to the side of Flint who felt the pain twice as hard thanks to the divergence. He fought through the pain and swung once again at Dust who used his knife to pierce the hand of Flint. The divergence strike that came next managed to slice off two of Flint’s fingers. His pinky and index finger. Flint screamed out in pain as Dust pulled his knife out and then threw it into one of the chain loops. This caused Flint’s blades to fly out of his hands and go with the knife which pinned itself on the ground. The two elves were down to their fists and Dust was the first to attack with a palm strike to the chest. Despite being bigger, Flint was pushed and vomited a little from the attack. Dust followed up with another palm strike to Flint’s chin and then delivered a palm strike to his face and a backhand to daze him. The divergent attacks soon came after and Flint was in even more pain. Flint didn’t have time to rest as Dust continued his attack with rapid punches to the chest followed by a jumping knee to the head. This followed by the divergent strikes managed to bring Flint down to one knee where an in act of desperation he swung at Dust who caught the punch twisted the arm and delivered a kick to Flint’s head which knocked him down. For about three seconds Flint was unconscious but as soon as he regained consciousness he reached into his pocket to pull out another vial of Smile to drink only this time Dust stopped him. Dust grabbed his arms and lifted them up above Flint’s body all while having a devious smile on his face which scared Flint half to death*
(Dust): And now, I’m gonna kick your head in.
*Dust began to deliver kicks/stomps to the head of Flint who had no defense against the attacks. After twenty seconds of kicking Flint’s head in, Dust pulled him up and then delivered a knee to Flint’s head to finish him off. Flint fell completely unconscious as the Bansika Family was stunned into silence at what they just witnessed*
(Dust): And that. . .is how you do a Coriarty Clan beatdown.
*Dust reached into Flint’s pocket and pulled out his car keys. He then walked over to retrieve his gun and then went to recover his knife. When he went to pick up his knife, Flint’s blades began to glow and were absorbed by the knife*
(Dust): Quevughe (Change)!
*The gun vanished and the knife changed into Flint’s blades except they were now black and green*
(Dust): Pretty sweet. I could get used to these. Now, as for the rest of you. You can come with us peacefully with no bruises and accept your punishment like men. Or we can drag you in with broken bones and a more severe punishment waiting for you. Now choose.
***
*Outside of the prison, the young knights of Brister were patrolling the area for any Eclipse attacks while guarding the female elves and keeping an eye on Isaac. Baek along with other members of the Coriarty Clan had arrived in cars and were treating any injured elves*
(Isaac): You’re all fools. Once Flint is done with your friends inside he’ll come out here and kill all of you.
(Jin): I seriously doubt that. After all, he’s in there with a demon.
(Isaac): You really think that relic is a match for Flint?
(Gael): Why don’t you ask him, he’s right there.
*Isaac looked toward the prison and saw Flint being strolled out on a stretcher with the Bansika Family in tow. Dust, Lylah, Dante, and Jordan were leading the pact while the knights of Brister were taking up the rear. Isaac was at a loss for words. Flint was defeated and everyone else willingly gave up. This truly was the end of the Bansika Family*
(Alita): For the record, I calculated a less than 1% chance that Dust would lose to Flint. Even if he did lose Flint would not have been able to contend against everyone else.
(Dust): Is that everyone?
(Scarlet): Yes. These were all the prisoners inside. There should be no one left inside now.
(Dust): Good. Hibana, do the honors.
(Hibana): With pleasure.
*Hibana takes out her phone and hits a button. All of a sudden the prison explodes*
(Hibana): Tamhayahoo!
(Sera): You planted explosives?
(Jade): We’ll we can’t risk anyone restarting the product again and emptying the place out would take too long. So we just decided to blow the place up and destroy all evidence of its existence.
(Hibana): Not to worry. I backed up the important stuff. Records, names, buyers, and distributors are all saved on this hard drive. Along with these witnesses, you have all the evidence you need to build a solid case against the cub scout here.
(Dust): Plus, this fire will make it seem like we were never here to begin with. Now let’s go grab something to eat. I’m starving.
Author’s Note: And the demon emerges victorious. The divergence technique that Dust uses is based off of Yuji’s power from Jujustu Kaisen. I thought it was a cool ability and felt it would fit with Dust’s fighting style. It also gives you an idea of his dad’s power as I wanted to show that he also inherited his dad’s abilities as well. Flint’s swords are based off of Uzui’s swords from Demon Slayer. His swords were my favorite in the series and I wish we got to see more of his breathing style in the series. For this fight I wanted to keep it simple but brutal. It’s flashy nor does it have big moves but you feel every hit Dust throws at Flint. He’s not just beating him, he’s showing him just how small he really is. He could never reach the top of the clan like Dust. Alright, the next chapter gives us the conclusion of this volume. Look forward to next week’s finale. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.