*In the Kingdom of Brister the weather was starting to get pleasant. Gone was the hot weather of late summer and in came the colorful days of fall. As everyone was walking the streets and going about their business, one man, a human with short brown hair cut into a bowl, green eyes, and a five-o’clock shadow beard/mustache combo stopped in front of a coffee shop. He wore a beige trench coat over a long-sleeved white buttoned shirt with a crooked blue tie, and black pants and shoes. He entered the shop which was filled with elves and got in line. None of the elves paid him any attention and continued their conversations in Elfan. After waiting five minutes, it was the man’s turn to order. The cashier was an elderly elf woman with frilly grey hair and brown eyes. She wore a greet hat that matched her apron and had on a black long-sleeved shirt and brown pants*
(Elf cashier): Hitai. Oh~ Constantine! (Welcome. Oh~ Constantine!)
(Constantine): Kimoro, Wanda. I’kll susal wlease. (Good morning, Wanda. I’ll have the usual please.)
(Wanda): Gomi hight yop! (Coming right up!)
*Wanda rings up the order and the workers in the back start making it. As Constantine waited for his order, he looked around the shop and was surprised at how packed it was*
(Constantine): Zukibest yis uuing? (Business is booming?)
(Wanda): Fi. Dold nenther ceans kore voastemers. (Yes. Cold weather means more customers.)
*Constantine’s order came up which was a pumpkin spice coffee. Wanda handed the order to Constantine with a smile as he reached into his pocket to pay her*
(Wanda): Bo parahge. (No charge).
(Constantine): What?
(Wanda): E bietro laoug elf tay ga hou. (A beautiful young elf paid for you).
(Constantine): Qhy? (Why?)
(Wanda): Ret jKeanure. Lhe feft cis ga hou. (Not sure. She left this for you.)
*Wanda hands Constantine a piece of paper that has an address on it*
(Constantine): Oh bugger.
*Constantine thanks Wanda, heads out the door, and starts walking down the street. As the door closes there’s a sticker on the door that reads: A Cloudsfall Industries Establishment*
***
*After walking for a good ten minutes, Constantine found himself in the Gavivi District and entered a building where construction on a hotel was being done nearby. Constantine took the elevator up to the top floor and walked down the hallway until he came to double office doors. Taking a deep breath, he opens the doors and enters where he sees the members of Shadow Eye. Amarti was sitting at his desk with Zia by his side, Ryuuji and Morgan were sitting in luxury chairs by Amarti’s desk. Dust was lying on the couch listening to music with his headphones. Hibana was playing on her game system with Jin and Gael as Alita watched them. Sanada, Raika, and Jade were watching futbol on the television*
(Amarti): Hello. We’ve been expecting you.
*Constantine enters the room and walks over to Amarti’s desk getting everyone’s attention*
(Constantine): They created phones for a reason. Can’t you blokes contact me like a normal person?
(Amarti): Too obvious.
(Constantine): How’d you even know my order?
(Hibana): Yo.
*Hibana waves her hand while keeping her attention on the game. Constantine looked at her out of the corner of his eyes*
(Constantine): Lovely. So what do you lot want?
(Morgan): Information on a man I’m sure you’re familiar with. Does the name Jamie Pac mean anything to you?
*Constantine’s eyes went wide*
(Constantine): You mean the Bastard Merchant as we like to call him in Caspian. Music producer by day. Criminal arms dealer by night. I’ve been trying to bring him down for years. What’s your beef with him?
*Zia hands Constantine a picture of Jamie. He wore a white suit with a red velvet shirt and red tie. He was dark-skinned with yellow eyes and long black hair that was braided. In the picture, he had his arm around Crystal of Dawn Nexus. Crystal was wearing a light blue dress with her hair tied up into a bun and smiling*
(Amarti): Let’s just say we’re interested in the company he’s keeping around him. Crystal Belle. Real name-
(Constantine): Crystal Dawn. Age 22. Height 5’4. Three sizes: B88-W60-H82. Originally from the Vavlza Kingdom. Recognized as a computer prodigy at the age of six and graduated from university at the age of thirteen. At the age of fifteen was arrested for developing security software that stole people’s credits. Sentenced to ten years in prison but escaped and went on the run. Hid herself in the criminal underworld bouncing around until she made her way to Brister and formed her own gang, Dawn Nexus, which she stole from your hacker friend over there. I am fully aware of who she is.
(Gael): Wow, you’re good.
(Constantine): Knowledge is power and I love power.
(Zia): And if you know her history you should know that if she’s hanging out with Jamie, then there’s definitely illegal activity going on under the surface.
(Constantine): I’m sure there is, but the Bastard’s not stupid. I’ve been trying to bring him in for years but come up short each time. He does a good job covering his tracks, taking care of witnesses, and countering charges against him. Now that he’s got that computer wiz on his side, tracking his criminal activity is next to impossible and his deals more dangerous.
(Amarti): Well what would you say if we could get you the evidence you need to bring Pac in for good?
(Constantine): I’d kiss you on the lips and say you’re beautiful. But how do you plan to do that?
(Hibana): If you want to beat a hacker you send in a stronger hacker. Crystal may think she’s untouchable in the cyberworld, but she can’t hide from me. I’ll find out what she and Pac are doing.
***
*About two months have passed since that meeting and winter was beginning to set in. During that time the group had been busy. The Cloudsfall’s Cloud 9 Hotel/Casino opened a month after the meeting and business was booming. Every night the place was packed with guests, gamblers, and entertainment. The place was doing everything Amarti had hoped for. Getting credits, finding new business partners, and getting info on various people and kingdoms. While Amarti’s business was booming, the investigation on Jamie and Crystal was slow. Just like Constantine said Jamie did a good job covering his tracks and Crystal made sure nobody could trace anything back to them. The members of Shadow Eye did their best to monitor Jamie and Crystal. Doing their best not to arouse suspicion. Hibana was playing a cyber chase with Crystal and had to be cautious when retrieving data as one misstep would alert Crystal and ruin their whole operation. Luckily, with the help of Alita, Hibana was able to make a breakthrough in the case and finally got the data they needed to apprehend them and find out what their plan is. All they needed was the physical evidence to tie it all together*
***
*Out in the ocean near Brister’s harbor at night, the members of Shadow Eye and Constantine were on Amarti’s yacht patiently waiting. However, Raika was on the top deck on her phone in distress*
(Raika): Babe, it’s not like that, you know I’m not blowing off our dinner dates on purpose. This mission that I’m on is important. We can finally bring down a very dangerous criminal. Please don’t do this to me now. Look, go ahead and get started and I’ll be there. This mission will be over by then. I’ll be there, I promise. Please. . .do this for me. Thanks! You’re the best. I love you too.
*Raika hangs up and takes a deep sigh before returning down below to see everyone except for Dust*
(Zia): Is everything alright, Raika?
*Zia offers her a cup of tea which she accepts*
(Raika): Could be better.
*Raika sits at a table and takes a sip of her tea to relax her nerves. On the opposite side of the table, Jin was sitting and performing maintenance of Raika’s sniper rife. Off to the side on the floor, Sanada was sitting and polishing his sword with a cloth*
(Sanada): Trouble in paradise? I’d be more than happy to offer some advice.
*Sanada’s comment actually gets a smile out of Raika and makes her feel a little better*
(Raika): The day I come to you for love advice is the day I know the world is ending.
(Sanada): How rude. I’ll have you know that I’m a very sought-after bachelor.
(Ryuuji): Sanada, the last date you went on involved taking your date to an art exhibit on Loman Empire calligraphy. Who does that?
(Sanada): She was a writer and I wanted to share my cultural heritage with her. How was I supposed to know she thought museums were boring?
*Everyone laughs at Sanada’s comment*
(Raika): As funny as that is, are you sure our target will take the bait?
(Hibana): Patience. They’ll be here. They’d be foolish not to come.
(Raika): I hope you’re right. These long hours have really been cutting into my love life.
(Constantine): I thought you’d be used to working long hours seeing as how you’re a sniper and all.
(Raika): My targets usually don’t take two months to show up.
*All of a sudden Jade’s ears pop up and Amarti takes notice of it*
(Amarti): Oh, looks like we got company.
(Jade): Yeah, I can hear it. Multiple boats.
(Gael): Two to be exact. Picking up a lot of auras on both.
(Constantine): How’s that possible? They’re not showing up on the radar.
(Hibana): Crystal must be using some jamming equipment to hide the ships. Along with cloaking magic.
*Hibana rushes over to the radio*
(Hibana): Dust. They’re here.
*On a small island, Dust was in a hammock listening to music and grilling a fish*
(Dust): Shame. I was just starting to enjoy myself.
*Dust jumps out of the hammock and walks over to put on his trenchcoat which had the Bansika Family emblem on it*
(Hibana): Remember to follow the script. We can’t make a move until the actual goods are in your hands.
(Dust): Don’t worry. This isn’t the first arms deal I’ve done.
(Morgan): I don’t doubt it.
*Dust ends the call and sits on a chest waiting for Jamie to show up. All of a sudden, two yachts appear out of nowhere flanking the small island. As the yachts reveal themselves and start to unload, Dust smiled and grabbed the grilled fish*
(Dust): Okay.
*Dust took a bite out of the fish while Jamie and Crystal were leading six men up to Dust. Two of them were carrying a black crate and were a mix of humans, elves, and demihuman. Jamie was wearing a white jacket over his black shirt and black pants while Crystal was wearing a long white fur coat with a white cap on. Once Jamie’s group made it to Dust, Dust stood up having finished eating the fish and tossed the skewer on the ground. He dusted his pants off and smiles*
(Dust): Welcome Mr. Pac, gentlemen, and you as well lovely lady.
*Dust takes Crystal’s right hand and kisses it causing her to blush*
(Dust): I was unaware you had such a beautiful wife, Mr. Pac.
(Jamie): Oh she’s not my wife. Not yet at least. Just business partners with benefits. If you know what I mean.
*Jamie laughs while Dust smiles*
(Dust): That, I do sir.
(Jamie): Now I do apologize for keeping you waiting. Had to make sure everything was on the up and up.
(Dust): Of course. We at the Coriarty Clan are a cautious bunch as well. We don’t do business with just anyone, but your name has popped up quite frequently in our circle and the head of my family has been very impressed with your work. Hence why I’ve been sent to arrange this trade. He’s hoping this will yield a fruitful partnership. Assuming your wares are to his standards.
(Jamie): Oh you don’t need to worry about that. My shit is the best around.
*Jamie whistles and motions his head over to his men to bring over the wares. The two men carrying the black crate were a hedgehog demihuman and a muscular human with blonde hair. They sat the crate down and opened it to reveal unloaded assault rifles. Dust picks up one to examine it*
(Dust): Hmm~ 308 Bolt Action Rifles. Not bad.
(Crystal): And here’s the real kicker. The fire rate is 1.5 times faster than the average bolt action rifle and carries twice the ammunition. Giving you more speed and bullets to take down your opponents. What do you say?
(Dust): I say we’re in business.
*Dust pulls up the crate he was sitting on and opens it to reveal credits*
(Dust): How does 15 million credits sound?
(Crystal): Yahoo~!
*Crystal runs past Dust and plops herself in front of the crate full of credits*
(Jamie): I think we’ve got a deal.
*As Jamie and Dust shake hands Crystal notices something off about the money*
(Crystal): Hey wait a minute! These are cheat bills! My cheat bills!
(Dust): Yeah, the white knights were more than happy to loan these out.
*Before Jamie could react. Dust fired off his wires tying him up which caused him to fall to the ground*
(Dust): Jamie Pac, you’re under arrest for possession and distribution of illegal firearms. And you ice hacker, are under arrest for a number of things.
(Crystal): Gods, you knights are so irritating.
*Crystal reaches into her pocket and takes out a small ice bomb. She tosses it near Dust who quickly kicks Jamie away from the bomb and then dives to safety to avoid the blast. The bomb went off releasing ice shards that hit no one. Crystal used this chance to run away back toward the yachts while Jamie used his heat vision eyes to cut through Dust’s wires and escape. Jamie quickly got up and ran back to the yachts while his six bodyguards attacked Dust. One of the bodyguards who was a dark elf with grey hair and red eyes jumped on Dust and began to strangle him. As Dust was gasping for air, he used his left arm and grabbed the skewer he threw on the ground earlier and thrust the skewer into the right ear of the elf puncturing the eardrum. The elf stops strangling and screams out in pain. As the elf grabs the skewer trying to remove it, Dust returns to his feet and delivers a spinning heel kick to the elf to knock him out. The other five bodyguards charge at Dust. The first one to reach him was a short cat demihuman with purple hair and orange eyes. Blue magic wind particles gathered around his fist as he was about to strike Dust, but Dust grabbed his arm and twisted it behind the demihuman’s back. Dust maintained his hold on the demihuman’s arm as the blonde muscular man approached him next. Dust kicked him in the stomach to stagger him and then pushed the cat demihuman into a second human man who was skinny and dark-skinned. His eyes were blue and his short hair was brown. The cat demihuman and he ran into each other and collided heads. As they were both dazed, Dust kicked the demihuman in the back causing him and the human to fall to the ground. The final bodyguard was a woodland elf with freckles, blue eyes, and spikey orange hair. This elf pulled out a gun and fired at Dust, but Dust quickly jumped into the air to avoid getting shot. Dust landed behind the elf who quickly turned around about to fire again only this time Dust kicked the gun up into the air out of his hand. Dust then delivered multiple punches to the elf before finishing with a jumping elbow to the side of the elf’s head dazing him. When the gun came back down, Dust grabbed the gun and pistol-whipped the elf on the side of the to render him unconscious. Dust then shot the blonde human in the left leg three times. The man screamed out in pain and fell to one knee. Dust ran to the man ducking a clothesline from the hedgehog demihuman whose quills turned into metal spikes on his arm. Dust delivered a running knee to the head of the human to take him out and then turned around to focus on the hedgehog demihuman who ripped off his shirt, turned around, and launched the metal quills on his back at Dust. Dust quickly summoned his parrying knife and used that to deflect the quills away in rapid succession. Once the quills were gone, Dust charged at the demihuman and used his divergent skill to deliver a slash attack. The demihuman screamed out in pain as blood went flying from his chest and he fell backward. The cat demihuman returned to his feet and leaped in the air trying to deliver a wind kick to Dust who dodged the attack with a sidestep, but the demihuman wasn’t done. As soon as he landed he tried to hit Dust with a backheel kick but Dust caught the attack with his hand and blocked the other kick as well. Dust then hog-tied the demihuman with his wires. The final bodyguard tried to make it to the crate of rifles but just when he was inches away from the crate he got pulled back by Dust who delivered a clothesline to the back of his head. With the last of the bodyguards taken out, Dust ran after Jamie and Crystal. Crystal made it to one of the yachts and quickly boarded. Just as Jamie was about to board he turned around to see Dust running towards them. Taking a deep breath, Jamie fired his heat beam eyes at Dust who quickly stopped, planted his feet into the sand, and blocked the blast with his parry knife. He gets pushed back a little due to not having a firm footing in the sand, but manages to deflect the blast to a nearby tree that falls over. Jamie then turns around to board the yacht only to see it already taking off*
(Jamie): Hey!
(Crystal): Sorry Jamie. Got to look out for number one. It was fun while it lasted but consider this an end to our partnership.
*While Jamie was angered by this, he knew he didn’t have time to dilly-dawdle and jumped onto the second yacht. Jamie orders his men to take off immediately at full speed and that’s exactly what they did. Dust reached the shore just as the yacht was taking off and fired his wires off at it. The wires latched onto the yacht and Dust got pulled with it out into the ocean*
***
*On Crystal’s yacht, the members of Dawn Nexus had tied up Jamie’s men and taken control of the vessel*
(Dawn Nexus member #1): So what’s our next move now, boss?
(Crystal): We’ll dock close to Brister, abandon the ship, and have Jamie and his men take the blame for the guns. We’ll have to stay low and plan our next move after that.
*Just as Crystal was speaking, something hit their yacht on the starboard side*
(Dawn Nexus member #2): What the hell was that?
*The yacht gets hit again this time with Crystal and others losing their footing*
(Crystal): Are we hitting something?
(Dawn Nexus member #3): Impossible. Nothing’s showing up on the radar.
(Crystal): Unless.
*All of a sudden Amarti’s yacht appears on the starboard side of Crystal’s yacht with Morgan’s ice spirit driving it. Ryuuji, Constantine, and Alita were nowhere to be seen*
(Amarti): Dawn Nexus. Prepare to be boarded.
*Amarti’s yacht rams into the starboard side of Crystal’s yacht and the members of Shadow Eye board her ship. Raika stayed on Amarti’s yacht and began sniping off members of Dawn Nexus with her sniper rifle. Zia and Sanada were slashing through members of Dawn Nexus with ease. Amarti with Jin and Jade were fighting their way up to the helm of the yacht to take control of the ship. Morgan used his magic ice spells to immobilize members of Dawn Nexus which allowed Gael to go in and strike them down. Some members of Dawn Nexus fell overboard from the attacks. As Crystal saw her men getting overwhelmed, she got approached by Hibana who had two drones flying around her and was holding her electric yo-yos*
(Crystal): You! You’re that girl from before.
(Hibana): Yep. How does it feel having your own trick used against you?
(Crystal): I see. You’re the one who planned all of this, aren’t you?
(Hibana): You did a good job covering your tracks and deals. But you still got a lot to learn if you want to reach my level. It’s time to end what I should have done years ago. Ice Dawn.
*Crystal was shocked to hear her old online handle after so long and was confused how Hibana knew it, but quickly figured it out and started to laugh*
(Crystal): Oh this is hilarious. I can’t believe it. No wonder you were able to find me. You’re Nexus. It’s all starting to make sense now.
*Crystal stops laughing and gets a serious look on her face as she removes her coat and pulls out her nunchakus*
(Crystal): You have been the thorn in my side I’ve been wanting to erase for quite some time. So tell me Nexus. What’s your real name?
(Hibana): Hibana. Hibana Underwood. The Cyber Nomad.
(Crystal): Hibana Underwood. I’m the Ice Hacker Crystal Dawn. Let’s finish this rivalry once and for all.
Author’s Note: We’re back and better than ever. It’s been a while but I am glad to continue the story of Shadow Eye with everyone. At the start of each volume, I always want to start on a good and action-packed foot that usually invovles the main characters in some capacity. So as I was starting this volume, I thought about re-visiting Crystal and having her confrontation with Hibana. I actually thought about having these two confront each other in the third volume, but couldn’t find room to fit it in because of how long the volume was. Thus, it was put on the back burner and after tweaking a few things I thought it’d be a good way to start off volume 4. We’ll be seeing these two ladies fight in the next chapter. We also got to meet Constantine, Ryuuji’s old buddy from knight school and a member of the Court of Fire. This character was inspired by House and Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes. He’s got their intelligence, cynical mouth, and cares about solving cases. He may not be the best people person, but you respect his mind and detective skills. We’ll be seeing a lot of new characters this volume as well as seeing old ones pop-up as well. Thanks for reading and look forward to a great read.