(Dust): Something’s wrong. I’m going back. Alita, get these two to safety. Protect them at all costs.
(Alita): Roger.
*Dust heads out of the alleyway and back towards the party doing his best to stay out of sight. He arrives at the building and sneaks around back he sees the Blade of Aitana being loaded in the back of a wagon by members of Blood Moon. Once the blade was secured the wagon took off*
(Dust): Damn! I’m too late.
*While Dust may have been late to retrieve the blade, he was on time to witness an unconscious Jade being carried in the arms of Silas and loaded into the back of a car. Dust had a lot of questions running through his mind, but all of them could wait. Dust threw caution to the wind and jumped out catching the attention of Silas and the various members of Blood Moon. Dust ran forward and delivered a dropkick to the first member of Blood Moon who was a duck male demihuman. One member of Blood Moon who was a honey badger summoned a fire spear into her hand and was about to throw it at Dust, but he swept her legs causing her to fall back first to the ground. Dust rose to his feet and delivered a hard punch directly to her forehead to knock her out. Dust proceeded towards the car where Silas quickly got in and told the driver to go immediately. The driver started the car just as Dust was closing in and taking out the various members of Blood Moon that got in his way. Just as the car took off, Dust fired off his wires which latched onto the bumper of the car. This managed to stop the car from taking off and Dust tried to pull the car closer to him. Silas yelled at the driver to step on the gas and they complied. This resulted in the bumper being torn off the car and taking off down the street at a fast pace. Even if Dust were to swing he wouldn’t be able to catch up to it*
(Dust): Shit!
*Dust quickly took out his phone to call Ryuuji, Morgan, and Jin in the desert*
(Dust): Morgan, come in! Ryuuji! Rookie!
*Dust didn’t get an answer and only heard static*
(Dust): Hello! Hello! This is Dust! Is anyone there?
(Ryuuji): Dust, there you are? What’s going on?
(Dust): We ran into a problem. Jade got-
*Before Dust could finish his sentence, the phone was shot out of his hand and fell to the ground shattering. Dust turned around to see Mercedes wearing her attire from earlier in the day, but there were six mechanical limbs coming from her back and she was using two of them to walk forward*
(Mercedes): Good evening, sir. I believe I saw you earlier today, yes?
(Dust): So you’re not just a fluffy face used to sucker in new recruits.
*Mercedes smiled happily*
(Mercedes): No. I’m a full-fledged member of Blood Moon. Of course, I also work as a liaison between them and the church. Might I ask you to kindly surrender?
(Dust): Pass.
(Mercedes): How about leaving the city and never returning?
(Dust): Try again.
(Mercedes): Perhaps a parley of sorts?
(Dust): Not interested.
(Mercedes): Hmm, then I suppose the only other option is death.
*Mercedes fires a laser beam at Dust from one of the mechanical arms. Dust jumps out of the way but the laser follows him. Zig-zagging backward, Dust avoided getting hit by the laser and fired off a wire from his wrist. The wire latched onto the rooftop of a nearby building pulling Dust up. Dust landed on top of the roof and jumped down the opposite side to escape Mercedes’s sight*
(Mercedes): He’s certainly quick to run away.
*Mercedes used her mechanical limbs to run to the building Dust was on and jumped to the rooftop. She jumped down into an alleyway and began looking around for Dust when all of a sudden a runaway wagon kept charging at her. She leaps into the air using her mechanical limbs unaware of the wires hanging above her. Before she noticed them, her mechanical limbs made contact with the wires which caused the wires to explode. Once the wires exploded, Mercedes started falling to the ground where she landed on the hood of the wagon which was being driven by Dust. He slammed on the break which sent Mercedes flying off the wagon and slamming back first onto the pavement. Dust gets out of the wagon and walks over to the down and dazed demihuman when all of a sudden he got hit by a gust of wind which sent him flying off to the side and crashing into a bench. Dust looked up and saw it was the kangaroo demihuman who was working as a bouncer for the party*
(Bouncer): Keep your hands off my girl!
(Mercedes): Sammy!
(Sammy): You alright there, babe? He didn’t hurt you did he?
(Mercedes): One of my arms has been damaged and he hit me with a wagon.
(Sammy): Oh you have made a very big mistake.
(Dust): You guys are dating?
(Sammy): Yeah, what about it?
(Dust): No offense but you are not the type of guy I could see her dating.
(Mercedes): What can I say?
*Mercedes got up and seductively walked behind Sammy sliding her fingers up his right arm to his chin and turning his face to deliver a kiss to his lips. After a few seconds they departed and stared at Dust*
(Mercedes): I’m a sucker for bad boys.
(Dust): Then you’re going to love me. Unlike that boy over there I’m a bad man.
*Sammy took exception to Dust calling him a boy and charged at Dust. Sammy attempted a left hook as purple gust surrounded his arm, but Dust dodged the attack by ducking. Sammy continued attacking with a right uppercut but stood up straight and lean back to avoid the punch. Sammy then delivered a straight left punch which Dust barely dodged in time sidestepping to his right. The punch fired off the purple gust on Sammy’s arm and blasted into a wall causing it to slightly crumble and create a hole in the side of the building it hit. Dust delivered a jumping knee to the side of Sammy’s head which dazed him. Dust was about to follow up with another attack but was interrupted by Mercedes who came in and delivered two left hooks to Dust using her mechanical arms. The punches pushed Dust back and allowed Sammy to recover from the knee strike. Once he had recovered, he ran to Dust bobbing and weaving with his arms up. Once he reached Dust he proceeded to deliver left and right jabs to his face, stomach, and chest before using his tail to lift himself off the ground and deliver a standing dropkick to Dust which sent him flying backward into a wall. With his back against the wall, Mercedes ran over to finish the job, but Dust sensed the attack coming and jumped up onto the wall and latched himself onto a barred window to escape the attack. Sammy ran up behind Mercedes and she gave him a boost up with her mechanical arms. Once Sammy was eye level with Dust he pulled his right arm up and gathered magic in his arm to deliver his patented cyclone punch. Once Sammy fired off the punch, Dust avoided the attack by jumping over to the barred window on the left. Dust leaped from the window and landed double knees Sammy’s chest. The elf and demihuman came crashing down through a wooden table as drinks splashed everywhere. Sitting at the table was a rather muscular male artic fox demihuman with medium frizzy white hair and cyan eyes. He was wearing a collared short-sleeved cyan shirt, white pants, and white shoes. Dust got up and stared at the fox demihuman*
(Dust): Sorry for disturbing your evening.
*Dust quickly moved when he heard the sound of a buzzsaw coming his way and jumped backward. Dust looked up and saw Mercedes heading his way where two of the mechanical arms changed into buzzsaws*
(Mercedes): You touch my man; your ass is dead.
*Dust ran into the building where he found himself inside a bar that had a pool table, a jukebox, and a bunch of shocked patrons wondering what was going on. Mercedes entered the bar and took a slash at Dust with one of her buzzsaws. Dust blocked the attack using a pool stick that got cut in half by the buzzsaw. Dust tossed the pool sticks down and leaped onto the pool table to avoid Mercedes’s second buzzsaw and used his wires to grab ten pool balls and threw them at Mercedes who got her arms up in time to block the balls but one of them got stuck in one of the buzzsaws. Dust saw this and leaped over Mercedes using his wires to grab two of the mechanical arms. Dust landed on the ground behind Mercedes and used his strength to throw Mercedes out of the bar and onto the streets of Carnivale. He also managed to rip off two of the mechanical arms. When Dust walked out of the bar he was met with a right hook to the side of the face from Sammy who recovered from the fall and was back on his feet. With a look of anger in his eyes, Sammy grabbed Dust by the collar and proceeded to punch him multiple times until Dust headbutted him to escape*
(Dust): Pissing me off is never a good idea. Shadow Beast: Spider Form.
*Dust claps his hands together as his spider legs begin to appear on his back. Once the legs were completed Dust turned his sights to Sammy who was a little scared at the aura Dust was emitting but put on a brave face. Purple cyclones surrounded his arms and when they were completed he charged at Dust. The elf and demihuman began clashing in the center of the street for everyone as rapid punches were being exchanged between each other. While Sammy’s punches were the stronger of the two, Dust’s punches were more rapid. Sammy’s punches started to slow down as he was succumbing to Dust’s rapid barrage but he tried to go all out on one last punch. Sammy threw his punch only for Dust to disappear and appear down below him. Dust delivered an upward kick to Sammy which sent him into the air. Dust wrapped Sammy in wires from his hands and then slammed him on the ground where the wires exploded. Mercedes screamed out in horror. Once the dust from the explosion settled Mercedes ran over to Sammy’s unconscious body. He was still alive but badly injured. As Mercedes was beside herself, Dust walked over to her and squatted down to catch her off guard. Mercedes jumped back as Dust stared at her*
(Dust): That sucks, doesn’t it?
*Dust blew a kiss at Mercedes as he got back up. After regaining control of her emotions, Mercedes returned to her feet with an angry look in her eyes*
(Mercedes): Bastard! You’ll pay for what you did!
(Dust): Relax. If I wanted to kill him he’d of been dead by now. Let’s have a seat and talk things over.
*Mercedes used her magic to transform her mechanical arms into buzzsaws. She was determined to slice Dust apart one way or another*
(Dust): They always want to do it the hard way.
*Dust took a deep breath and dissolved his shadow beast form to return to normal and spoke Elfan. As Mercedes closed on Dust he ran forward at lightning speed passing by Mercedes. She stopped in her tracks as her mechanical arms fell apart and Dust turned to show off his right hand which had iron finger knives on his fingers*
(Dust): Been a while since I used these. I forgot how sharp they are.
*Speaking Elfan, the knives disappear, and Dust uses his wires to grab two nearby folding chairs. He walks over to the still unconscious Sammy and locks his arm into one of the chairs. Once the chair is secured around the arm, he grabs the other chair in his hands and calls out to Mercedes to get her attention*
(Dust): Now I don’t know the strategy behind Silas taking my friend and colleague, Jade. I don’t know if it was a psychological message, a warning to stay out of his way, or if he was seduced by her sexy gap. Because she did look damn good in that dress. I don’t care, but the way I see it you Blood Moon idiots are trying to get my attention and now you’ve got it. Now I’m not gonna run around and look like an idiot searching for where you took her, so you’ve got two options: you tell me where she’s at or this guy is getting his arm broken.
(Mercedes): You wouldn’t dare.
(Dust): I told you, I’m a bad man.
*Sammy regains consciousness and started to squirm around to escape his predicament but Dust’s foot on the chair stopped him from escaping*
(Dust): Stop squirming or else your neck is next.
(Sammy): Mercedes! Help me babe!
*Mercedes soon gained a sadistic look on her face and smiled*
(Mercedes): Appalling. Simply appalling. Let me remind you of one thing, dark elf. You do not get to call the shots around here. As for you, Sammy, we’re done.
*Sammy gained a shocked look on his face*
(Mercedes): How could you lose in such a pathetic manner? You weakling. All that talk and male bravado and this is the best you could do. Such a disgrace. Do what you want with him and don’t bother interrogating him, he doesn’t know where HQ is either. He didn’t earn the right to step into our sacred halls and after this fight, he never will.
(Sammy): You. . .twisted bitch!
*Suddenly ten members of Blood Moon wearing various animal masks appeared and got in the middle of the street between Mercedes and Dust*
(Mercedes): Bye-bye Sammy. It was fun while it lasted.
*Mercedes made her escape leaving Dust with an injured and heartbroken Sammy who was shocked and angered by Mercedes’s betrayal. The other members of Blood Moon approach Dust getting ready to fight*
(Dust): Alright, time for plan B.
*Dust removes his foot from the chair around Sammy’s arm and slams the chair he has in his hands on the chair around Sammy’s arm. Sammy screams out in pain as he heard a snap in his arm. The other members of Blood Moon took a step back shocked at what Dust just did. Dust drops the chair and gets ready to fight*
(Dust): And he’s getting off easy, unlike you guys. So whose up first?
(???): Oi!
*A member of Blood Moon wearing the mask of a beaver turns his head to the side and receives a punch to the face from the artic fox demihuman from earlier. The artic fox demihuman stood between Dust and the demihumans with his back to Dust*
(Artic fox demihuman): I think that’s enough noise for one night. But if you guys want to keep partying then I’m your fox.
*The artic fox demihuman looked back at Dust over his left shoulder*
(Artic fox demihuman): Oi! I don’t know what’s going on, but it looks like you’re in a hurry. Get going, I’ll handle these guys for ya.
(Dust): Thanks. I owe you a drink for this.
*Dust ran away while the artic fox demihuman fought against the members of Blood Moon. While Dust didn’t catch the name of the artic fox, he made sure to remember his face and pay him back when this was all done*
***
*Back in Brister, the members of Shadow Eye were in The Walls by the hangar area hoping to use an airship to reach Carnivale but ran into an issue*
(Bradley): Absolutely not!
(Hibana): You cannot be serious? We don’t have time for this!
(Raika): This is not the time to be an asshole, Bradley! Now give us an airship.
(Bradley): I said no! You expect me to give you one of our airships for some danger you don’t even know is real? You must be joking! If you want to get to Carnivale then drive there yourselves and stop wasting my time.
*Bradley gets ready to walk off before Amarti blocks his way out*
(Amarti): We’re not finished here.
(Bradley): Out of the way brat.
*Zia heard enough and pulled out her kukris prepared to attack Bradley. The two Blue Knight soldiers who accompanied Bradley prepared their guns to attack. Sanada was preparing to draw his blade and Raika pulled out her handgun*
(Amarti): Guys, stop! Stand down!
(Bradley): I’d do what he says. Unless you want to commit treason.
*Zia and Raika begrudgingly put their weapons away and Amarti stepped to the side to allow Bradley to leave*
(Bradley): I’d be careful going forward. You may be a secret order but don’t think everything will go your way. Now get the hell out of my hangar.
*Bradley walks off feeling satisfied that he was finally able to put Shadow Eye in their place for once*
(Gael): I really don’t like that guy.
(Hibana): Just say the word and I’ll empty out his bank account in a matter of minutes.
(Amarti): As tempting as that is, no. I have a better idea. Bradley’s going to learn that saying no to us is something you just don’t do.
Author’s Note: Sorry for the delay. This time we got to focus on what happened from Dust’s perspective and he gets into a handicap fight. I wanted to put him in a situation where even though the odds were stacked against him he still had the confidence to win. We also see a more sadistic and violent side to him than previously seen. I felt like he was missing that dark edge I gave him back at the beginning of the series so this helped remind me who this character is and what I want him to be like in his fights. Not all of them, but a reminder not to underestimate him. Mercedes’s mechanical arms were inspired by Dr. Octupus from Spider-Man obviously and her having a darker side was me wanting to give her more personality. There’s more fights to come so stick around for the next chapter. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.