*In the early morning of Carnivale, Silas and three other members of Blood Moon who were wearing a black beaver mask, a dog mask, and a zebra mask were in a submarine that was descending down into the lake. Slowly and steadily the submarine was reaching the bottom of the lake until a temple came into view. There were large destroyed pillars lying around the temple*
(Silas): Yes. There it is. Continue to head toward that temple at top speed.
***
*Back in the city of Carnivale, the city was in an uproar as members of Blood Moon were on the hunt for Dust and Alita. Members of Blood Moon were walking the streets, asking citizens and harassing shops for answers on where the two might be. They knew that if they found those two then they would surely find Andrade and Zelina. While the streets were in an uproar, a familiar capybara demihuman was walking the streets before he was stopped by a warthog demihuman with dark skin, brown hair, and brown facial hair in the form of a beard. He wore a white battlesuit with the Blood Moon symbol in red on his back*
(Warthog demihuman): Hey you!
*The capybara demihuman turned around as the warthog demihuman ran up to him*
(Capybara demihuman): Uh yes, how may I be of service to you?
(Warthog demihuman): Word on the street is you met a dark elf yesterday, is that right?
(Capybara demihuman): Yes, I do recall meeting a dark elf who was passing through with others.
(Warthog demihuman): You wouldn’t happen to have any idea on his whereabouts would you?
(Capybara demihuman): I’m afraid not. He and his companions asked for directions to someone’s house and that was the last I saw of them. Although, I have heard rumblings of a late night brawl involving a dark elf near the marketplace.
*The warthog demihuman let out a disgruntled growl as he walked away realizing that the capybara wasn’t going to be much help in his search for the dark elf. The capybara demihuman rolled his eyes at how rude the warthog was to him and continued to his house. As soon as he reached his house, he opened the door and went inside. As soon as he was inside he locked the door immediately. The shades in his house were down so no one could peek inside. Letting out a sigh of relief he went down into his basement where Andrade and Zelina had just got done changing into the clothes Alita and Dust had brought for them. Zelina was now wearing some blue jeans and a yellow blouse while Andrade was wearing a grey buttoned t-shirt with beige cargo pants*
(Capypara demihuman): Is everything alright down here?
(Andrade): Yes, we’re fine. Thanks again for housing us, Bond. I can never repay you for what you’ve done.
(Bond): No need to thank me. After all you’ve done for demihumans and me this is the least I do. It’s still crazy out there so I suggest you two stay here a little longer. Might I ask where the little one went?
(Bond): She left with her friend. Said they were following a lead on where they might be keeping Jade.
(Zelina): I hope she’s okay.
(Andrade): Me too. But I’m sure Silas won’t harm her.
(Zelina): True. But what about the others? Like Muta or Han.
(Andrade): Good point. All we can do is just wait and hope that the others will rescue her.
***
*Back in the underground base of Blood Moon, Jade was still chained to the bed and an annoyed Han was pacing back in forth. Over the last hour Han had questioned her about her immortality hoping to discover its secrets. He had held back from physically harming Jade just like Silas ordered, but he was reaching the end of his rope*
(Han): I grow tired of your games. I want answers and the truth. Now give them to me!
(Jade): I’ve been telling you the truth this whole time.
(Han): Don’t patronize me! You seriously expect me to believe that someone as unworthy as you met the actual goddess Midori herself and she gave you immortality? Madness!
(Jade): Hey, it is what it is. I can’t change the truth even if I wanted to. Just like you can’t make yourself intimidating.
(Han): You know nothing, woman. Silas may be the head of Blood Moon but I am the mind that keeps it moving. How do you think their influence got to be so big?
(Jade): I’m guessing you had something to do with that?
(Han): Indeed. A few simple endorsements to show people that their battle was a holy war to win support for the cause and in exchange support in helping me rise up in the church. A mutual benefit for all. Muta also helped in winning over the politicians and disposing of those who opposed our methods. With both politics and religious figures supporting their cause, Blood Moon soon came to be seen as heroes in the city with every young soul signing up to join us.
(Jade): Hmph, you guys are just full of underhanded surprises.
(Han): And you’re full of secrets. Since your mouth won’t give me the answer I seek then perhaps your body will.
*Han concentrated and gathered a small gust of wind in hand*
(Owl demihuman): Uh sir. Didn’t Silas say not to harm her?
(Han): Relax. I won’t do anything too damaging.
*As Han was about to step forward, the owl and squirrel demihumans got in his way*
(Squirrel demihuman): I’m sorry. But we’ve been given strict orders not to let any harm come to her. We cannot let you get any closer to her.
(Han): Out of my way, you fools!
*Using his wind magic, Han sends the two demihumans flying up to the ceiling. Their backs hit the ceiling before they came crashing down to the ground barely conscious*
(Han): Now. As for you my dear.
(Jade): *Whistles* Not bad. You just made my escape easier.
*Taking a deep breath, Jade manages to rip the chains of her handcuffs in half and gets up off the bed where she stretches*
(Jade): Feels great to touch the ground again.
(Han): What? But how? That was Bostium metal. That stuff should have nullified any and all magic powers.
(Jade): It did. Good thing it didn’t apply to physical strength otherwise I would have been screwed.
*Han stood there speechless. He just couldn’t believe this woman who was claiming to be immortal broke Bostium chains with just her strength. Quickly regaining his senses. He jumped back and prepared to fight*
(Han): You may have escaped those chains, but don’t think I’ll allow you to walk out of here*
*Han shot off a gust of wind from left hand only for Jade to dodge it. He fired off a second shot with his right hand only for Jade to dodge again by spinning out of the way and reaching Han where she delivered a thrust kick to his face*
(Jade): Smell my foot and kiss it. Cause it’s the closest you’ll ever get to immortality.
*Jade lowered her foot on the dazed Han, grabbed him by the collar and then tossed him onto the bed before she walked out the door and slammed it shut to lock him and the other two demihumans in. Jade begins to walk down the hallway where she rips the skirt of her dress to give her better movement with her legs. She reaches the door at the end of the hallway and opens it where she comes face to face with three demihumans. All female and all were cow demihumans. Before they could act, Jade quickly took them out. She palm strikes the first demihuman on the face and kicked the second one in the stomach. The third one tried to grab Jade, but she was instead caught in a side headlock. Jade punched her in the stomach before throwing her headfirst into the wall. The second demihuman recovered from the kick and charged at Jade who delivered a spinning back elbow to the head of the demihuman to knock her out. The first demihuman was about to get back up but Jade grabbed her by the collar with both hands and delivered repeated elbow strikes to the side of the head until she lost consciousness and slowly fell to the ground. Jade grabbed a circular shield that was on the back of the third demihuman and walked to a door that led to some stairs going up. After the flight of stairs, Jade reached the door and opened it where she was in a new hallway. She started to walk right toward some double doors which opened to reveal a rat demihuman wearing a red bandana that covered half his face and a brown cowboy hat. He wore a brown trench coat over a white battlesuit. Seeing the escaped prisoner, he quickly pulled out revolvers and fired ice bullets at Jade. Using the shield, Jade blocked the bullets and threw the shield off the wall where it ricocheted from wall to wall until it hit the rat demihuman upside the head dazing him. The shield bounced off his head and into the air as Jade ran toward the demihuman where she jumped in the air, grabbed the shield and delivered a double stomp to the head of the demihuman which sent him and her crashing to the ground. Jade stepped off the demihuman’s face where she saw he was still conscious and bashed his head with the shield to knock him out. Jade picked up the revolvers and reloaded them with magic bullets she found on the demihuman. Each revolver could hold ten rounds. After loading the gun, Jade walked through the double doors and came across another hallway. Using her senses, she could smell food coming from the left and walked that way where she came to a door that led to the kitchen. She walked in grabbing the attention of everyone before jumping over the counter and entering the cafeteria where sixteen demihumans were sitting down and eating. Once the demihumans saw her she started to open fire on them. The bullets came out as regular bullets because they weren’t fed any magic from Jade. She still had on the handcuffs from earlier. Jade hit the demihumans in various areas. Some were headshots, others were chest, arms, legs, back and shoulders. Those in the kitchen ducked for cover while the members of Blood Moon in the cafeteria weren’t so lucky. There was one demihuman who managed to escape being shot and a female hyena with brown hair tied in a short ponytail and black eyes. She grabbed the wooden tonfas around her waist and charged at Jade who used her right foot to block the hyena’s strike. Jade then deflected the hyena away and using the revolvers as makeshift tonfas went on the attack but her strike was blocked by the hyena. The two demihumans blocked each other’s strikes with their respective weapons as Jade got backed into a round table. She flipped back onto the table to avoid getting hit and then slid to the side where she dropped the revolvers and pushed the table forward toward the hyena. Jade was pushing the table and hyena toward the wall but the hyena stopped the table and smashed through it with her fist. Jade acted quickly and grabbed a metal serving tray from a nearby table to smack the hyena across the face. Jade followed up with a jumping high knee to the chin which made the hyena bend over. Jade finished her off by grabbing a wooden chair and smashing it over the back of the hyena to make her pass out. Jade then grabbed the tonfas off her and left the cafeteria. She soon entered the training hall where the floors were matted and fresh recruits to Blood Moon were listening to their instructor before Jade walked in. Counting the instructor, there were eleven demihumans total and they quickly got up to fight her. The instructor who was an alligator demihuman with sharp teeth, dark skin, green eyes and short green hair that was spiky. He was the first to reach Jade. He saw the handcuffs around Jade and was confident that he could overpower her. He was mistaken. As soon as he went to grab Jade, she grabbed his arm and lifted him up over her head for everyone to see. The rest of demihumans stopped in their tracks amazed at this feat of strength. Jade tossed the demihuman and then turned her attention to the new recruits who were still hesitant to attack her despite having the numbers advantage. Jade got tired of waiting and charged at them himself. She attacked the first demihuman who was a small rooster demihuman boy with a blonde and orange mohawk that looked like a rooster’s comb. She punched him in the chest followed by a judo toss and then a chop to the back of the neck to finish him off. A girl who was a honey badger demihuman with yellow eyes and medium-short black hair with a streak of white tried to take advantage of Jade’s distraction and attack from behind with sharp metal claws that sprung from her knuckles. Jade sensed the attack and turned around just in time to lift the girl in the air. As the girl came falling down Jade delivered an uppercut to knock her out. Two males, one a gecko with blue eyes and cyan medium length hair and the other a frog demihuman with red eyes and short lime green hair that was faded on the sides tried to hit Jade with kicks but she blocked them with her tonfas. The frog demihuman had water around his leg while the gecko demihuman had fire around his. A third demihuman who was a female rabbit demihuman with long cyan hair and yellow eyes came charging at Jade with a javelin that was glowing purple and made out of dark magic. Jade quickly jumped in the air to dodge the attack where her right arm was ensnared by whip courtesy of a female deer demihuman with red eyes and curly brown hair. Standing next to her was another female demihuman holding a wand and had five orbs of fire around her. She was a fox demihuman with red medium hair that was straight and purple eyes. The final demihuman was a male duck wearing glasses, had lime green eyes, and blonde short hair. He was holding a slingshot and about to shoot a ball of electricity at Jade. The duck and fox demihuman fired their projectiles at Jade who smiled and pulled on the whip. This allowed her to dodge their attacks by pulling herself forward. She landed on her feet and pulled on the wire to bring the deer demihuman flying towards her. Jade delivered a clothesline with the tonfa to knock her out and then released the whip around her arm. Just as the duck demihuman was about to shoot another ball of electricity at Jade, she threw the tonfa on her left hand at the boy which hit him upside the head. This caused him to turn sideways and fire his shot off at the fox demihuman shocking her and making her fall down. Jade delivered a dropkick to the duck demihuman to finish him off and then turned her attention to the remaining three demihumans. The gecko and frog demihuman charged at Jade where the frog demihuman reached her first and tried to kick her. Jade caught the kick with one hand and then swung it to the gecko demihuman who caught the leg with both hands. Jade delivered a spinning heel kick to the gecko demihuman to knock him out and then delivered a sling blade to the frog demihuman to take him down. This just left the rabbit demihuman who came charging at Jade with her javelin. Taking a deep breath, Jade charged forward and used her remaining tonfa to smash through the javelin and deliver an uppercut to the rabbit demihuman which sent her flying into the air and landed on the ground backward barely conscious. Just as Jade was about to leave the room, the instructor was back holding a spiked metal club in his hand. He leaped into the air and swung the club downward at Jade who jumped back and landed by the whip. She grabbed the whip and ran toward the instructor where she used it to tangle up the feet of the instructor. This caused him to fall over his stomach first and Jade delivered a sliding knee to the side of his face to daze him. Jade then went behind him and locked in a choke hold which caused him to fade. After a few seconds, Jade rose to her feet along with the instructor where she turned him around to face her, bent him over and then lifted him up to deliver a gotch-style piledriver dropping the instructor on his head and rendering him unconscious. Jade kipped up and grabbed the spiked club before heading out the door. She soon reached a new flight of stairs that were going upwards and could hear the sound of bells meaning she was close to the exit. She reached the door and found herself in a hallway where seven masked members of Blood Moon were guarding the door and were the last ones standing in her way from escaping. With the club in hand she charged at the demihumans. She took out the first one with a swing of the club. She leaped toward the wall and jumped off it over the second and third demihuman where she landed behind them and swung her club around to hit them in the back of their heads and sent them flying out the nearby window. She then leaped toward a pillar in the middle of the hallway and jumped off it to double-stomp two more demihumans to the ground. The sixth demihuman swung a sword at her, but she blocked it with the club and stomped on the foot of the demihuman. Jade followed this up by thrusting the club into the chest of the demihuman which sent them flying backward past the last demihuman. The final demihuman dropped their weapon which was a flail saying that they surrendered but Jade wasn’t listening. She used the club to sweep their legs and sent them flying off the ground where she delivered the final blow by swinging the club down over their chest. The last demihuman hit the ground back first in a lot of pain as Jade walked past them and opened the door. Once Jade opened the door she found herself outside in the hallowed grounds of the church. Moving swiftly and trying not to gain any attention she made her way to the far side of the main entrance wall and climbed over it to escape. She left the club behind and could hear the sounds of people panicking within the church walls. No doubt they were fully aware of her escape and were now searching the grounds looking for her. But it didn’t matter anymore. She was outside of the church grounds and needed to find the others to tell them what Silas was planning. The question was how would she find them? As she hid in the bushes walking up the path away from the church grounds she caught Dust’s scent not too far from her location and followed it*
***
*On the west side of the church, Dust and Alita were pushing a wagon full of wooden barrels that contained alcohol*
(Dust): Alright, we just light this wagon on fire, have it roll to the gate, big explosion, everybody panics, and we use that cover to sneak into the church and find Jade.
(Alita): And anyone who gets in our way?
(Dust): Show no mercy and knock them out.
(Alita): This plan of yours seems pretty reckless and barbaric.
(Dust): Yeah, I know it’s lacking subtlety and finesse, but we’re in a hurry right now.
(Alita): Oh, I wasn’t complaining. I was just being observant. Let’s do this.
(Dust): I like your enthusiasm.
*Dust gets ready to light the wagon on fire*
(Jade): Hey guys, whatcha doing?
*Right before Dust could light the wagon on fire he and Alita looked to the side and saw Jade*
(Dust): Jade!?
(Jade): Hi!
*Jade smiled and waved at them*
(Alita): We came to rescue you.
(Jade): Aww~, you guys. Is that a wagon full of alcohol?
(Dust): Yeah, we were going to use it as a distraction to sneak in.
(Jade): Oh that sounds so cool! I can go back in there and get captured if you want me to.
(Dust): Nope. Too late. Let’s get out of here before we attract any attention.
(Blood Moon Demihuman): There she is! Stop her!
*Blood Moon members came running out of the gate. Dust quickly lit the wagon on fire and Alita smacked it with Jade’s blade to get it to start rolling down the hill. As soon as the wagon reached the bottom of the hill and was near the gate as well as the members of Blood Moon it exploded sending them flying and causing a small fire. Dust, Jade, and Alita began to run away. As they ran, Alita handed Jade her blade*
(Alita): It’s surprisingly well-balanced. I thought it would be heavier or lighter.
(Jade): Nah. If it’s too heavy you lose power on the swing and if it’s too light it breaks easily. Where are Andrade and Zelina?
(Dust): They’re safe for now. Where’s the blade?
(Jade): With Silas.
(Dust): And where’s he at?
(Jade): You’re not gonna like it.
***
*As all of this was happening in the city, Silas and the members of Blood Moon made it into the temple unharmed and with little resistance. As they walked the halls of the temple they saw the walls inscribed with various animals until they came to a pedestal that was surrounded by shallow water*
(Silas): Yes! This is it. Wait here you two. You will have the pleasure of being the first to witness the dawn of a new era.
*Silas walked over to the pedestal which had a keyhole that was the same size as the blade. Taking out the blade, Silas inserted it into the keyhole where a green light soon began to shine. Silas soon felt a burning sensation on his hands and tried to pull his hands off the handle but he couldn’t. Silas soon screamed out in pain as strange green markings began to appear on his arms and his eyes began to glow green. The two demihumans saw what was happening and were about to leap into action*
(Silas): No! Stay back! This is all a part of the ritual! Ahhhhhhh~!
***
*Back in Carnivale, Jade got finished telling Dust and Alita what Silas was planning on doing*
(Dust): So he wants to use The Stampede to commit mass genocide on humans just to be with you? Love really does make you do the stupidest things.
(Alita): A world without humans. Even I find the idea daunting and disturbing.
(Jade): And if he activates The Stampede then it’ll all be possible. I can’t believe the secret was hiding underneath me this whole time.
(Dust): Well nothing is out of the ordinary, so I don’t think he’s activated it yet.
*All of a sudden a beam of light shoots up from the lake in Carnivale for everyone to see and the ground begins to shake*
(Dust): And he activated it.
***
*Out in the desert, Ryuuji, Morgan, and Jin could feel the ground shaking*
(Jin): What’s going on? An earthquake!?
(Morgan): Impossible, this area isn’t anywhere near tectonic plates.
(Ryuuji): This is no ordinary earthquake. This one was caused by the intervention of others.
***
*Elsewhere in the sky, the other members of Shadow Eye were flying in the desert when Gael could feel something bad*
(Gael): Guys! I’m sensing something bad just happened in Carnivale.
(Raika): Any idea what it is?
(Gael): I don’t know. It just felt like a person’s aura just disappeared and then reappeared. Much bigger than before.
(Hibana): Woah! The seismic activity happening in the area is off the scale. I’ve never seen anything like it.
(Amarti): Do you know where the point of origin is coming from?
(Hibana): Looks like. . .Carnivale.
***
*Back in Carnivale, all of a sudden, rock creatures in the form of giant animals began to emerge from the lake and walked their way through the city crashing through and destroying buildings along the way. Then a giant bear that was bigger than the other animals with glowing green eyes emerged from the lake and let out a powerful roar as citizens of Carnivale were panicking*
Author’s Notes: Stampede! Stampede! It’s coming! Stampede! Stampede! Beware~! It’s coming for you~! Okay, I’m done. But yeah, The Stampede is finally here. Rock monsters in the shape of animals running and crashing everything in their path. The Stampede was obviously inspired by The Rumbling from Attack on Titan which was one of the craziest moments to come from that anime which says a lot. Originally, I was going to make one rock animal that can change at will but then the idea of just making them one big herd of animals stampeding sounded cooler. As for Jade’s escape, that whole sequence was inspired by Harley Quinn’s escape in Suicide Squad. One of my favorite sequences in that movie. Just a great action scene. Every moment and move was perfect. I think this may be the longest action sequence I’ve ever written with no breaks. It’s just one big sequence that’s constantly going and Jade has to adapt to the situation quickly to escape. It’s was fun letting her use different weapons this time around and show that even without a weapon she’s more than capable of holding her own in hand-to-hand combat. How will Shadow Eye stop Silas now that The Stampede has begun? Tune in next week to find out. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.