Blazing West

Act One

Night fell. Another day had passed. The tired group found a place left behind by passing merchants where they could rest. Looking at the star-filled sky, the three sat quietly with their own thoughts and said nothing.

Mathilda cared about her people, especially her elderly grandmother and her father who was still in a coma; Claude was worried about whether his brothers had been persecuted by Blandy; and Clint looked back on himself in the past, his enmity with Blandy and Los Pecados.

It was a long time before someone broke the peace.

"I say, we were lucky enough to escape, but Blandy's chasing troops must be right behind us and we have to think of something." It was Claude who was speaking, and he rarely spoke in a serious tone.

"The others are in Blandy's hands. I wonder how they're doing right now." Mathilda said worriedly.

"Don't think about going back to save people. They must have set up ambushes on every road." Claude replied.

Clint listened coldly to Claude and Mathilda without saying a word.

"Maybe we can find some helpers." Claude said while teasing Dexter.

"Really? Who would be willing to help a thief whose mouth constantly lies?" As Clint spoke, he stood up, ready to leave.

"Where are you going?" Mathilda asked anxiously.

"I'm going back to save them." Clint replied.

"Wait a minute, maybe Claude really has an idea." Mathilda pulled on Clint and turned around to look at Claude.

"Some people want to be heroes and die, so let him go." Claude said mockingly.

"Mathilda, come and see this." As Claude spoke, he took out a wad of crumpled paper from his arms, and under the dim light, Mathilda saw several bounty posters imprinted with the seal of the Iceberg Sand Hunters.

"Think about it another way. The enemy's enemy is our friend." Claude said, with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Although she had never been to Los Pecados, Mathilda had heard of the people on the wanted list from the mouths of passing merchants. Although they were also enemies of Kane, they were not kind people.

"But, will these people really want to help us?"

"Besides, they..." Mathilda said worriedly.

"Don't worry, let me deal with them. We can split up. You draw away Blandy and his men. Dexter and I will go and look for reinforcements. In three days, no matter where you end up, I will come and rescue you! " Claude said with a serious look on his face.

But before Claude could finish talking, Clint turned over the bounty poster in his hand and said angrily: "I knew you couldn't come up with any good ideas! Look at these guys, they're all bandits skirting around the edges of crime!"

"Even if Kane doesn't put a bounty out on them, I'll arrest them!" Clint said, unable to restrain his fury.

Claude no longer answered back sarcastically, but calmly said: "Do you really think you can save everyone by yourself?"

"I do. They were or are doing the bad things you were talking about, but no one has not been squeezed out by Kane. These people are like us, forced out with nowhere to take shelter."

"If we each go up against Kane, it will be like eggs smashing against a rock, but what if we stick together?" Claude said.

Clint snorted coldly, unmoved: "These villains are just like you. You're all the same in essence. You're all criminals!"

"So what!? Can't people who do bad things have a chance at redemption!?"

"Your sense of justice relies on those old rules that restrain everyone. What's the difference between you and Kane!" Claude asked loudly.

Although Clint thought this was a good idea in his mind, he still didn't want to give up the identity of sheriff he was once proud of by turning to these criminals for cooperation.

Seeing that Clint was remaining silent, Claude stood up angrily and turned to leave.

"Let's go Dexter. Let this bastard go and lose his life!"

Seeing Claude's back silhouetted in the distance, Clint clenched his fists tightly.

Act Two

Time passed slowly. Clint and Mathilda had already been walking in the desert for four whole days. On the way, they found a spring and took a short break, but they were soon caught by Blandy's chasing troops.

Even though vocally, he was extremely dismissive of Claude's plan, with Mathilda's persuasion and consideration, Clint chose to trust Claude. After Claude left, Clint and Mathilda took the initiative to show up and help Claude distract the chasing troops and lead them all the way to the desert hinterlands.

Chased by the soldiers, Clint and Mathilda hid in an abandoned mine and discussed countermeasures there.

"It's been four whole days. We shouldn't have trusted that thief!" Clint said angrily.

Mathilda stood at the entrance of the mine and said anxiously: "Maybe he's come into some difficulties..."

"I wonder what happened to grandma, dad and the others in the tribe." She sighed and turned back to the mine.

Clint took stock of his inventory. He didn't have many bullets left, and he didn't know if he could make it through the next battle.

"Take a rest, Mathilda. We'll have to move on again tomorrow. I'll be on guard." Clint said as he turned and walked towards the entrance of the mine.

Before Clint had finished speaking, a loud "boom" came from the entrance of the mine, followed by the shouting and hollering of a large number of thugs. Clint didn't expect them to catch up so quickly, so he could only rush to the entrance of the mine and shoot through the narrow entrance.

Thugs fell down continuously, but more soon poured in. Blandy's extremely annoying voice came over right afterwards.

"Kill this hillbilly. It would be even better if you can break his legs first!"

Bullets were running out. Looking at the flood of enemies, Clint bit his teeth and shouted to Mathilda: "Mathilda, follow me, let's rush out together!"

"OK!" Mathilda said firmly.

As soon as a thug approached, Clint would knock him down right away, and Mathilda, through her deft actions, would take this chance to quickly gain an advantageous position to attack the thugs behind Clint. They used this method to break through the enemy's encirclement bit by bit. The sunlight at the entrance of the mine was getting closer and closer to the two, and they were only one step away from escaping the mine.

These thugs, who were cravenly clinging to their lives rather than braving death, were also shocked by the demeanor shown by Clint and Mathilda in their desperate situation. Instead of regaining their bravery, they had a faint urge to retreat.

"Whoever dares to run away, I will drag them out and feed them to the dogs!" Blandy was very angry upon seeing the retreat of his subordinates. He made threatening gestures towards the person closest to him and hit the hapless guy fiercely with the butt of his gun.

Right after, he snatched the heavy weapon away from his subordinate and charged towards Clint menacingly. The alert Clint caught a glimpse of Blandy rushing towards him from the side using the remaining light. He pretended not to notice, but secretly planned to deal this unforgivably heinous guy a fatal blow.

Watching Clint focusing on dealing with the thugs at the front, Blandy quietly approached Clint, preparing to get close enough to strike him and wound him so that he could capture his biggest enemy alive and humiliate him completely.

But while Blandy was still fantasizing about how he was going to torture Clint, Clint turned around to one side as if he was expecting it, and aimed his gun at Blandy.

And just when Blandy wanted to get up, he felt something hard against his forehead. Looking up, Clint had actually broken through the encirclement and was pointing a gun at his head.

"Farewell, Blandy."

"No no no no no no no..." Blandy's heart was beating fast, his eyes closed tightly. He was not willing to accept death.

"Click."

A light breeze blew through the silent desert. Blandy opened one eye and looked tremblingly inside the dark bottomless muzzle.

"Damn...no bullets!" Clint pulled the trigger twice, but his gun did nothing.

The thugs reacted immediately and surrounded him.

"Hahahaha! Tie him up. We shall have some fun first!" Blandy gave a ferocious laugh.

The thugs understood and charged forward to grab Clint. On the other side, Mathilda was also being trapped by a few thugs. Seeing that Clint was outnumbered, Mathilda became flustered and was firmly grasped by two strong female sand hunters.

Seeing his big enemy Clint and Mathilda, who had always gone up against him, finally caught, Blandy couldn't help laughing and dancing triumphantly, not noticing whatsoever that on the small hill in the distance stood yet another shadow.

Act Three

"Let me see. Is this not the awe-inspiring sheriff? How did it end up like this?" Blandy took Clint's hat and mocked him wildly.

"Oh, yes, there is one less traitor, Claude." Thinking of the person he hated the most, Blandy regained a sense of sanity and turned to look at Mathilda.

"OK? One person is missing. Looks like I'm gonna need this little girl to tell me where that damn Claude is." Mathilda turned her head away, no longer looking at this odious man.

Blandy pointed his gun at Clint's head and threatened him: "If you haven't told me where Claude has gone by the time I could to three, I will blow this guy's head clean off."

"One......"

"Two......"

"Three!" A bang sounded. Mathilda dared not look any more and closed her eyes, but then Blandy screamed. Mathilda opened her eyes to see Blandy clutching his bloody left hand, cursing angrily.

"I say, Blandy, were you looking for me?" Everyone followed the voice and looked up. Claude was standing relaxed on a small hill in the near distance with his companion Dexter.

"That's it! You've just dug your own grave, you bastard! Seize him!" Blandy screamed fiercely, and the surrounding thugs quickly took up their weapons and prepared to charge toward Claude.

"You never learn. Some old friends want to see you!" Claude snapped his fingers as he spoke. Then, behind him, four figures that Blandy couldn't be more familiar with appeared. They were fully armed and their guns were aimed squarely at Blandy and his thugs.

After breaking up with Clint and Mathilda, Claude kept following the clues of the bounty posters to find the characters featured on them. Although these people had their own unique skills, they had weird personalities. Claude had spent a lot of effort trying to persuade them, and four days had passed.

Right when Clint and Mathilda were in their desperate situation, Claude finally arrived with his helpers and patted his horse.

"I guess I'm not too late." Claude smiled at Mathilda, then plunged into the battlefield.

These helpers had been persecuted by Blandy or Kane, and harbored a deep hatred of Kane and his "Iceberg Sand Hunters". The other reason they came here to help was because Claude told them that this battle would win back their dignity as human beings.

Blandy was shocked at seeing his old and new enemies appear at the same time. He sternly commanded his thugs to step forward to block Claude and the others, while trying to figure out how to escape.

Clint, who had been pinned to the ground the whole time, broke out while the thugs were not paying attention. He knocked over a few thugs with a several punches and kicks, regained his gun, and snatched a sufficient number of bullets from the thugs.

Seeing that Clint had also broken free from his restraint, Blandy kidnapped Mathilda into a sand hunter truck when he saw how bad the situation was, and commanded his underling to start the truck and flee.

With Claude and the others attacking, the thugs who remained at the scene fell down one after another. They began to flee in chaos. Seeing that Blandy was about to flee, Clint and the others immediately turned their guns and pursued Blandy.

With everyone chasing him, Blandy panicked and drove the truck to the edge of a cliff.

"Stop the truck and surrender, and I'll let you get a fair trial!" Clint shouted anxiously, seeing that the sand hunter truck was about to fly off the cliff.

"Dream on! Let me take this little girl on the road with me!" Blandy, having come to a dead end, went into a rage and set about taking Mathilda with him to his grave. He stepped fiercely on the accelerator and charged to the edge of the cliff.

Claude yelled out and prepared to risk using the holographic mirroring device to rescue Mathilda. But without waiting for him to take action, Clint flew out and caught Mathilda who had been thrown out of the sand hunter truck. Seeing that Clint was also about to fall off the cliff together with her, Claude didn't have time to think, so he flew up and grabbed Clint's left hand. The three of them hung down from the edge of the cliff in a straight line.

Meanwhile, the vicious Blandy was falling down the bottomless cliff, his life of sin now at an end.

Epilogue