Chapter 8 The Warden
(A smokescreen is seen and a great, golden dragon flies out of it, breathing fire before it turns in a barrel roll formation then turns into a man made entirely of gold with one Perfect Sharingan eye, the other a Rinnegan eye and a third eye on his forehead)
Long live the KING
What's going on everyone, this is your boy King here and I hope your all staying safe and healthy out there and I am here to bring you the next chapter in my S.F chronicles series
But first I would like to say something, I know that everyone has heard of the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman A.K.A the Black panther and I was stunned that such a talented actor and according to the people he worked with, a good man passed away after losing a silent battle with cancer, I truly enjoyed his movie performances as the King of Wakanda, the Black panther is truly one of the greatest heroes in all of Marvel and a personal favorite in my favorite heroes list of all time, he was truly worthy to stand with the likes of the Avengers
So, I would like to say two things from the bottom of my heart
One, he was truly an incredible addition to the eternal legacy of the late, great Stan Lee
And two
WAKANDA FOREVER!
Rest in peace Chadwick Boseman
But with that said, let's get on with the show
(Back with the mysterious men and women)
"A WHITE FANG MEMBER, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND" One of the females screamed at the man who suggested Ada
"Please, let him explain" Another male told the woman who yelled
"Thank you, the reason why I suggested Miss Castiano's if for two reasons, one she was once the White fang's deadliest warrior and two she is the one who created these" The man said as he brought up these strange creatures that looked like snakes only they were obviously something else
"Snakes…they've already been made and not by her" One of the men said
"No, no, look closer these are what she calls "Alchemy serpents" a rather strange concoction" Said the man who suggested Ada
"What makes them so special" One of the woman asked
"Well for one, they are incredibly versatile, according to the Faunus's that she has worked with in the White Fang, they are semi-sentient and can follow Ada's commands as if they were her own little soldiers and two, they can take on the properties of Dust and even grow in size or turn into…THIS" The man answered showing them an image of a huge, Hydra-like creature
"Sweet Monty Oum" One of the men said
"Indeed, but if you are worried that she will betray us, she hasn't been apart of any White fang activities since her late husband died even at the constant begging or persuasion of other White Fang members…in my books she can be trusted" The man explained, the others looked towards the woman who spoke out against Ada, she scoffed
"Fine, she can help but I've got an even BETTER candidate in mind" She said
"And who might that be" One of the men asked her
"Someone who more than a match for ANY Hunter or Huntress" She answered with confidence
(Unknown location)
We now turn our attention to what looks like a beautiful, forest-like area where we find nine men walking to an unknown destination
"I really don't think we should be doing this" One of the nine told the others
"What, getting cold feet already" One of them asked him
"Hey, I'm all in about making money but, LIKE THIS" He asked
"It's just taking stuff from graves, hold onto someone's hand if you're scared" Another guy said as the others laughed a little
"They're dead, they don't need their stuff anymore besides have you SEEN the prices of rare artifacts these days" The leader asked
"Yeah, I have but stealing from the dead, there's just something about it that makes my skin crawl…especially when it's…THEM we're stealing from" The worried man said
"Well if anything DOES happen, I think we can handle ourselves or have you forgotten we're some of the toughest in Vacuo" Another man said as they kept walking
"Run if you like in fact, I'd PREFER you run, more money for us" One of them said
"You know why I'm doing this" The worried man said
"Then SHUT UP and keep your eyes on the prize, you'll get your cut" The leader of the group said
"I STILL don't like it" The worried man muttered as he felt someone or something was watching him and the group and his instincts were right on target, from the thick trees stood a solitary being looking down at the group of men
*Whatever reason…none of you will take what rightfully belonged to them* The figure said in the mind before vanishing from sight to follow the group, after walking a little longer they came to a cliffside and saw eleven graves
"JACKPOT BOYS" The leader said, each gravestone was littered with beautiful flowers left by someone who honored the people each gravestone belonged to and each of them had an item either leaning on it or laying in front of it, the first was a pair of seemingly normal shuriken stars, the second was a beautifully crafted bow seemingly made of black metal with the upper part of it having what looked like a deer's skull with antlers and at the other end was a crystal orb, the third item was seemingly a smoker's pipe but it looked like it was made of solid gold, the fourth item was a flute seemingly made of solid bone, the fifth item looked like a regular cloak that was black as night, the sixth item was seemingly nothing more than a large, clay jar with strange symbols on it, the seventh item was a 6-foot staff seemingly made of wood, the eighth item was a sickly green ring with strange designs on it, the ninth item was a quiver of what looked like metal, lightning bolt-shaped throwing spears each of a different color including red, icy blue, white, green, brown, silver, turquoise, light blue and purple, the tenth item was a large, round shield that looked like elemental Dust was built into it and the final one was what looked like a pitch black gauntlet for the left hand and forearm, all of these items were carefully preserved
"WHEW, look at those babies" One of the nine men said
"Well, chicken-man, you still think this is a bad idea" The leader asked the worried man from earlier
"Well, um" The man tried to answer
"While your thinking on the answer, boys, bag em and tag em" The leader said as the others moved in to collect the artifacts that were on display meanwhile the figure who was following the nine men watched as the gravestones were being disturbed
"Hot damn would you LOOK at this shit, the material they're made of is gotta be worth a fortune" One of the men said as he bagged the items
"The craftmanship is unlike anything I've ever seen boss" One of the other men added
"Man, with the money we're gonna get from this, I can't even think of the things I'm gonna buy" One of the men said, soon the artifacts were stuffed in bags
"That's the whole take, let's get back to Vacuo" The leader said before he suddenly sneezed and looked down at the flowers on the graves
"Daisy's…I HATE daisy's" The leader said before he kicked over the vase containing the flowers that made him sneeze the group then turned to see someone standing across from them
"Drop em" The figure spoke in a commanding voice, the worried man yelped a bit before turning to see a man (He was standing about 6 Ft 2 In tall with a medium, muscular build, his torso attire was like the Necromancer armor piece, wrapped around his shoulders and neck was the dark purple Nomad shroud, his boots were the Juggernaut boots and on his forearms and hands were the Abyssal gauntlets, all of these items were from the game "Darksiders 2" and covering up his whole head was what looked like a helmet made of black metal covering up his whole face sort of like the one Goblin slayer wears but without the red feather, from the openings in the clothing this man was show to have white skin, also on his right and left hips were holsters for guns which were occupied by said guns and hanging from the right side of his was a satchel)
"What did you say" The leader asked the figure
"I SAID…drop the items you took…NOW" The figure repeated his last statement, the leader then walked up to the figure and pulled out a gun
"You see this buddy, we're not gonna leave our payment here what we are gonna do is leave…WITH THEM" The leader told him as the others laughed, all except the worried man
"No, here's what your gonna do BOY, your gonna put those artifacts back where they belong then your gonna pick some more daisy's to replace the one's you kicked over then your gonna BEG the people who's gravestones you disturbed and maybe, just MAYBE…I'll forgive you" The man told him, the leader was offended
"Listen you old man, this is OUR loot…now, I'm gonna count to three and your gonna move on three or my boys will throw you a beating so bad your gonna wish your momma had kept her legs closed" The leader told him
"Why not grow a bigger pair of balls and take me out yourself instead of getting others to do your dirty work for you" The man said
"WHAT" The leader growled
"You must have a small pair of balls to let others do your fighting for you, a real man does his fighting himself, a real man faces problems himself…I bet you don't have a pair of balls big enough to satisfy even a whore who would bed you for one little PENNY" The man said
"WHY YOU, I'M GONNA" The leader was about to say as he pointed his gun at the man's face to pull the trigger only for him to stop in mid-sentence, there was this "BANG" sound before the men then looked to see the old man holding one of his guns (Which looked like the gun War used from "Darksiders") in his right hand as the leader tried to shoot his gun but for some reason he couldn't move his right hand
"Wh-what the" The leader muttered before suddenly the leader's right forearm was shot off from the body and fell to the ground
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH" The leader shouted as he fell to his knees in pain
"BOSS" One of the men shouted in shock
"OH SHIT" Another man shouted in shock, the leader grunted to speak but he felt so much pain, he managed to wiggle some words out of his mouth, but they were gibberish
"What" One of the men said
"He's going into shock…but I think he meant kill em" The old man said before the other men dropped their bags and drew their guns to shoot at the old man but as they did the old man moved his arm faster than they're eyes could track, first holstering the gun he was holding in his right hand back into his left holster before quickly drawing his other gun (Which looked like the gun Death used in "Darksiders" 2) and he rapidly shot bullets that were aimed so precisely that it hit every bullet that the robbers shot, canceling them out in mid-air, soon enough they ran out of ammo, all the men but the worried man fired
"What the" One of the men muttered
"How the hell did he DO that" One of them asked
"Who cares KILL HIM" Another yelled before they suddenly changed their guns to short daggers and charged at the old man but he once again faster than the eye could track and fired at the seven men who attacked him, hitting them perfect in the head each time with pin-point accuracy they stood there for a minute wobbling before they fell dead to the ground, the leader managed to get his gun in his left hand and started shooting the old man who walked over to him but he shot each bullet fired at him out of the air with his long-barreled gun until he ran out of ammo but he still clicked the trigger in fear, the old man then holstered the long-barreled gun and drew the gun he used first which was a five-barrel, sawed off-like shotgun
"You should have respected the dead…BOY" The old man said as he prepared to kill him
"WAIT…WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, c-can't we w-w-work something out, m-make a deal or SOMETHING, find it in your heart to forgive me" The leader begged for his life, the old man paused
"You want forgiveness" The old man asked, the leader nodded in fear, the old man then pointed his gun
"No, no, NOOO" The leader yelled but the old man pulled the trigger and splattered the leaders head
"Ask the people under those graves for forgiveness" The old man said as he twirled the gun in his hand before holstering it, the old man then looked towards the last man of the former group who was on his knees
"Please…please, PLEASE spare me" The man begged the old man who walked up to the begging man
"Why should I" The old mana sked
"I didn't wanna do it, I SWEAR ON MY MOTHER GRAVE, the dead deserve more respect" The man answered
"Look at me" The old man said, the scared, kneeling man looked up at the man in the helmet
"Don't swear to her…swear to me" The old man said
"I swear to you by my own blood that I didn't wanna do this, what can I do to convince you" The man asked, the old man saw the sincerity in the man's eyes he then thought about it for a minute before he spoke
"You can start by collecting some new daisy's from the nearby bush and put it back in that vase your boss kicked over" The old man said as the man rushed to pick some new daisy's as the old man picked up the vase, the man quickly came back with the daisy's
"H-h-here" The man said as he handed the flowers to the old man
"Now, get those artifacts your group took and put em back where they belonged" The old man said as the man did what he was told, with the direction of the old man each artifacts were placed back at the rightful gravestone
"Now…I want you to leave this place and never speak about what happened here to anyone, do that and you're off the hook with me" The old man told him as he put the daisy's in the vase
"Thank you, sir, I promise, THANK YOU AGAIN" The man said before running off, thankful to be alive leaving the old man alone
"I think in that boy's heart he meant what he said my friends" The old man told the graves as he clapped his hands together and pulled them apart, suddenly this sitar "materialized" in-between his hands before he took it in hand before seating on his knees Japanese-style
"Disgraceful pieces of humanity to rob the dead…you guys deserved better for the services you all took part in" The old man said as he started playing his sitar's melodious music which attracted the attention of some woodland creatures like squirrels, raccoons, birds and even a few deer's the old man sat there for a while paying respects for his friends that were buried it was a good fifteen minutes before he felt someone approaching him from behind and he stopped playing his music
"Scat" The old man said as the woodland creatures walked or flew off, the old man then dematerialized his sitar
"Whoever you are this place is private, leave" The old man said to the figure behind him only they didn't move
"I can't do that" A female voice said
"Sure, you can, just put one foot in front of the other, simple" The old man said
"I can't leave, not without talking to you first…Warden" The female voice said, the visible eye of the old man widened, and he got to his feet
(Obi-Wan Kenobi reference)
"Well now…that's a title I have not heard in a long time" The old man known as "Warden" turned to see Raven
(I love it, I love it)
"Who are you" The old man asked
"Raven Branwen and you're a Warden…I have to say I'm not impressed" She said
"How so" The Warden asked
"I've heard tales about the Wardens but I've never seen one…thought you would be taller and more menacing given your reputations in the past" She said before the Warden quickly drew his long-barreled gun at lightning-fast speeds and shot at her, on instinct she drew her sword expecting a fight but it wasn't her he was aiming at, she heard buzzing sounds coming from the ground, next to her right foot, she then looked down to see a horsefly without it wings, she then looked at the Warden
"Horseflies, nasty little buggers" He told her before twirling his gun and holstering it, indicating he shot the wings off the horsefly before it bit Raven
"Hmm…not bad" She told him before sheathing her sword
"The Wardens are dead young lady they have been for close to two hundred years and I'm retired" The old man said
"Well, with all due respect, your needed again all I need is a few minutes" Raven said, the man thought about it for a minute and walked over to Raven, holding out his right hand
"Corypheus Yojimbo" The old man, now known as Corypheus said, Raven was hesitant at first but took his hand and shook it
(An explanation later)
Corypheus listened carefully to the same explanation that Summer gave to Ada as the two sat on the grassy floor and he has seen and heard several, strange and terrifying things throughout his decades but what he just heard caused him to pause
"And here I thought I had heard everything by now…but Grimm becoming more intelligent and worse someone leading them sounds like every Hunter and Huntresses worst nightmare" Corypheus said
"That's what I've heard but no one is sure of anything right now but from the tone in they're voices its gotta be something" Raven said
"So, they want a Warden to take up the job of finding out what's going on" Corypheus asked
"They want you apart of a team of special people who we think will make one hell of a group, we need someone with your decades of experience and your special…talents" Raven said
"And…what would they need me to do exactly" Corypheus asked
"Your decades of experience as a Warden can be extremely invaluable to this team their putting together, they're hoping that you could lend the younger members a hand" Raven said
"In other word's play parent to them" Corypheus asked
"Sounds like it" She said, Corypheus thought about it
"Look, even I'll admit you probably know more about Grimm than anyone else on this team or even other professional Hunters and Huntresses…we could use someone like you" Raven told him, Corypheus paused in thought for a minute
"Well…not that I'm saying yes off the bat but…what would I get if I agreed" Corypheus asked
"What did you have in mind" Raven asked
BADA BOOM BABY, another one DOWN, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because this character is a personal favorite of mine and yes I know I used multiple video game references get off my back, this is MY story and what I say goes, but without any delay here is the character profile for Corypheus "The Warden"
Corypheus Yojimbo (The Warden)
Kingdom of origin: Unknown
Plays a dame good sitar
Almost never shows his face
The elder of the group (47 years old)
The guy who pretty much invented the saying "Tough old geezer"
Like Merida is one of the only two members of S.F that are of royal blood
The only surviving member of the "Wardens" which came before the Hunters and Huntresses
Still retains the strength, stamina, toughness, speed, reflexes, wits and athleticism that he had in his prime
Strife and Fury (As a tradition, Warden's after reaching the rank of master crafts a special weapon or artifact to be their life-long companions, Corypheus crafted these twin guns that seem like your average pair, Strife is a long, single barrel gun with deadly accuracy and a knack for headshots and Fury is a sawed off, five barrel shotgun with a knack for messy, close-ranged kills but what separates them apart from other firearms is their special property, both guns never seem to run out of ammunition and can spend more bullets than Remnant has Grimm running around)
Warden arts: (All Warden's must go through very specialized mental, physical and spiritually training to become what they are, eventually they will have access to these "Warden arts" ranging from boosting or healing allies, harnessing energies and physically augmenting their own bodies some who have witnessed these special arts have even mistaken them for magic)
Geyser stab (Piercing the ground with the fingers and causing an eruption under a target)
Reflect (The caster throws up a mystic shield that bounces projectiles back to sender)
Haste (When cast on another person, they can move and attack faster than normal for a limited time)
Split (When about to be struck, quickly dividing into two clones of the user to dodge before coming back together)
Might (When cast on another person, they can hit enemies harder than normal for a limited time)
Sensor barrier (An invisible barrier is summoned around the caster that alerts them of any movement within the affected area)
Regeneration (A special symbol of energy is placed on an ally to which they can heal much quicker than normal for a limited time)
Burst ball (Conjuring immense energy into a sphere then launched from the hand or be used for a powerful melee attack that is strong enough to send an Ursa Grimm flying several feet into the air)
Buff up (The user physically buff's their bodies to a much higher level, increasing the muscle mass and physical toughness of the user for a limited time)
Feather dance (The user turns their own body into a swarm of feathers which then the user can move to anywhere around them and then reform into their normal state of body, useful for dodging attacks)
Mystic web (A web of energy is created in the hands that not only restrains foes but drains energy overtime)
Blinding light (An orb of light is conjured in the hand then admits a light so bright that it causes temporary blindness)
Cloud (The user summons a transparent cloud before riding on top of it like a surfboard at increased speeds, it can even move vertical or horizontally on walls)
Ash field (The user inhales before blowing out black ash which covers a huge area, hindering the vision of any in the cloud)
Giant's fist (The user's arm and fist grow's to gigantic side to be used for the mother of all knuckle sandwich's, striking with devastating force)
Summoned items and beings:
Arrows (For Merida to use)
Vali's puppets (So Vali won't have to haul them around)
Antidote (To cure those affected by the Giant salamander's poison)
Giant ram (A huge and nimble ram with a devastating charge attack)
Giant falcon (A huge falcon that is used for aerial transportation and a birds eye view)
Giant panda (A giant panda with fur and bulk so thick it can be used as a very tough shield)
Giant elephant (A giant elephant that can such in many objects or people or unleash gale-force winds sending almost anything flying)
Giant centipedes (Three, giant centipedes that can travel underground at fat speeds and surprise enemies from underneath)
Giant salamander (A giant salamander spews toxic gasses from its body and mouth that when inhales causes temporary paralyzes and if left untreated death, it can even swallow foes to suffocate them with poisons in its body)
Golem (A 15-meter-tall, humanoid-like creature seemingly made of stone that wreaks havoc on any enemy of its summoner with insane strength and ferocity, this is Corypheus's strongest summoned being, so strong that it can create miniature earthquakes by punching the ground)
"Summoner" Semblance (A Semblance that allows the user to create their own pocket dimension for items like weapons and living beings like combat animals with a seemingly infinite carrying capacity but this Semblance does have a drawback that being that anything that is summoned saps away the energy of the user every time they use the Semblance, so it is possible that is the user can overexert themselves with constant usage or summoning a being that is incredibly large, so the user must use this Semblance with caution)
I hope you all liked it
And once again may the soul of Chadwick Boseman rest in peace
Until the next time
NINJA VANISH!
(Smokescreen escape)