The Shadow of Fire
Chapter 9: The wrath of Orion
The morning light shinned a mild brightness on this simple Christmas morning, the snow from the day before had been shoveled clean from the roadways and sidewalks, leaving a chilly wind to be the main reason to stay indoors at this time. Even with the morning light, a harsh darkness had covered the local park, in more ways than one.
"Alright, you all know the plan, when they come down this path, we strike fast and we strike hard."
The three ex-white fang members nodded to their comrade, all of them gripping their weapons tightly with newly found determination. After the previous skirmish with the targets, Saturn had decided they were the ones responsible for the loss of a huge amount of Dust from the Schnee docks, completely forgetting about the fact that the four men running away had led to the loss in the first place.
Without the White Fang or the crime lord to back them, they no longer had the resources or support to cause mayhem and chaos wherever they could, and they were looking for revenge on the girls who had instigated their fall from grace.
They knew that Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee were going to come through the park any minute, having observed them for a few days to find a pattern they could use and avoid any run-ins with the local Vale city police department.
"I don't think that's a very good idea."
The four men turned sharply to see a man standing several meters away from them, his features obscured by darkness. From what they could tell he was of average height, and wearing a long trench coat, possibly leather.
The men relaxed as it appeared the intruder was unarmed, and they aimed their weapons at the unknown man who had spoken to them.
"And why should we listen to you?" Piped up the group's leader, his arrogance coloring his words.
The unknown man took a few steps forward, and his features were revealed by the light from a nearby streetlamp.
He wore dark sunglasses, with dark hair, trimmed and swooping to his right hand side. His face was covered in a thin layer of stubble, and his trench coat parted just enough to reveal completely black clothing beneath, his hands resting in the coats pockets.
"Ah! I see you don't recognize me. Oh well, I guess it doesn't truly matter in the long run. Let's just say that if you go through with what you are planning... There isn't any hope of survival for you four."
"That supposed to scare us?! Do you know who we are?! We're the Silencers of the White Fang!"
"Not since five days ago. I know a lot about all of you, and I know what you're planning to do. The fact is, you want to kill the girls that turned you all into cowards who ran with their tails between their legs, quite literally in fact. The problem is, I have a soft spot in my "heart" for those two, so I can't really let you go ahead with your plans."
The stranger's words were calm, quiet, almost bored in their delivery. But as he spoke, his mouth twisted into a severe frown and his eyebrows drew down in obvious anger, anger so strong it momentarily stopped the ex-white fang operatives in their tracks.
"And what will you do, glare us to death?" The leader sneered, bringing up his gun and firing a burst into the stranger's chest.
He smiled, expecting to see the man drop to the ground from the silenced shots, but his eyes went wide in shock as he saw the bullets simply drop to the ground, as unharmed as their target.
"Nothing very humane I promise you. You should have listened to that trickle of fear running down your spines and run like the wind. Now that window has closed, because my dear gentleman..."
The stranger reached up and took off his glasses, revealing eyes that shimmered with an unnatural silver and golden glow, twitching with barely suppressed fury.
"I am Orion, and you have seen the end of my patience."
Orion raised his arm, his palm open and facing the four 'silencers', and slowly started to close his hand into a fist. The man to the leaders left cried out in pain and clutched his chest in agony, dropping to his knees as his companions stared in shock.
Orion's gaze was without pity, or remorse, and were one to see into his dark mind, they would learn that in that moment, he had no concept of mercy.
Closing his fist sharply, the man on his knees neck jerked suddenly, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, his face white with unimaginable terror, before he dropped to the floor, dead as dead could be.
Of the three silencers remaining, one of them brought up his weapon and fired a continuous burst at Orion, the silenced shots simply stopping as they touched the man's form. For his part in the "battle", Orion glared at the man with disgust, waving his arm almost dismissively.
Suddenly, the bullets that had been fired at Orion either stopped, turned around or both, and flew straight back from whence they came at triple the speed, destroying the gun and tearing the gunman to pieces from the chest upwards.
The last two decided to act on their nature as they had been advised, and ran for their lives in different directions. Orion watched them go for a moment, scowling at the pitiful display.
"Not this time... there is no escape from your fate."
In a flash of white, Orion was before one of the fleeing men, and brought his fist forward in a savage punch. The force of the impact was so strong, the man was sent flying into a nearby bush, his bones and internal organs liquefied by the strike.
An instant later he was before the leader of the group, who stumbled to a stop before Orion.
"P-Please! Don't kill me! W-w-what did I do to deserve this!?" The man asked piteously, cowering as Orion's glare became deadly.
"What did you do? You tortured and killed innocents for pleasure, you brought pain and misery to thousands in this city alone, you blamed others for your failures. Your former comrades claim they are working towards peaceful coexistence for the Faunus, but you, you just want to kill, you just want to make others suffer, believing yourself unaccountable to any law or justice."
"W-what...what are y-you?"
"There's a term humans and few Faunus use, partly fitting yet at the same time inadequate to describe my nature." Orion stated with malice, the grass beneath the men starting to break apart like glass, yet there was no sound, absolutely nothing to let the Faunus know the danger he was in.
"You would describe me as a God."
The Faunus felt tears of absolute terror fall from his eyes, yet he could not move nor speak, as he slowly started sinking into the ground, shadows as cold as ice crawling up his form and dragging him down into the abyss below him.
"Freedom is the natural right of all living beings on this world, yet fate always helps to guide people along their chosen paths, until an obstacle blocks their way. My purpose, is to ensure fate continues unimpeded, and punish those who would defy the fate of others. Think of me as the god of destiny and judgment."
The Faunus could not look away from Orion's harsh gaze, even as his chest sank below the grass and the shadows coiled around his throat.
"Experience the suffering you so gleefully gave to others for all eternity." Orion finished his speech and brought his right leg back. With the force of a mother Ursa, Orion kicked the last ex-White Fang members head. The force of the blow cracked the Faunus's skull, and at the same time, broke all of the internal connections from the neck downwards. The orb of flesh and bone disconnected itself from its owners body and rocketed into the distance, never to be seen again.
The God snapped his fingers together and the remaining bodies of the Silencers folded into thin air, leaving Orion in peace.
The God quietly clapped his hands together, congratulating himself of a job well done, no witnesses too, a bonus. None of his brothers or sisters had the courage to challenge the nature and course of all living things, not even his father would dare interfere with his domain of power and control. However, once he returned to Kryata, the realm of the Gods... He would most defiantly be punished for not one or two, but four bodies on his hands. He knew he could play it off as his job description, but internally he knew it was just mopping up, no one escapes twice from his grasp.
And Saturn was next.
"You won't escape this time old friend... Not again, never again." Orion muttered as voices filled his ears, the sound of giggles and cheerfulness coming from the pathway into the park. The God teleported into a nearby bush, peaking his head out to locate the source of the disturbance to his silence.
Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee walked down the stone and dirt path holding each other's hands, just as they were suppose to after a millennia of planning. Orion smiled to himself, recalling Paris and Helen being the last duo he managed to pair up, no thanks to his sister who took all the credit. Although the war on that world... Earth or something like that, was defiantly Aphrodite's fault, even if she wouldn't admit it.
Orion gave a smile to the duo before disappearing into a cloud of dust.
"What's wrong Ruby?" Weiss asked as Ruby stared off into a group of bushes, a strange look in her eyes.
"Oh nothing, want to head back? Yang and Blake probably want to open presents."
"Sounds good Ruby, let's go."
A/N: Short chapter but a good one nonetheless. I would like to thank Orion Matrix for all of his help on this chapter and the entire story over all. You are such a great person Orion, I can't thank you enough. See you all in the next chapter!