Chapter 23: Stolen Goods
~Third POV~
After the events of the next day with Soul stealing all of the magic artifacts like the Grinch that stole the trees and fun the other members soon tried their hand at obtaining the magic artifacts but…
…
…
"WHAT!!"
"EXPLAIN NOW!"
Sometimes in the afternoon, the current leader of the Hana Guild Vermillion Raddock was fuming with rage hearing his subordinate results as he gulped, "Gulp. Uh… sorry Raddock sir but apparently when we took control over the Javi Pastel Mining Company to use their machines to dig the hole into the Northern mountain side… we didn't find any artifacts that you mentioned and destroyed some historical-"
*BANG*
*SPLAT*
That was when Raddock had enough as he shot his messenger with a shotgun as the remains of the messenger's head were destroyed. This made the other members gulp in fear of seeing the leader end one of their own.
Fear is keeping them in place to stop him.
A low growl from Raddock was enough to issue them a command in a silent but cold tone to the minions, "Grr... go now… I need some peace to think. Better leave before you become my NEXT messenger."
*Swoosh*
No later as his words fell out of his mouth he placed his hand on his pig mask as he began to speak more respectfully to himself, "Impossible. Simply impossible. No other person should've known my Queen's base? Was it those dogs of The Circle with that fool Ozpin? Grr…"
That was when a voice devoid of emotions began to erupt from the room Raddock was in he immediately took his stand by kneeling as if by practice as he hears the Queen's voice from somewhere, "Now my pawn I wouldn't think so far as Ozpin to be that ahead. After all, it was our home at one point together. He doesn't have the stomach to return there no…"
That was when a Grimm finally came to view as that was where the voice originated from…
It was known as a Seer…
Seers are small, jellyfish-like Creatures of Grimm created by Salem that can float in the air and are used to transmit messages.
Seers have small, black spherical bodies resembling a smoky crystal ball that is covered with bone-like plates and spikes. They have six long red tentacles they use to interact with their environment or attack. They somewhat resemble jellyfish.
Seers can float in the air and appear to be able to keep tabs on the other Grimm and, through them, act as a scout for Salem. They also have 360-degree vision with distorted colors that are shown as a fishbowl effect when seen from their perspective.
Two Seers can be used to allow long-distance communication between two parties, with the live depiction of the participants being able to be shown to the others via a red smoke that manifests in the head of the Grimm.
In addition, this method of connection between two Seers can allow Salem to directly manipulate the actions of the distant Seer. Additionally, they can use the red smoke to manifest an apparition, although doing so requires cracking its crystal-like head, thus killing it.
Their tentacles are stretchable, very powerful, and prehensile. The barbs of their tentacles can be used as sharp weapons.
Seers are typically used as communication tools for Salem and her agents, staying stationary in rooms or slowly moving when called, but some floated in Monstra's hallways as surveillance.
Much of the Seer's power is unknown to the population at large, as specimens retrieved by researchers are always broken. As a result, many aren't even sure if it is a creature or an object.
Still kneeing down to the Seer hearing Salem's voice she began to speak while another smaller Grimm soon appears as she spoke, "But I do happen to have your culprit. Why thanks to my little pet spider. It is the best for spying on people would you agree Raddock? Replay what you saw spider."
The Spider Grimm are small arachnid-based Grimm that is capable of creating physical reflections of people's thoughts.
The Spider Grimm is a tiny Creature of Grimm resembling real-world spiders. They have a black body and three glowing eyes, along with a Grimm pattern on their abdomen. It appears to be able to generate a growling sound.
The Spider Grimm can cause targets to hallucinate a reflection of their thoughts and fears, though it is unknown if these illusions can physically interact with the target. However, they are shown to be capable of speaking. It is also seems capable of producing webs, much like a real spider.
With that the Spider Grimm used its hallucinations to reflect the events that happen to Raddock's mind as he saw them all listening in to them as well as seeing what happened. He saw a hooded figure carrying a sword then swarms of small blurs going around.
He counted at least 500 of them at least and some managed to kill the Spider Grimm but also collected the artifacts but what surprised them was the stranger's shock reaction from this line of the stranger getting a reading of his voice, "… No… that can't be right. If it has been generations then shouldn't humanity and Faunus have progressed further then? Or rather why haven't this cause of threat be known- Infinite Man!"
Listening and reacting to that Raddock and Salem both saw how intelligent the person was to connect the dots as Salem merely laughs at this as she listens, "Hahaha… it seems to me that someone managed to uncover the truth. Seems like this person is some of the interest in history and if he connected the dots…"
That was when they saw his reaction seeing and hearing the words that came next as they saw the stranger read the magic necklace and an expression of realization as he saw the cravings of the past, "… This necklace…! This is the same one used in the cravings! Incredible discovery [Harvest]! Hmm…? There are engravings here… From you're lover Salem to my beloved Ozma?"
With that, the Spider Grimm shows everything as it then escaped but Raddock seems to have gotten what he needed as he stands up again saluting Salem, "I see… it must be items of the past Mistress. I promise to reclaim them for you, my Queen!"
Salem on the other hand heard the necklace but began to respond to her pawn in her voice with a hint of seriousness with it, "Very well then Raddock. Seeing that this person took the artifacts all of them with him it will be best if he comes alive to get them back."
Just as soon as Salem finished the Seer then returned to it's hiding place again Raddock stood up as began to think of his options, "Now then… I just need to find this person personally. Best used this guild resources to find out more about this third party."
…
…
Meanwhile elsewhere another group was sighing out in defeat as Summer Rose returned from her quick trip through the mountain as she gave them the news, "Sigh… sorry guys but I searched the whole area of that mountain and found nothing. Even using my semblance I couldn't find anything when I was inside that signified as an artifact."
Qrow sighs at this as he began to ask Summer what is their next goal is he spoke in a raspy voice, "Great. Now then fearless leader what is our next goal in this?"
Raven shuts her eyes listening as Summer began to return to a serious expression as she spoke to her teams about what she believed, "While getting the artifacts are a priority getting Raddock is more so important. I can feel where the magic is if I'm near it but I can search the whole city later. Dealing with Raddock comes now."
Raven opens her eyes as she glances at the blades on her hips as she began to speak out about what she plans to do with a grin on her face, "In that case the plan is simple. Simply raid the place when they are least likely guarded. With their forces using Javi Pastel Mining Company to search we hit them where they hurt."
Qrow nods at this so do Summer as she explains how the plan would work out if they did the attack, "I agree. The Hana Guild has most of its prized drug's and weapons in the Lower Valley. Currently, from the words of the grapevine, most of Hana forces are at the Northern side of the mountain."
A smirk appears on Qrow face as he gets the idea of what's going to happen as he spoke out the time to get the understanding of the plan, "Heh. In that case, the soonest we can strike is by under the night sky right-"
*BANG*
That was when suddenly the forces of the Hana Guild came out from the outside as they looked enraged, "NOW WHICH OF YOU FUCKERS DECIDED TO TAKE ALL OF OUR SUPPLIES!! NOW TELL US WHICH OF YOU FUCKERS IS CALLED OR BELONGING TO THE GROUP CALLED THE PASSIONE!"
This made the trio of Huntsman and Huntress as well as ex-teammate confused about what happened to the sudden hostile attack…
But the thoughts of another crime guild were active as they heard the name they never heard of before…
Passione.
…
…
~Soul POV~
Ah buona giornata.
Taking my time using [Harvest] to steal from the Lower Valley of the Hana Guild possessions of everything they had was worth it. I had to strike while the iron was hot.
I couldn't believe how easy it was to get the guards to be taken down. Then again though they never had to face a Stand like [Harvest] injecting them with a strong concentration of alcohol and booze to make them faint.
Then use [Foo Fighters] on one of their grunts to make them spill the info about everything they had will leaving clones of the colony stand of Plankton controlling them using F.F. in the process.
And thanks to this I was able to get EVERYTHING I can about the Hana Guild's newest chief of command Vermillion Raddock. That man is quite the scary fellow quite honestly with the abilities of air, water, lightning, rock, fire, and energy manipulation under his belt.
It made me think he has some kind of cheat-like semblance or something but with one of the grunts talking about his semblance with his weapon of choice a 30-foot Flail.
I was currently waiting at my home for the time being as I waited for a call to come as I wanted to know what the grunts are doing…
*Beep*
Hearing a call from my phone I began to hear from the other end of the Scroll one of the grunts as he began to speak devoid of any emotions, "Diavolo sir… we managed to find out what Vermillion Raddocks Semblance is sir…"
Ah, that is very good.
Molto buono davvero molto buono!
This was another reason why I didn't go in to attack this fool as I waited for my chance to plant my seeds of F.F. in their ranks and have my stand control them from afar giving me the commands of what they do as I get valuable information from within their ranks. Adding a little [Hamon Hypnosis] also helps out to get the job done.
Listening from the other side of the Scroll the grunts finally managed to describe to me the info of my enemy's abilities, "Furthermore Diavolo sir, Raddock Semblance [Semblance Share] allows him to force a target he touches to share their Semblance with him once their Aura comes into contact with his own. It is described as a feel of the victim's Aura being tugged at as the effect is he copies the semblance down permanently there for him to use."
Shit.
That explains why he has so many powers it's because he got them from the other users.
I need to have my fight with him be up close and personal now since this guy is going to be a major pain to deal with. And there might be the off chance he might be able to copy down my Stands as well…
That is not a good sign at all.
If there is an ability that copies then there must be a semblance power to steal semblances or auras of others as well.
Yare yare daze those are going to keep me up till they are taken care of first.
But first I deal with their boss.
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A/N: Thanks for reading the fighting is about to start and as such I'll leave you guys a vote of which Stand to would be picked for the next mission at hand and finally give the MC an actual fighting stand other than one's that are bound.
King Crimson
Sticky Fingers
Kiss
Purple Haze
Magician's Red
Or you're choice