23 Diaries of the Punisher #293 (Part 1)

Jin Rose - Punisher - Age 14

Face Cam Recording: No. 293

Friday - 10:55 PM

Status: In Work

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"Hmmm..."

The scene takes us in a forest located somewhere in the Continent of Anima. Cold wind was blowing and the skies were getting cloudy, blocking the light of the broken Moon.

A sounds of fighting was occuring in the forest. Taking a closer look on the scene, there was a man in black clothing fighting against a middle-aged man. It went on for just a few seconds and the middle-aged man was defeated.

Jin was holding the man by his throat while raising him to the air. The man grabbed Jin's hands and struggled to remove it while letting out choking noises, but it was all futile.

He was wearing a carbon fabric trench coat that had a predator-face silver tiger imprint at the back, along with black pants. He also has black leather gloves and black shoes. And of course, he was wearing his full-face grey mask that had a painted fiery demonic teeth at the mouth part.

"You know, there are better ways for you guys to make a living. But instead, you and your little friends decided to go on the path of Banditry." Jin said in a calm and composed voice.

(Authors Note: Slade's voice from the Old Teen Titans. I swear he has like one of the best voices.)

The man looked at Jin with a begging expression while letting out choking noises. Jin just tilted his head in amusement and said in a calm voice.

"You want to live? No can do little man. I may not be famous here in Mistral, but soon I will be. Wiping out your bandit gang will be the official announcement for my presence here in Mistral, and invoke fear for the rest of the criminals here."

[Aura Steal]

Jin used his semblance on the man and the man screamed in pain. He felt that his entire body was being turned inside out, it was extremely painful.

The man's body was forced to activate all of his Aura. His Aura took the form of a blue light, and that light was being absorbed by Jin's arm.

Jin's [Aura Steal] semblance has a process and requirement in order to be used.

He has to make physical contact with the person in order to activate it. Upon activation, his semblance would then force the victims body to use and draw out the entirety of their Aura before greedily absorbing it.

The process was extremely painful for the victim, while for Jin, was comfortable and ecstatic.

The man was violently trembling and his eyes turned white. A few seconds later his body looked extremely thin, deformed and malnourished. And in the next moment, he died.

"Thank you for your patronage." Jin said as he let go of the deformed body, such were always the result after being a victim of [Aura Steal] for some reason.

His [Aura Steal] would drain the victims Aura to its roots. He couldn't control the speed of absorbtion but he can cancel it.

Jin then walked away at the scene with a satisfied look underneath his mask. He was going to continue his search for the bandit camp, but not before turning back to check on his work.

Behind him, was the horrible sight of thin and deformed corpses of bandits, as well as a few trees that was cut down. There were around three of them, each being drained of their Aura before dying.

"This is the third party....The further I go into the forest, the more patrol parties I'll face....Looks like I'm going in the right way."

With that, Jin continued on his walk to search for the bandit camp.

'I'm suppose to go to Mistral because of some Job. But, might as well do some minor quest while on my way there.'

He was hired by the Mayor of Higanbana, a town nearby this forest, to deal with the bandit problem they've been having. This is because bandits would occasionally attack travelers and the towns people that would go in and out of town.

Jin was a mercenary and a bounty hunter, he would do any kinds of jobs as long as they have the money. Plus, he would gain some freebie Aura from his victims, so why not?

In fact, that was the reason why he started on hunting and killing criminals in the first place. To take their Aura and make it for his own. It was the main reason why his Aura was so tremendous and strong.

He couldn't just devour Aura from innocent people, as the results it brings will always be death. So he decided on preying against criminals for nourishment.

In that time, he was a student from Signal Academy. Jin and Ruby was trained together by Qrow Branwen albeit with different fighting styles, so he was able to put up a fight against a mundane criminal.

Jin could still remember the first time he killed someone through his semblance, he was just a 12 year old in that time. His first blood was a henchman that was working for Roman Torchwick, and it was the reason on how they got to know each other.

The Aura he gained from that man felt so good, the feeling of getting stronger made Jin addicted. After that, he began his hunting and killing spree of criminals in the streets of Vale.

And after years of doing his twisted acts for power, he was soon titled by criminals and authorities alike as the Punisher.

'Well, who cares about criminals if they die? They might as well serve as power-ups for me to become stronger!'

Its true that his Aura was already monstrous when he first awakened it, but he managed to make it even stronger and more vast than before because of his [Aura Steal] semblance.

As Jin reminisced while in his walk through forest, his ears suddenly twitched upon hearing some movements

"Hm? Thirty meters, behind, eight people, armed and ready."

As if it was on que, Jin heard a gunshot from behind and he leaned his head, perfectly dodging the bullet. The shooter saw this and she opened her eyes in shock.

"Not bad from a bandit. I thought you guys were a bunch of savages that only knows how to hold a gun." The Punisher said as he slowly turned around.

The bandit group stopped in their tracks and they got ready for a fight. The moment they saw the appearance of the man, they got nervous. It was a man wearing a creepy looking mask and his black attire complemented his appearance.

But, there was a fearless woman in the group. She glared at Jin before drawing her weapon, which were crescent-shaped gun-blades, and pointed at him.

"You....Are the one who killed our brothers?" She said in a cold tone.

She was a short-haired woman with ice blue eyes and tanned skin. She had maroon pants, brown boots, a brown vest over a torn black shirt, and a tattoo of some bird and flowers on her left arm. She also had some sort of collar on, her style really screamed that she was bandit.

'Hmmm...She looks familiar....'

"Oh, Yes. I killed them splendidly." Jin replied with a composed voice.

The woman's face turned into anger as she gritted her teeth, "That's all I need to know..."

As if her words was the signal, the female bandit that was holding the rifle, fired at Jin. But the Punisher managed to catch the bullet with his fingers.

"He p-pinched it?!"

"Holy moly...."

The entire bandit group was taken aback in shock. The man before them actually catched the bullet of their specialized sniper rifle. The female bandit shuddered at the scene before quickly reloading her gun.

"Kill him!"

The short-haired woman yelled and the rest of the bandits charged at Jin with swords in hand. Jin calmly walked towards the incoming bandits and he waved his hands.

[Aura Bolt]

A powerful energy wave made of Aura was unleashed at the first incoming bandit, cutting his body in half. Jin turned into a blur as he dashed towards the second bandit and sent a powerful punch. The punch made his Aura plummet and the bandit was sent flying to a nearby tree.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

The third bandit screamed as he swung his sword downwards at Jin, but the man himself did a fast finger jab at the bandit's chest. His ribs were broken and the force made its way into his heart, making the man collapse to the ground, dead.

The female bandit in the distance finished reloading and hurriedly aimed her weapon at Jin. Jin turned into a blur as he dashed to the fourth bandit before pummeling him to the ground and grabbing his neck, it was then that the female bandit pulled the trigger.

Jin quickly raised the bandit in front him and....

*BANG!*

The poor guy took the bullet for him, it was a shot between the eyes.

"Congratulations, you killed your brother." Jin mocked before throwing the corpse at an incoming bandit and firing an [Aura Bolt], cutting their bodies in half.

The shooter watched the scene in horror before her head was separted from her body by an [Aura Bolt].

*Ting*

The final bandit saw the entire thing and he dropped his weapon in terror. Jin turned around only to see that the final bandit was going to run away. He prepared his hands for another attack, but then....

"AAHHH!!"

Seeing her family dying, the short haired female bandit yelled out a battle cry as she furiously threw herself at Jin while firing her crescent-shaped gun-blades.

Jin just walked towards her while casually slapping the bullets off with his hands. The bandit then threw her weapons at him like a boomerang.

It was then that she made a fatal mistake.

Jin catched her crescent gun-blades casually and the bandit's eyes opened wide in shock. She knew that she fucked up. Her feet stepped back in fear as she stuttered.

"H-how...."

Jin had a smirk underneath his mask as he played with the gun-blade by twirling it around his fingers,'I remember now, This is Vernal.'

"I thought you were smarter than the average cannon fodder, but no. No you were not."