The Silver Prince

It was a calm and peaceful evening in the kingdom of Vale. The sun was beginning to set, casting the city in a soft red glow. Even the combat school Signal was quiet this day, most students resting after an exhausting day of tests, or sitting in nervous quiet waiting on tenterhooks to see whether they passed or failed. Well quiet except for one student walking towards the main gate whistling the tune to some half remembered song, his school uniform loosened to allow easier breathing. The red light of the sunset illuminated his full five foot eleven inch height, white hair and piercing blue eyes.

"And where exactly do you think you're going Mr. Fulgar," A deep voice growled as a tall middle aged man sporting a pair of impressive antlers on top of his balding head stepped out of the guardhouse. The man glared at the youth before him daring the student to challenge his authority.

"Well Mr. Smith there's this lovely little brunette that I promised a dance to and a gentleman does not renege on a promise. Especially promises made to lovely young ladies." The white haired teenager replied trying to give off an aura of refinement and dignity.

"Shouldn't you be waiting for your test results Argent," the older man sighed.

"What and deny the ladies even one night of my dashing good looks? Now that sir is criminal." The young man now identified as Argent Fulgar replied with mock hurt and indignation.

"You know, if you're feeling nervous about the tests and want to blow off steam just say so," Mr. Smith replied his expression softening into one of concern.

"Am I really that open a book to you," Argent replied while rubbing the back of his neck nervously, all sense of bravado gone.

"You're parents asked me to keep an eye you for a reason," Mr. Smith replied "Buck up, you worked twice as hard and twice as long as anyone else. If someone is getting into Beacon tonight, it's you." He finished while placing a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder.

"You think so?" Argent asked quietly

"I know so. Just make sure not to forget about us small timers while you're up in your ivory towers." Mr. Smith answered with a smile.

"What and leave behind your wife's delicious pies? I think not." Argent said some of his old confidence returning. He shrugged of the older man's hand before continuing on his way out of Signal.

"Don't forget to show up for dinner tomorrow to celebrate," Mr. Smith yelled after Argent. "Forget or be late and the missus will have both our hides."

"I'll be sure to show up. I like my skin right where it is thank you very much." Argent laughed while waving goodbye to his older friend. As soon as he turned the corner and was out of sight Argent's entire demeanor changed. Gone was the spring to his step or the joyful grin, instead was a determined stride and a hard edge to his eyes. He took out an old, silver pocket watch with a stylized lightning bolt striking the ground. Opening it he found he had three hours to be in position, time was not on his side. He quickened his pace.

An hour later found him in a deserted alleyway connected to a forgotten street. After making sure no one was around he removed a loose brick from the wall allowing him to open a secret compartment. Inside he pulled out a cloth wrapped bundle, from within this bundle he pulled out his combat gear and quickly changed into it. Standing up revealed him in a large silver coat open in the front with the same stylized lightning bolt from his watch on its back, dark grey pants and shirt and a silver breastplate. He then pulled out three sticks from the dwindling pile of gear still in the clothe bundle before him. He connected these sticks together to form a staff. On one end was a large reinforced lightning Dust crystal with the words "Glorious Fulmination" engraved just below, on the other end was the barrel of a rifle. The trigger and clip case were located in the middle of the weapon. Finally he gingerly pulled out the last item he hidden away earlier this week. Obtaining one had not been easy. Making sure it was whole he put it into one the many pockets in his coat. After ensuring everything was a go he channeled some of his aura into his coat. It shone for a brief second before reflecting the colors surrounding him, giving him some camouflage from watchful eyes. With that he climbed the building before him and took off into the night.

The sun had set and Vale was enveloped in the embrace of night. Argent was hiding in a tall building that had a wonderful view of the rooftop access to the building next to it. 'They're late' he thought to himself glancing at his heirloom pocket watch. 'If he was wrong about the time and place I'm going to have words with not only him but his…' His thoughts were cut off as the door on the roof across from him was thrown open. The pool of light created from a rooftop bulb revealed eight people wearing head to toe black clothes with grey vests and white masks with red markings. On the back of each vest was a blood red insignia of a large cats head with three claw marks running through it. Two of them were female while the rest were male.

'Two assault rifles, three machetes, one spear, one dual wielder, and the carrier,' Argent thought to himself pulling out his specially procured item.

"Quickly we don't have much ti…" one of the women started saying before the sharp retort of two rifle shots cut her off. Her attention was drawn to one of the rifle holders who let out an "Urk..." before falling face first onto the ground revealing two lightning Dust crystals protruding from his back. This was quickly followed by the sound of electricity jumping through the air and the collapse of the second rifleman. Behind him a man stood in a dark grey and brown robe. The stranger lifted his hood at the same time that it shimmered and became a metallic silver color. He had White hair and was wearing a white and red mask identical to the ones they themselves were wearing.

"Quick get the goods to safety," yelled the female with a spear on her back to the man holding what appeared to be a one foot by one foot box. "The rest of you get this punk!"

"You're not going anywhere scum," Argent replied, venom dripping from his voice, as he charged the man holding the box. He was intercepted by the first swordsman who came at him with a heavy horizontal swing. Argent quickly ducked under the slow swing bringing him to his attackers back. The second swordsman then attacked with an overhand chop that Argent parried with a twist of his body and a spin of his staff. This put the second swordsman behind him and the first swordsman in front of him with the gun end of his staff pointing towards swordsman number two's stomach and the crystal end pointing towards the turning figure of swordsman number one. Argent pulled the trigger shooting a regular bullet at the man behind him. Instead of holding onto the weapon Argent released it and let the recoil push it into the first swordsman's gut. The silver clad fighter then quickly grabbed the gun end of his weapon and brought the crystal end up into the chin of the doubled over swordsman. With a spin of his staff and a twist of his body he then swung the crystal end at the second attacker's head and hit with a satisfying crunch that knocked him out cold.

Seeing an opening the third swordsman readied to attack the man who had hurt his compatriots. The sound of lightning hitting a body, a man crying out in pain, and the sharp tang of ozone in the air, distracted him. Argent quickly took advantage of his distraction and jabbed his sword arm with the lightning crystal of his staff. Though the attack was light the staff wielder charged the crystal with aura. The resulting shock caused the man's fingers to go numb dropping his sword and to take a step back. Only to find his opponents staff between his legs causing him to lose balance. Argent helped him to the ground with a well-placed punch to the throat. The third swordsman collapsed clutching his throat and trying to pull air into his lungs.

Argent glanced over at the carrier and noted his unconscious form next to the fire escape. 'Good my trap worked' he thought to himself before facing the other two people still able to stand on the rooftop.

"Well aren't you the cheeky little brat," the spear wielder sneered as she readied her weapon. 'She has brown hair. Looks like I didn't technically lie to Mr. Smith,' Argent thought offhandedly as he readied his staff. The brunette lunged forward trying to impale Argent. He quickly parried with his staff causing her to overbalance. Before he could take advantage of this fact the dual-wielder joined the fray and wove a web of steel trying to cut the silver coated vigilante to pieces. Argent then realized the trap as the spear he thought was over extended swept at his legs throwing off his stance. He desperately tried to parry the two swords even as he kept backpedaling to avoid falling over. While he did manage to avoid any grievous wounds he did take quite a few small cuts. The dual wielder brought both her blades in a scissoring cut at the flailing man's legs. Argent brought his staff down blocking both slashes but at the exact moment he did she dropped to the floor as a spear head was arcing towards his head.

Unable to block or dodge Argent fortified the aura around his head and hoped for the best. Stars filled his vision as the attack connected. He threw himself backwards into a roll to avoid any follow up strikes. 'If I'm going to be blind the so are they,' Argent thought as he produced a Dust crystal from inside his coat and threw it as he rolled. A flash of light and the sound of effeminate distress let him know he had succeeded.

He spit out blood as his vision cleared showing the two women in defensive stances and waiting. Argent pushed a button and the clip case attached to his staff and ejected it. He replaced it with a dark grey case with the letter M on it. 'I only have two shots of this stuff,' he thought to himself while trying to come up with a plan. "I'm really going to regret tonight when I have to balance my checkbook," he whispered to himself.

The three fighters stared each other down for one… two… three… heartbeats before Argent moved. He leveled his weapon at the two women opposite him and fired once, twice. The first shot was blocked by a spinning spear the second by a sword. Argent charged. The spear wielder and the dual-wielder smirked as he came closer. Their smirks quickly turned to expressions of surprise as their weapons clanged together in a powerful magnetic attraction. Argent swung his staff in a diagonal arc, the dual-wielder tried to parry with her second weapon but was at the wrong angle to do it properly and the staff knocked it aside easily. The silver clad fighter followed this up with a right hook to the jaw knocking her down. Since she hadn't let go of the sword that was magnetized to the spear she brought her ally down with her. Argent raised his staff above his head and brought it down savagely on the back of the brunette's head. He caught her compatriot in the temple on the upswing. Both stopped moving afterwards.

Breathing heavily he leaned on his staff trying to recover from the battle. After the adrenaline wore off and the tunnel vision ended he heard police sirens that were getting closer, fast. Swearing to himself Argent ran towards the box the man had in his hands and picked it up. His heart fell to his feet when he saw that it was combination locked as well as had a GPS tracking device. Realizing that those who had the combination were out cold and that he couldn't risk anyone tracking his movements he dropped the box activated his coats camouflage feature and disappeared into the night.

"Tell me child, why do you take up arms?"

•

"Because peace can't last,"

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