Kingdom Rivalry

Chapter 1

~.Obscure Kingdom.~

"What are you doing, Black Mist!?" King Pluto scolded when his son hit the ground on his rear end after he lost his balance when he was forcefully disarmed. He pointed his sword to his neck. "If I were an enemy, I would not hesitate to slit your throat!"

King Pluto was a 96 and muscular due to so much training. He was completely black with long hair that reached the curve of his back. The tips of his hair were red, and as the color climbed up, it gradually faded into black. His eyes were black and gold, and like all 96s, he had red markings that started at his forehead and snaked down to under his eyes. He normally wore a robe of maroon, and that was no exception to when he trained. He had dark brown boots on his feet that seemed to work in any terrain. He was extremely skilled in swordsmanship and expected his son to be good at it as well.

Prince Black Mist snorted and sneered, moving the sword away from his neck with the tip of his finger touching the blade. Black blood dropped from the cut that was made. "Oh, shut up! You know I'm no good with swords!"

Black Mist was a teenager, and the opposite of his father in terms of toned muscles. He was rather slender and feminine-looking. Like his father, he had gold and black eyes and the same red markings. His whole body was black, and his black hair was arched up. Unlike his father, though, he had markings on his cheeks, arms, legs, torso, and back. Gems that served to heal and harm him decorated in pairs on his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. He normally wore two expressions on his face: a playful or knowing smirk or a huffy frown. He straight up refused to wear the adornments for the prince, and he was flat out terrible with swords!

"I don't care!" King Pluto shouted. "You will excel at this skill if you want to participate in the war!"

"Does it look like I care?" Black Mist spat. He got up. "I'm better without a sword, Father. You know this."

"In the battlefield, there will be blades everywhere, and no one will be fighting in hand-to-hand combat. You know this!"

Black Mist kicked the sword away from him and stormed off inside. He absolutely hated using a sword, and it peeved him off when his father tried to train him with the ways of the sword. He was better in hand-to-hand combat, and he trained in that skill every day, but he knew that it would be useless in battle with someone armed with a sword. Still, he could win against them if he tried!

One of the servants came up to him. "My prince, would you like-"

"No." Black Mist brushed past him. "Bring Vector. I'm bored."

The servant nodded and went to fetch the Barian Emperor. Black Mist and Vector have been friends since they were young, so Vector never really gave Black Mist the whole special treatment just because he was a prince! From a very young age, they've been training each other in combat in secret from their parents because they didn't want them to know they were getting too violent. Seriously, their parents were super scary when they were angry. Just like the Dark Number, Vector hated the use of swords and much rather preferred the use of his own Barian magic. That was just fine with Black Mist, for he enjoyed the extra challenge of landing a few kicks while Chaos Winds sliced at him. It was a 96 thing. They loved extra challenges.

Black Mist was waiting at the clearing in the forest, which was their secret training grounds, bored out of his mind. He paced around for a while until an explosion knocked his balance out of whack.

"You little son of a bitch!" he screamed when he regained his feet. "I'm gonna kill you!"

A voice behind him chuckled. "That's what you said last time, but I'm still around."