*Remnant…Vale…Night…*

The night was set in the city of Vale, with the distinctive shattered moon and its fragments dimly hovering straight above the town and its citizens.

The midnight clock began ticking, indicating to the many late workers and shops to close and go back to their homes. However, some few decided to stay up for just a couple more hours, having a bit of preference to the late-night customers or just to make a quick cleaning around their businesses.

One of those shops was a small humble dust store called 'From Dust Till Dawn', the shop wasn't selling anything really out of the ordinary, books, magazines, small goodies, and as its name stands, mostly dust.

The shopkeeper was standing in the center of a round counter displaying a wide variety of dust in its pure crystal state, differencing in shape and color. The old man was minding his own business, wiping the glass counter with a towel before the bell hanged above the entrance of the shop rang, announcing that somebody just entered.

He glanced at the person standing next to the wide-open door, a young man, probably in his teenage years, however, he seemed to be more mature looking thanks to his approximately 6" height and his sharp facial traits.

He was wearing a casual outfit made of a baggy dark magenta sweatshirt along with a small orange backpack strapped to his back, along with a blue baseball cap shadowing his piercing light purple eyes and covering most of his head but a small part of his blond hair at the back and the sides with some yellow locks twirling around his forehead.

The shopkeeper looked back at his work while the boy left the door closing itself and began wandering around the shop, his stern gaze inspecting the many shelves of the store with a steady walk while his footsteps made little to no noise as his body was sliding around totally unnoticed like a ghost.

He then stopped dead as his attention was caught by one of the many books located on the bookshelves on his right, without moving his lower body, his torso leaned toward the shelve next to him, his eyes aiming at the book that caught his attention.

"The Man With Two Souls II: The Man With Four Souls" He read the title engraved on the side of the book, supposedly a sequel to another novel, he grabbed it and read the summary on the back.

"A man in possession of two distinct souls, each one of them trying to fight to take over the body where the two are trapped. While the man in question struggles to find harmony between the two and finally find peace..."

The summary prompted his interest for some reason, feeling somewhat relating to the protagonist's mindset. However, he reluctantly put it back as he decided to look for the first book before diving into this one.

Also, he had to master his curiosity and focus on the task at hand, he headed toward the dust section of the store and began browsing the many dust boxes sorted around.

While most dust gems were used to power electronic devices and ammo for weaponry, some less powerful one can be taken as jewelry given their diamond-like structure. Gifting a dust box to a companion signified deep affection and sometimes can be considered as a marriage proposal in Vale's culture.

"Mmmmmh, no, this one's too small and the color makes it look bland and tasteless, a woman would never appreciate that…" He slightly muttered while immediately putting the box in his hands back to its place and taking the one next to it.

Strangely enough, he wasn't even giving a look at the crystals inside and neither to the expensive prices of the boxes, the only thing he seemed to check was the shape of the containers, nothing more.

Suddenly, his ears caught the bell rings from the entrance, five rings, meaning that five persons entered the shop, or two drunk persons trying to get in the store, or just simply a single ridiculously drunk person struggling to find his way inside.

The two later propositions were soon dismissed when he caught the small footsteps of five different individuals, by the sound of it, the shoes these persons were wearing seemed to be Derbies which meant they were possibly male, or maybe females with masculine attire, who know.

One thing for sure was that one of them was a man as he heard a notable voice talking to the store clerk, probably the leader of the group giving his uniquely sharp and pretentious voice, one of those stereotypical mustaches twirling bad guys.

The leader turned towards his henchmen and gave them some orders, the men soon headed to the dust canisters and started emptying them dry while some other started to smash the display cases and taking every dust gem worth taking.

It can't be, are they… robbing the store? At this precise moment?!

"You've got to be kidding me..." Frustration slipped through the boy's teeth as he increased in pace, he hated working in a stressful situation despite it being ineffective to the quality of his work thanks to his shatterproof composure, but he just simply hated it when somebody bothered him like that.

"Screw this! This one will do!"

He reached to his backpack and turned it toward his chest, in the same movement, he zipped open his bag and proceeded to put the box inside, now all he had to do was to get the heck out of here before any of these men come here-

"No sudden move kiddo, turn slowly toward me with calm, and I won't have to put a bullet in ya."

The cold tip of the man's handgun depravedly caressed the boy's neck as he forcefully did what the man ordered him, deep inside of him he was boiling with anger but his outside features only displayed a cold stare toward the gangster in front of him.

He was wearing a black and red outfit similar to those of a local gang called the Henchmen, their HQ was a nightclub southeast of town and they mostly work as guns for hire, still, robing a dust store was still uncanny for them.

How did the boy is acquainted with them though? That's for another story, but let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant encounter.

"What's with the cold shoulder friend? You've got a problem you need to express?" Jokingly pointed out the henchman a vile smirk drawn on his snake looking face.

"Look, pal, I don't want any trouble, I have nothing valuable in me, just leave me to go in peace, please."

"Hah! Do you really think that we'll leave you to go like nothing happened? Go get the police on our arses like that?" Chuckled the gangster sticking his gun deeper in the boy's forehead making his traits tenser. "You ain't going anywhere sooner than that boy, so you're just going to sit here like a good kid, alright?"

Two hours and twenty minutes, that's all the time he had left or he'll miss his 'rendezvous' and will probably never get a second one, he cannot stay one single second in this godforsaken place, but with that gun pointed to his forehead he has nowhere else to go, unless…

However, fate seemed to be in his side as the two heard sudden noises of bumps and stomps on the other side of the shop, followed by the shrill scream of something violently getting slammed to the front of the store.

The young boy looked through the shelves and saw a small glance of z young girl wearing a dark and red robe casually wrestling another gangster to the ground and knocking him out instantly.

That was his opportunity to strike, his gaze turned at the man in front of him still keeping his attention away from him, and with a swift motion of his right arm, he slapped off the gun from the gangster's hand then proceeded to grab his arm and forced him to crouch on one knee using a quick jab of his foot, before finishing him with a strike right under the jaw.

The man did not realize not a single thing on what just happened before finding himself blacked out after the final blow.

The blonde dropped the unconscious man on the ground, at that moment, his eyes met with one of the gangster's colleagues witnessing the whole event completely bewildered.

A sharp crack was heard at the other side of the store as one of the front windows shattered in pieces, the blond boy glared at the mafioso in front of him as he started to snap back to reality before gritting his teeth and charging the boy with his red saber raised.

The blond made a slight step back as he dodged a violent slash merely avoiding his shirt, then he did the same with the second attack before finding the opportunity to counter-attack with a sidekick right in the guts.

The henchman grimaced in pain as he held his waist and dropped his sword in the instant, before abruptly getting a rapid brutal foot smashed on his face, sending him a couple of feet to the ground with a stream of blood following him.

The mobster grunted in pain as he tried to regain his stance with his fedora falling off and his pair of sunglasses completely shattered across his face, the man put a hand on his disfigured mug, remarking the flow of blood coming from his nose.

"You little son of a bitch…" The man clumsy stood on one knee, his head still feeling stunned as he sees the blond boy approaching him in a menacing manner, the thug noticed that his expression turned to be more severe and threatening.

The boy had a cold emotionless stare, his deep purple irises menacingly glowing sent shivers down the criminal's spine, like he was confronting some kind of serial killer ready to pluck his heart out with his bare hands.

The gangster trembled in fear at the teen slowly approaching him, before making a blissful attempt to attack by directing his fist toward him, but his movements were so ridiculously weak and slow that instead, he was the one receiving a punch square in the face, immediately knocking him down as he collapses on the window behind him, shattering in it in pieces.

The man finally surrendered and stayed laying on the ground feeling his wounds aching, he kept breathing heavily under a pile of broken glass while the young boy casually approached him, not even giving a look at what he has done and simply exited the store through the broken window.

The boy finally opted for a calmer behavior; there his attention was caught by the supposed girl of earlier standing outside of the store.

Her dark hair was cut in a bob with a few strands resting around her uncanny silver eyes and she was wearing a black and red dress with red cape attached to her shoulders, she seemed very young, barely above the age of fifteen, however, she was holding behind here some kind of mechanical looking scythe three times her size and painted with the same color scheme as the rest of her outfit.

She must have some strong arms to yield such an imposing weapon…

The girl soon looked toward the blond boy, pulling a surprised expression as she was expecting to be the only person around taking out these goons, he asked her with a monotone voice.

"Let me guess… You've got dragged in this too, right?"

"Uuuuh, yeah?" She muttered with a perplexed grimace,

"Hey wait! Where are you going?!" Startled the black-haired girl as she sees him simply walking away, the blonde didn't even give a slight glance at her as he withdrew carelessly.

Must to his apology for leaving the young girl alone, he didn't have much time left to reach his objective.

Also, he never was a fighter even though he showed quite a few skills back there, he mostly preferred to avoid any close encounters at any cost and will escape at any opportunity given, still, that didn't mean he didn't have his shares of battles against a few clingy foes.

And this one will probably add up to the number as he stopped and heard the pretentious voice of earlier calling them out.

"Well this was supposed to be an easy job, go in, take everything and go out, simple. But no… You brats had the obligation to mess everything up didn't ya?" The young boy felt a bit of hatred coming from the man's voice, he turned back at the Dust store and saw the four identically looking henchmen (even those who he clearly messed them up) gathering around a fancy looking persona, supposedly the leader of the group.

He was an orange-haired man with a black bowler hat gently placed above his head, his long bangs were covering his right eye while the left visible one was traced by a black eyeliner, he was wearing a classy white costume with a pair of black trousers , addition to that was a grey little scarf warped around his neck and a red cigar he was smoking at a faster pace than usual due to his displeased emotion.

When he was talking about a mustache-twirling villain, he was joking.

He glanced at his goons standing around him for a minute before ordering them with an impatient tone.

"Well, go get 'em…"

The scythe-wielding girl drew a wide smirk as she rushed toward the approaching assailants, planting the blade of her weapon in the concrete and using it to spin around before striking a lightning kick at the face of the unfortunate soul who dared to come at her.

"Oh my god, seriously…" Complained the blonde as he facepalmed by how infuriating all this mess is, he then briefly glanced at his share of attackers with a disheartened look in his face as they surrounded him, weapons drawn.

Suddenly, a sharp knife slid down the boy's right sleeve and toward his hand grabbing it in the instant, he quickly raised it as he intercepted one of the mobsters' attack and lowered himself down to the ground before dashing next to the man's left leg, slashing the lower part in the same period with a flick of his wrist.

He left him to groan in pain as he crouched at the deep cut he had around his tibias and faced his next target coming close at him, he quickly gave a quick low-kick at the gangster's knee paralyzing him, before finalizing with a quick strike on his face, sending him to the ground.

Ruby Rose pulled out her Crescent Rose from the ground before glancing back at the henchman coming from behind, she positioned her scythe in a horizontal position and pulled the trigger to use the recoil for a must faster swing, sending the criminal to the outskirts like he was hit by a tornado.

Now with all her attackers defeated, she put her scythe on the ground and lied on it as she tries to regain her breath.

"Well, that was easy…"

She then glanced at where the boy of earlier was and how he was dealing with his aggressors, she was hugely impressed by his incredible skills, the way he easily dodged every single attack even though how close he was between the two gangsters was fascinating, it was like he was some kind of liquid flowing around the two dumbfounded men, carefully slashing with his knife anyone who dared to step in his range.

His knife was carefully sharpened to become even sharper than the blade of a katana, having the ability to pierce through the thickest clothes and meat and even reaching the bones. However, the young man didn't choose to go lethal and only focused on incapacitating his enemy by targeting their limbs, especially where the tendons are between the muscles.

The thugs around him soon crumbled on the ground, all paralyzed by the number of wounds carved around their arms and legs, much to their leader's displease as he stayed spectating the whole scene occurring in the distance.

"Hey, not bad for someone who only uses a knife!" Complimented Ruby as she joined the boy with a cheerful tone, looking at him with a glad smile as he was adjusting his cap with no change in his expression.

"You too…" He simply muttered with a dull tone, still, he had the courtesy to compliment her, while dragging back his knife inside his sleeve like a magician.

The two turned at the bowl hat wearing man, looking at them with a casual face as he was waving his arms around nonchalantly.

"Well, I can't say you two didn't make this evening really boring, but I'm afraid it is time for us to part away…" He pointed the cane in his hand toward the two, lifting the small round sight from the little hole inside his cane before shooting a red flare at them.

The blond boy gasped as he dived away from the projectile impacting the ground where the two teenagers were standing, he could feel the heat of the explosion emitting behind his back before he had the chance to finally stand up.

The blond looked in disgust at the amount of dust staining his outfit while the girl next to him used her scythe to lift herself up coughing due to the amount of smoke clearing around them.

Ruby promptly started looking around for where that orange haired guy did go, before finding him climbing up the stairs of a nearby building.

"Come on, let's go!" She yelled at the boy in a firm tone before she was met by the blonde's surprising frown waving his hands at her apologetically.

"Sorry, but that'll be without me…" He still had an appointment to make, the sooner the better he headed to the mall where his 'date' was going to wait for him.

Ruby just rolled her eyes at the young man's complain before suddenly grabbing him by his hood and dragging him with her in a hurried sprint.

"He-Hey stop! What are you doing?!"

"Come one! We have no time to waste!"

Before the boy could even interject, he suddenly found himself blasting in the air as the black-haired girl fired a shot on the ground, both sending them up to the roof where their target made his escape, as she safely landed on the roof, she finally dropped the blonde's hood letting him collapse on the ground completely stunned.

"Stop right here criminal scum!" Pointed Ruby with a severe look in her silver eyes, followed by the boy behind her slowly standing back on his feet still shaking from the one hell of a ride of earlier.

"Persistent…" The orange-haired robber silently growled as his head slightly turned at the two, before a grasp of wind shook the entirety of the ground they were standing on as a giant aircraft appeared from below and flew mere inches next to the professional thief, giving him the opportunity to hop in as soon as the hatch opened before turning at his pursuers with a smug smile on his face.

"End of the line! Brats!" He tossed a small red gem at their feet before shooting at it with his cane, the crystal burst into bright flames submerging the two in a horrifying explosion.

The blond boy covered his face anticipating with horror the sudden feeling of flames overwhelming his body, before slowly lowering his arms as he realized he was left unharmed, then looking with surprise at the woman in front of him casting weird purple circles twirling around her wand, which with more inspection looked more like a riding crop than just a plain stick.

She was a middle-aged woman, still, she looked fairly young than average, her light blond hair was gathered in a small bun in the back of her head with some strands curling around her beautiful white face, a pair of glasses was resting above her pointy little nose while her green emerald eyes were glowing by the light of the moon.

Ruby was staring at the woman with a pure state of astonishment as her eyes were glowing in admiration at her while the boy gave a more confused look, wondering why and how did she get up here in such a convenient moment.

The woman didn't give attention to the eyes gazing at her back and preferred to primarily focus at the helicopter attempting to fly away, leaving the severe scold she prepared to them for later.

In the end, the criminal escaped despite the woman's intervention, which soon was revealed to be an actual huntress, and a top skilled one on top of that given by the set of magic she showed during the event.

Which only justified the severe scold she gave to the two teenagers for their imprudent behavior, well, most of the reprimanding was targeted toward the poor black-haired girl as she admitted being responsible to all the chaos and dragging along with her the blond boy, before justifying her actions by saying that she wanted to protect the dust shop from the criminals.

The boy on the other hand simply stood quiet.

After this, the Huntress took the two to a nearby police station where they were interrogated about the robbery. Since then the blonde didn't see his temporary companion of battle, only hearing her slight mumbles between the many yelling of the Huntress in question from the adjacent room.

He was sitting on a plastic chair with a wooden table in front of him, besides that, nothing much mattered besides a little lamp hanging on the ceiling of this dull box of cement, just a typical interrogation room.

He was crossing his arms with his legs stretched to the limit and his head laying back, trying to catch a bit of rest after this eventful night, a slight sigh slipped from his mouth while he was taking off his blue baseball cap and putting it on the table, he then brushed his light hair to the back of his neck with some strands slipping between his fingers and messily falling on his forehead.

He looked at his wristwatch with frustration, only one hour forty-six seconds left for his date…

The door opened and somebody entered the room, the blonde lifted his eyes expecting the blond huntress to give him his share of discipline, however, he soon found a man walking toward him.

He was wearing a completely black suit with golden buttons closing his vest on top of a green turtleneck sweater, his white messy hair showed that he must be in his twilight years, still, he also seemed very young for his age, this is probably one of the benefits of being a huntsman.

The man adjusted his black shades on top of his nose and gave a glance at the sharp knife in his hand, inspecting it with great interest while waving it around his hand with a small grin.

"I could say this quite a sharp knife, I was nearly going to cut myself when holding it around…" He put the knife on the table and rested both his hands on the board while giving an attentive stare at the teen. "However, I didn't find the trigger to change your weapon's form, it must be some kind of sophisticated mechanism to fold in such a small space… So, tell me, what is your secret secondary weapon? A pistol? A pair of nunchakus? Or maybe a set of darts I presume?"

The blonde looked at the man for a brief moment before drawing a slightly mocking smile on his face, he took his knife with only the three prominent fingers of his right hand and began balancing it on the tip of his fingers while resting his cheek on the palm of his other unused hand.

"Well, you see… There's nothing special about it, it's just a knife…" At his last word, he dropped the knife and let it slide gracefully inside the sleeve of his sweatshirt while still depicting the same smug smile at the man blinking in stupefaction.

"Well, impressive…" The white-haired man chuckled while putting back his glasses on top of his nose, one thing that he can retain from his long years in the field was the wide variety of weapons used by huntsmen and huntresses, each one of them bearing uncanny abilities and perks and at least two forms of weapons that the huntsman can switch between them at any given time, most of the time it's between a melee and ranged state.

Still, he also found some fighters using a more standard weapon like a pistol or a sword, but he never saw something as simple as a knife that its other faculty is to spread goddamn butter.

"My associate Ms. Goodwitch told me that you have demonstrated a high set of skills during your battle, taking out all of your foes in a swift motion with only the use of this small blade. If someone else told me this I wouldn't believe them, but since it comes from my most trusted accomplice, I can only take these words as truth. So, tell me, where did you learn such skillful fighting style?"

"I can't say I had a specific teacher, to be honest…" Confessed the blond teen crossing his arms. "Most of the time it's only my instinct ringing…"

"A fighter at heart, wonderful…" Concluded the white-haired man with a glad grin, however, the boy wasn't sharing his expression.

"Despite me…" Shrugged the young man "I was never the kind of guy who beats up people at any street corner, to be honest…"

"I see…" The man muttered while removing his hands on the table and putting them behind his back before switching his look into a serious one. "Do you know who I am here, young man?"

The boy looked at him unconcerned for a moment. "No, should I?"

"Well…" Shook the man's head with a slight sneer. "You see, I am a very famous person in Vale, never heard of Beacon Academy?"

"Yes, I've heard of it, why?" If he recalls properly, it was some kind of school where students would train to be huntsmen, like that girl of earlier but she didn't seem to be at the age to be part of that academy.

"Well I am the man in charge of it, my name is Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"Interesting, I don't know why I have the honor to have such a 'prestigious' person in front of me, but I guess the least I could say is nice to meet you…"

"The pleasure is mine…" Nodded the headmaster before giving an intrigued glance at the boy "So, what about you, young man? What did the gods name you?"

The blonde looked at Ozpin for a long moment, he closed his eyes and rubbed them while he was trying to make himself more comfortable in his seat.

He crossed his leg in a very luxurious way while he put his left forearm on his chest before resting on top of the elbow of his right arm, he formed a fist with his right hand and rested his right cheek on it, after that, he finally opened his eyes depicting a very relaxed tone in his shining purple iris, his lips spread into a very confident smile as he finally uttered with a confident voice the words he built so much suspense.

"My name is Kira Yoshikage, and to be honest I don't really believe that the gods are the one who gave me this name..."