Duke Graves

Appearence:
Duke is a guy with blonde hair that spikes towards the back and has bangs that frame either side of his face. He has blue eyes that remind people of sapphire. When not wearing Beacon's school uniform, Duke's outfit consists of a dark blue kimono, gray hakama pants with a yellow sash and a pair of sandals. Around his neck he wears a necklace with a blue garnet gemstone within it.

Hunter Outfit:
Duke's hunter outfit consists of an ocean-blue trenchcoat with a lightning motif along the back of it in several colors. Underneath the coat, her wears a black shirt. On his hands he wears black gloves with lightning dust woven into it. Covering his legs are a pair of black hakama pants finished off with brown boots. The necklace he wears is still present.

Personality:
Duke is normally a laid-back individual that is easy to get along with. While not a stickler for rules, he will warn people if he thinks that they're getting out of hand. He detests bullies, moreso if it's a faunus being bullied, as he believes there is nothing wrong with being one.

When in a battle, Duke is a cold, calculating person who rarely reacts to taunts from others. His friends from Sanctum likened him to an iceberg unless he was in a spar against someone he considered a friend. Some even considered it a second personality compared to his naturally warm persona.

History:
Duke was born in Mistral to a family of two. His father was once part of Atlas' military before retiring and moving to Mistral, while his mother was a professional weaponsmith. He received his father's hair, but his mother's eyes while his younger sister, Kuro, was born with green eyes and black hair.

His education was split between learning the art of the sword from his father and learning the art of smithing from his mother. When he was old enough, he enlisted himself into Sanctum where he made friends with many people, including a young girl named Ignis Cruz.

One day, he was training in the forest while his sister watched him, the siblings were attacked by a group of Beowolves. His sister was badly wounded when trying to run. The shock of seeing his sister injured to such an extent allowed him to activate his Semblance. When his father arrived, he came upon the scene of Duke covered in the blood of the Beowolves and Kuro unconscious. From that moment on, Duke swore to become as strong as he could be in order to protect his family.

After graduating from Sanctum, he applied at Beacon Academy, where he was accepted.

Weapon:
Duke's weapon of choice is a serrated reverse blade that he usually carries within his left hand. The blade has a hole cut in the middle of the blade which is used to allow him to catch the weapon of his opponent. He uses Lightning dust to increase the cutting power of his blade, but he can also channel the lightning through the weapon of his opponent if he has caught it within the hole of his sword. He has yet to give his blade a name.

Fighting Style:
Duke's style of fighting revolves around the art of Iaijutsu and swift strikes. Due to not having enourmous strength, his swordplay requires him to use a multitude of attacks in order to overpower his opponent with speed rather than strength.

It allows him to press the attack and then retreat if necessary. What he lacks in strength, he makes up for as the fastest member of Team DIVA. During his time at Sanctum, it was noted that he moved fast enough for his coat to leave a blue blur. Upon his use of Lightning dust, he was nicknamed Sōrai.

Semblance:
Duke's Semblance was unlocked when he witnessed his sister Kuro suffer extensive wounds from a Beowolf ambush. His Semblance is called Emperor's Sparks. This Semblance is a 'cloak' of lightning that covers his body, usually granting him self-improvements such as improved strength of resistance to damage. The following lighting colors represent the following effects:

Red - Gives Duke's body enhanced defensive capabilities. Damage from physical attacks are reduced. Over-use of this cloak can cause damage to the majority of his body and also temporarily sever shut down pain receptors.

White - Increases Duke's physical strength (shown in the bulking of his muscles). Over-use of this can cause damage to the muscles as well as tear some of them.

Green - Increases Duke's natural speed further. Overuse of the green cloak will cause damage to the muscles and nerves within his legs. Might also cause temporary paralysis.

Blue - Gives Duke a faster rate of healing, allowing wounds to close faster, however this is also the most draining ability of his Semblance.

Yellow - While not a 'cloak', it allows Duke to use lightning as a ranged weapon, usually in the form of small beams or compressed balls.

Duke wears a bracelet on his left wrist with red, white, green, blue and yellow dust crystals within it. The style is similar to that of a revolver-chamber. When a dust crystal is in use, it glows to represent which effect is being controlled.

Author's Notes:

 * The name Duke refers to the dukes of old who would often wear garnet on their person, usually either a ring or in their crown. Sometimes they would wear garnet clothes.


 * Following on, Garnet is a gemstone that is found in several colors. Usually (but not limited to) red, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, blue, black, pink and colorless. I have chosen the blue representation for Duke Graves.


 * Sōrai roughly (unless I'm mistaken) translates into Blue Lightning in Japanese.


 * The inspiration behind the appearence of the Semblance is the Raiton no Yoroi used by the Fourth Raikage in the series Naruto Shippuden.


 * I originally wanted the set-up for the Semblance to be as such: Red = Defense, Blue = Healing, Black = Strength, Silver = Speed, Purple = Intangibility (to avoid explosions), Gold = Gravity, Green = Ranged. However since it would be too over-powered to have so many different effects, I limited the choice down to five using the types of dust known to exist.