Soul Eater Chronicles: Dark Path of the Stars Episode 1: Face Down
With the Panting Sun looming over Death City, the heat wave reaches its peak. The temperature has now become almost unbearable. Yet, even under such conditions, the battle between Black Star and Blair the Witch continued as planned. Before the start of the match, Stein made clear to them some rules in order to prevent any accidental deaths.
"Why don't we make this a little more interesting?" Blair added, "How about a little wager?"
"Okay. If you lose, you quit the school!" Black Star quickly stated.
"Fine. But if I win," she smiled, "You, your friends, the Death Scythes, everyone including the Shinigami will have to accept me for who I am as a student. And treat me equally, got it?"
"Yeah. Whatever."
Professor Stein thought it over for a bit, but then agreed to the terms. Afterwards, the two combatants went to prepare themselves.
"Are you really going to fight him in this heat?" asked Blair the cat. She and her Okami were at one end of the combat zone, while Black Star and Tsubaki were at the other.
"I don't think I have any choice in the matter," she fans herself with her hat.
"What do you mean?"
"Just look over there," she pointed towards the entrance where Stein watched comfortably under the shade. It seems that the Shinigami himself appeared to witness the fight. With him were the three Death Scythes: Spirit, Azusa, and Marie. To make things worse, there were also a lot of students watching from the railings and windows despite the heat. News traveled quickly in the school and the chance to check out the fighting capabilities of the new student was all too important to miss.
"Wow, there sure are a lot of people watching us," remarked Tsubaki.
"Of course, they've all come to witness the might of the Great Me!!!" Black Star laughed out loud. He was very pleased with himself.
"Do your best, Black Star," she clapped her hands in support.
"Yeah, I'm going to show them all," he cracked his knuckles and proceeded to the center of the combat zone. At the same time, Blair left the pointy hat with her cat and went to meet her opponent. Since their enemy didn't have a partner yet, Tsubaki had to remain at the sidelines just to make things fair. Watching with her, were the Thompson Sisters.
"I hope he doesn't get his butt kicked again," sighed Liz. The memory of the last confrontation was still fresh in her mind as she shades them with her umbrella.
"Fight, fight, fight!" chanted her sister, Patty.
"Don't worry. Black Star will do great," Tsubaki was confident. She explained that ever since they got back, he had nothing else on his mind but to get even. So, he started honing his skills and training daily in order to prevent another defeat from happening. Therefore, unlike the previous battle, Black Star came fully prepared.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Patty pulled out an "e-Pod" from her pocket. Amazingly, she had already linked that simple little gadget to the school's intercom. She scrolled through several folders until she found what she was looking for. In order to set the right mood, she played "Face Down" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus as the battle music. Awesome!
"You're going to regret ever coming here," he readied himself.
"Whatever. Let's just get this over with, shall we?" she was calm and relaxed. She wasn't even in a combat stance when the music sparked the start of the match. In a blink of an eye, Black Star jumped up aiming a twisting roundhouse kick to her face. Blair swiftly leaped back to avoid this.
"You're too slow, moron!" she shouted. In effect, he came flying at her with another kick. He was faster this time. She narrowly dodged that attack by leaping to the side. The results of Black Star's heavy training began to show. The crowds watched as Blair barely avoided his attacks, but managed to distance herself. She couldn't believe how fast Black Star had become.
At the same time, Stein had just informed the Shinigami and the Death Scythes of the wager they made.
"Is she really going to fight?" muttered Spirit.
"I don't think so," replied Stein. From early on, he saw no activity from her soul.
"Why is that?" asked Spirit.
"It's because we're all watching," Marie answered.
"She won't risk compromising herself. Her Soul Protect spell is still active," stated Azusa. Even with her Clairvoyance ability, she still couldn't see through the spell.
"So she's really hiding herself from the witches, huh? Then how will she win without her magic?" asked Spirit, appearing to be the only one left in the dark.
"How will she indeed?" the Shinigami spoke.
Back to the match, "Speed Star!" he declared and blitzed straight for Blair with astonishing speed. There was no way to counter this so she dashed to face him head on. The difference in velocity was quite obvious.
"Take this!" he threw out a strong punch as they were about to clash. Immediately, the witch jumped to the side and let him pass through. The second she sighted his back, she swiftly delivered a powerful kick. Black Star was caught by surprise. So much so that he blew up into a cloud of smoke. A log absorbed the blow and was sent flying away instead of him.
"A fake!!!" the thought screamed in her mind. It was another classic trick developed from his intense training.
"Gotcha!" The real Black Star suddenly appeared beside her and launched a barrage of punches. None of which were avoided. For the coup de grâce, he was finally able to deliver his twisting roundhouse kick which sent her several meters away.
"Yeah!" like any winner, he thrust his fist into the air, "I am the Best!" The crowd did NOT go wild, unfortunately. How could they? All things aside, Blair was still a girl after all. Not knowing her true nature, the match appeared one-sided from the very beginning. So to the spectators, Black Star looked like some jerk who just beat up a girl. They were not happy, especially since the battle music, "Face Down," reinforced their disapproval of him. It wasn't long before the booing started. The garbage-pelting came right after.
"W-what the hell is wrong with you people!?" he could only wonder.
Author's Notes: To those who just read this, please know that this is a continuation of my previous work: "Broken Resonance". This story follows Black Star and Tsubaki. Maka and Death the Kid have their own separate stories entitled, "Weapons of Fate" and "Twilight of the Gods", respectively. Enjoy! ^_^
PS: The three stories may sometimes overlap with one another.