Chapter 4: The Duel
Walking outside, the gang, Rose, Lord Death, and Stein stopped in front of the Academy.
"Might I ask why you're here, Dr. Stein?" Kid said.
Dr. Stein silently pulled out a cigarette. After lighting it, he said calmly, "Why Kid, I thought that would be clear. It's not often that I get to a battle between a grim reaper and Black Star, or anyone else. Then again, you did that on your first day too."
"Oh yeah," Kid replied. His memorable first day was filled with a duel between Kid and Black Star. The young death god saw that this duel was made more interesting by the fact that neither side had a weapon. Black Star could shoot his soul wavelength directly; what would Rose do?
"I'm just warning you, Black Star," said Rose. She adjusted her clothes. "Don't blame me for things you didn't know. Also, I wouldn't promise your soul's safety. You chose to battle me. I am a reaper."
Kid gasped. Isn't that what he said to Black Star? Not promising the assassin's safety of his soul?
"Okay, let's begin," said Black Star.
"Let's," replied Rose. For a brief moment in time, both people stood silently, facing each other. Then something happened. A streak went by Black Star.
"What the hell was that?" shouted Black Star. Then he stumbled. A large wound on his side had appeared. Blood rushed from the large cut on the left. Then another streak. And another wound on the right. A chuckling was heard.
"I told you not to blame me for things you didn't know," said Rose. What was even more surprising was that long gleaming black and silver blades had sprouted from her arms. Was she a weapon? Everyone thought about this.
"Actually, I'm a meister/weapon hybrid," explained Rose. The blades on her arms shattered, leaving silver pieces to fall on the ground. "Shadow spikes," she whispered. The pieces vibrated, then moved all over the ground. They lengthened into glowing spikes, and then disappeared.
"Ha! Now where did they go?" Black Star shouted. A large grin appeared.
A smirk emerged on Rose's face. "How arrogant," she said.
The assassin lunged at Rose, his hand starting electricity. But too suddenly, a spike shot from the ground and impaled Black Star through the abdomen.
"What the-"Black Star groaned. The long spike melted back into the ground, ready for another strike. More blood dripped onto the ground, splattering on the stone underneath them.
Watching Black Star fall back, Rose replied, "I thought you knew. Those shadow spikes I planted earlier; they're invisible and will slice right through you when you go over them."
"Dammit," she's powerful, thought Black Star.
"Well, I am a full death goddess," said Rose with more than a hint of evil. She narrowed her eyes, ready for another attack.
"Hmm, it looks like her personality completely changes when she entered battle," Kid speculated.
"That's correct, Kid. Now, could you and Maka check Rose's soul?" asked Dr. Stein.
"Umm Dr. Stein," said Maka. "I saw that Rose's soul is humongous. How will we see it? It's about the size of Death City. We will have to get to higher ground.
Kid summoned Beezlebub from his hand. Stepping on it, he held out his hand to Maka and said, "You can come up here, Maka."
Blushing very slightly, Maka took Kid's hand and stepped on the skateboard.
"Is it okay if you change your position on the skateboard?" asked Kid. "It's difficult to navigate it with two people." So in this new position, Kid's feet were on the end of the skateboard, standing behind Maka, his chest touching her back, whose feet were between his. Maka blushed more and even Kid's face got a little red, as their cheeks almost touched when they were facing the same direction. Both meisters scanned Rose's soul. Maka and Kid looked shocked, and the scythe meister fell backward, being caught by Kid.
"Be careful, okay?" said Kid. They were still surprised. Being far above Death City, they saw Rose's soul. It was a large emerald color, with complete white stripes and shadows in the shape of skulls floating around it. Three large spikes were also present. The soul encompassed most of Death City and was shimmering. When they floated down to Dr. Stein, he was told this and nodded.
"Rose's soul wavelength is off the charts," Dr. Stein explained. If fact, the only other person whose soul is larger than Rose's is that of her own father. Even though, hers is only a little smaller than her father's."
The battle focused back on Rose and Black Star. Dark jagged shadow appeared in Rose's hands, and she then threw them at Black Star. Almost as sharp as her blades, the shadow bolts cut up the dark assassin even more.
Black Star was forced repeatedly back with the shadow spikes and the bolts of shadows that Rose threw from nowhere. He attempted to attack Rose with martial arts, but she had extremely quick reflexes. Spinning one leg around in a circle, she kicked Black Star's ankles, slowing him down considerably. She immediately ran under him, pushing the assassin back up and punching his until he was forced back again.
"Damn… it's like with Kid. I can't close to her," Black Star muttered.
"Oh sorry… I didn't know you liked close-range fights," Rose said. Then she jumped into sight of the sun, blinding Black Star. Closing his eyes, the dark assassin was surprised by Rose coming down on him with long blades on her arms. At the last second, the reaper spun around, slashing Black Star in the chest with both arms and kicking him back.
"Oh just look at that beautiful symmetry!" Kid said! "My sister is the best when battling."
"Black Star's not used to fighting like this," Soul said. "Rose is just too powerful."
Finally, Black Star tried shooting his soul wavelength. The assassin seemed to disappear; then in a flash, he rushed behind Rose and pressed his hand to her back. Electricity crackled and Rose was forced forward. But it did nothing.
"Why didn't it go through?" shouted Black Star.
"I suppose Dr. Stein over there has the same ability," said Rose smiling, looking over at the meister. When Dr. Stein looked taken aback, Rose started talking again.
"You see, I can adjust my soul wavelength to match yours, cancelling it. When I first met you, I studied your soul wavelength, so I know it quite well now. I could also tell that Dr. Stein had the ability because of my soul perception abilities, which is so detailed I can tell what a person is thinking and their abilities just by studying their soul wavelength. A little trick I picked up that counts for even kishins."
I have to get her off balance, thought Black Star. Then without warning, he lunged at Rose and grabbed her by the leg, his arm being sliced by a spike in the process.
"What are you doing?" yelled Rose. She stumbled, and Black Star had his chance. But then a shadow formed under Rose as she jumped, Black Star still holding her leg. As everyone looked on in awe, Rose used the shadow like Kid's skateboard and rode it, rising up higher and higher until she was around 20 feet up. Looking down at Black Star with an expressionless face, she threw a shadow bolt at his hand.
Black Star started falling like a stone toward the hard ground below. To make it worse, Rose rushed down and pressed her hands to Black Star's already wounded stomach. "Soul Force," she whispered. Black Star coughed up blood at the attack and was pushed down even faster. Hitting the ground, a cloud of dust was created.
The dust storm made by Black Star slamming into the ground cleared, and Tsubaki did not hesitate to rush over, yelling, "Black Star!" Rose floated down to the ground, and her shadow sunk into the ground. When she landed, she walked over to Black Star, saying, "It's okay, Tsubaki. I made sure I didn't kill him."
Tsubaki looked up at Rose's gentle face. She then said, "I promise."
Meanwhile, the others stared at Rose, dumbfounded. She was so powerful!
"Well, that's my Rose for ya! She became this powerful when training to complete missions intended for me," exclaimed Lord Death. "I actually think she was holding back. Rose seemed to be hiding her true power."
"So, should we take Black Star inside?" Rose asked cheerfully. "He still might need medical attention, even though I went easy on him."
"WHAT? You went easy on me? Now that's just plain mean," yelled Black Star, already awake.
Rose didn't seem at all troubled. "Well, if I went at you with all my power, you probably would have been killed. I did that for some of your family. Don't worry, Black Star! You have power, and your battle today proved it. You might not have beaten me, but if you become a true star, you could someday! Don't you want to surpass god?"
"I hate it when she reads my mind," muttered Black Star.
Walking