Before anyone could say anything, the newcomer jumped down from her roost atop the doorway and landed gracefully on all fours. She straightened up and tossed her hair back with a quick exhale of breath. She looked around and then locked her gaze on the Shingami's mirror.
The girl's attire was sparse, in a manner that somewhat resembled Maka's. She sported a tight, short grey-black sleeveless dress with a ragged hem. Fishnets covered the skin of her chest and upper arms. At her elbows started loose black sleeves that barely covered her hands. She wore laced black boots that went almost all the way up to her knees.
Her eyes still narrowed slightly, she took a step forward and bowed before the Shingami's mirror.
"Shingami-sama, it's a pleasure. Thank you for allowing me to enroll here at Shibusen. I am eternally grateful for this chance to prove my worth to you."
Shingami nodded. "Hmm, it's quite good to see you too, Ebony." He looked up to address the melee of Shibusen students. Ebony stood up straight again and nonchalantly turned around to face the group.
"Everyone, this is Ebony Sierra. Please introduce yourselves to her."
One by one, the students introduced themselves along with their partners. Ebony examined each one with a critical eye, as if sizing them up.
"Ebony is enrolling here as a meister. At the moment, she does not have a weapon of any sort. I hope you will all fully cooperate with her."
A few hushed murmurs broke out between the students. Kid then raised his voice a bit louder than the others and looked to his father.
"So when is she going to get a weapon? She can't remain so vulnerable like this," Ebony's eye twitched when he said vulnerable, "now that Asura is loose and Arachnophobia is plotting against Shibusen."
Shingami started to say something, but Ebony rebutted, "Excuse me? I'm perfectly capable of kicking anyone's ass if they try and mess with me, thank you very much."
"But don't you think that you'd stand a whole lot better chance of surviving if you had a weapon?" Soul had finally shaken off his tiredness and questioned Ebony, no emotion clinging to his tone of voice. He slipped his hands into his pockets and gave her one of his classic Soul stares.
Ebony's eyes darted from Kid to Soul at the bold statement. She gritted her teeth but said nothing. She seemed infuriated but was keeping herself from saying any more. She closed her eyes and exhaled, then opened them again.
"Uh, yeah. I guess ya got a point there."
Black Star, seizing his chance to grab the spotlight again, hollered, "Hey, what's with the sweet act all of a sudden? What's up with you?"
Ebony turned her head to Black Star and the anger she had been holding back was let loose. She clenched her fists and retorted, "What's up with you? And you claim to be better than God? Ha! I could kick your ass any day."
Black Star put one hand on his waist, pointed a finger at Ebony, and shouted, "Hahaha! The great Black Star will surpass even God! And to prove it to you, I will beat you to a bloody pulp! Right, Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki's face flushed; it was obvious she didn't want to get involved. But to please her meister she murmured happily, "Right!"
Ebony then shot back, "Oh, confident are we? You couldn't even lay a single punch on me if you tried!"
Kilik, Ox, Fire, Thunder, and Harvar watched the two argue, their heads moving back and forth as they observed the argument. Shingami sighed but didn't get involved. He simply watched them shout back and forth at each other.
Black Star took a step forward and growled, "Oh really? Then let's get it on! No weapons, just us and our fists. Or," he grinned and brushed his shoulder, "do you want to take that back?"
Ebony let out a tch noise and crossed her arms. "Bring it. But there's no way I'm gonna lose, kid." Black Star stomped a foot on the ground and roared, "Stop calling me kid!"
The crowd of people filed outside to watch the battle commence. Ebony had a huge grin on her face as she cracked her knuckles. Black Star simply stood there with his face partially hidden in his collar.
Soul walked up to Maka, who was watching the battle, and asked, "So who looks like a winner, Maka?"
Maka studied the two and replied, "Well, Ebony's soul wavelength is definitely larger. By far. But I don't know; no one here except maybe papa has seen this girl fight before."
She walked a few paces over to her father and asked, "Papa, have you ever seen Ebony fight?"
Death Scythe nodded grimly. "Yeah and just let me say this: she's a little firecracker of energy. She doesn't get tired out very easily." He paused and looked down on his daughter.
"But that doesn't necessarily mean that Black Star has no chance of winning. He just has to knock the breath out of her. Ebony doesn't take hits very well. That's one of the reasons why she agreed to come here; so she can fix those faults. Now hush, it looks like Black Star is going to start things up."
The crowd went silent as Black Star charged. Ebony finished cracking her knuckles and faced one hand out towards the charging Black Star. "I am so ready for this."