Chapter 4: When Stars Clash
Paul and Mara both headed to Maka and Souls apartment room and soon found what looked to be an area with the same structure as theirs but much better decorated, probably because Paul had just moved in but still both of them were surprised to find out there were more people then just Maka and Soul in their apartment.
"Guys this is Paul and Mara." Maka told everyone in her living room.
A boy their age with black hair and white streaks stand up and raised out his hand.
"Hello my name is Death The Kid." He introduced. Both Paul and Mara shaked his hand. "Mara I've heard about you through Soul and from what I can tell, you seem rather symmetrical. As for you Paul, my father has told me that you are one of the best hunters in Division West, it's an honor to have you as a meister." Kid commented on.
"Thank you Death The Kid, I didn't know anybody knew of me being a hunter beforehand." Paul noted.
"Oh you can call me Kid, but my father had-" Kid noticed that Paul had nine small hair streaks on his forehead. He used his index finger to push one streak up so they can be 8 on his forehead. "There we go, perfect symmetry." Kid declared to Paul.
"Ignore that. Kid has OCD, it's a trait from his dad." A female voice told Paul from the couch. He and Mara then saw two girls with blonde hair and wearing the same clothes as each other. "My name is Liz." The taller girl introduced to them. "And I'm Patty!" The smaller girl told both of shorter girl said.
Paul and Mara introduced themselves to both girls and went to see if there was anybody else in the apartment.
Mara went to go talk with Liz about clothes while Paul went to go see if Maka or Soul were there. Suddenly a black cat lunged towards Paul. It's eyes right on him.
"Awww it's a kitty cat!" Surprisingly enough it was Paul squealing at the cat. As he started rubbing its back and face with his.
"Wow your a cat person." Mara asked, who looked over at Paul being busy rubbing his hands unto it's fur.
"Yeah I own one back hom-" The cat soon transformed into a purple haired lady and she pinned down unto Paul, his face right on her chest.
"Aw your so adorable! Maybe I should invite you to my bathtimes." The witch named Blair said as she was fondling his face with her breasts.
"Blair!" Maka yelled at Blair. She started running toward her holding a book.
"Oh is this cutie yours Maka?" Blair questioned as she finally stood up, leaving Paul a dazed and blank mess.
"Um no..." Maka answered while blushing from Blair's assumption. "He's just a friend me and Soul met yesterday who just moved in." She added.
Mara had helped Paul get back unto his feet. They saw that Blair was heading toward the bathroom by herself. She gave a sly smile to Paul who shrieked slightly by what she was possibly thinking.
"Sorry about her." Maka apologized. "Blair does that to any guy that comes here."
"I'm fine, just a little weirded out by her."
"Oh really?" Maka wondered. "Usually most guys would have nosebleeds right now but not you."
Paul and Maka walked into the kitchen, Paul hoping nobody would hear him.
"Yeah, I'm not into girls with massive breasts, all of the girls at Demon Hunter are goddamn Amazons. So I'm not into that kind of body from a woman."
That made Maka blush even harder than before considering what she thought about her own body and the fact that Paul was the first person to say such a thing. However she soon starts to notice something was wrong with Paul.
"Hey Paul, you seem… off. Is there anything wrong?"
"Well to be honest, I haven't told Mara this but yeah, something's been bothering me ever since Ravana tried to attack me-" But before Paul could continue, the sound of somebody screaming across the room could be heard.
"YAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOO!" Blackstar screamed out as he headed off from Soul's room to the hallway.
"Hey Maka I just beat your partner Soul in a game of-" But before Blackstar was about to finish, he gazed his eyes at Paul. Who was just standing around, waiting for Blackstar to finish. "Hey, who are you?" Blackstar gave an intense glare towards Paul.
"The name's Paul Begtse, transfer from Demon Hunter and you?" Paul introduced and asked Blackstar.
"I am your God Blackstar and from what I've heard earlier today, you had just recently transferred to here. This is a new school for you. Everybody keeps talking about you and keeps ignoring me! So let me show you why everyone here worships me and why you should never take the spotlight of this star. Tomorrow, at the top of DWMA's stairs. You and me!"Blackstar challenged Paul, pointing his finger towards him.
"Blackstar what are you trying to-
"Fine I accept." Paul interjected as both Maka and Blackstar were both surprised to hear this.
"Paul your shoulder still needs to rest."
"It's okay Maka, I just need to rest it off and it'll be healed. Besides I'm really itching to see what a Meister can do. Even if my first opponent is a dumbass."
"Hey I heard that! What if I told you Tsubaki agreed for me to use her?" Blackstar proclaimed.
"She agreed on this?"
"Doesn't matter, I can still beat you."
"Alright fine, it's time for this god to leave. Tsubaki let's get of here."
Suddenly a girl was seen coming out of Soul's room, apparently this was Tsubaki. Paul thought.
"Sorry about Blackstar, I agreed so that he'll be satisfied. I'll tell him to be make sure don't get hurt."
Just then Tsubaki transformed into what seemed to be a smoke bomb for Blackstar to use and leave. Once the smoked cleared out Maka started getting really angry.
"What the hell is that dumbass trying to do now! Paul you don't have to go fight Blackstar, I'll take care of that idiot myself." Maka tried assuring Paul but he seemed fine about his offer.
"It's okay Maka. To be honest I'm kind of hoping to kick that cocky prick's ass. I want to test myself against a Meister and I'll show DWMA what a Hunter can really do!" Maka was surprised by the amount of swagger and bravado Paul was displaying.
The rest of the night was spent Paul and Mara getting to know Kid and the Thompson sisters better, as well as getting to know Black Star more through them.
"Usually Blackstar would challenge somebody when they have their first day at the academy. He never challenges anybody ahead of time, he must truly want to test your abilities as a hunter."
"Well if he wants a fight, I'll give him one."
After saying their goodnights to them, Paul and Mara went back to their apartment rooms. Paul went to sleep while Mara went to set up her room.
The next day Paul woke both him and Mara up for his first real day at DWMA.
"So you sure about your arm healing up?"
"Yeah 100 percent alright, you know for somebody who looks pretty chill, you seem to care a lot about my health."
"I'm a weapon, you're a meister now. I can't afford you getting seriously injured, it's my duty to protect you. Even if you are my first meister, I still know what my priorities are."
There was an awkward pause for a few seconds after what Paul heard. He never realised that weapons were this dedicated with their meisters, they acts as practically bodyguards when it comes to fights. He never really felt this amount of protection during combat. This fight against Blackstar will be interesting he thought.
When they both finally arrived, they saw that both Blackstar and Tsubaki were there, standing at the top with other students walking into the school.
"So you finally arrived. When everybody's entered the school we can begin our duel. I can't wait to see the look on everybody's face when I beat a hunter like you."
"And I can't wait to see the look on everybody's face when I kick your ass right in front of the school."
After 10 minutes of waiting Tsubaki transformed into her Ninja Blade mode for Black Star to use. Seeing that it was time for them to go at it, Mara transformed into her weapon form for Paul who went into a sword stance. Both meister readied into position.
Alter Bridge-Addicted To Pain
Blackstar immediately went after Paul. Using Speed Star, Paul was forced to block out any incoming strikes. After barely blocking Black Star's strikes, Paul realised that blocking was pointless and dodged out of the way.
Paul then readies his blade in a different stance. Black Star didn't notice the change and went right after him. In only the first strike, Paul parried the swing which immediately surprised Black Star who moved out of the way before Paul could do anything about it.
"Hmph not bad, but that isn't going to cut it for a god like me!"
Black Star ordered Tsubaki to change weapon forms and was now using a chain scythe and like before, went after Paul.
Meanwhile Stein was taking attendance for his class until he noticed Black Star was missing, he just thought it was nothing. After all Black Star would usually try and fail to challenge any new student in DWMA but he also noticed that Tsubaki was missing as well as the fact that Soul was there.
"Soul, Maka, is there any reason why both Black Star and Tsubaki are not here? I recall they aren't on a mission."
"Well Black Star challenged a new student to a duel and he accepted." Maka answered.
"Hmmmm, well if that's the case." Stein then wrote the textbook pages for his students to look over and instructed Maka, Soul, Kid, Patty, and Liz to the front of the school. Once the got outside they saw that Black Star and Paul were still going at with both their weapons clinged together and were trying to power each other out. Eventually Paul let go one hand and out of nowhere, created a new blade out of his hand and swinged it right at Black Star's torso. Black Star immediately got out of the way from another swing of Paul's new blade. It was the same dark oranged blade Paul used against Ravana and pointed it right at Black Star.
Everybody but Stein was shocked at what happened. Finally Stein started to explain what Paul's new blade meant.
"Demon brands, a hunter's specialty." Stein explained. "In order to give themselves an edge over their opponents, hunters gave themselves special tattoos similar to Medusa's. It allowed them to have special powers exclusive to each person similar to what Demon's have, hence the name. What came out of Paul's right hand is his Demon brand coming into effect."
The fight had reached a stalemate until this point, both Paul and Black Star had mostly dodged or blocked any strikes from their weapons and the only good hits Black Star and Paul made to each other were hard punches and forearms to the face.
"The more this goes on, the more interesting Paul becomes." Kid stated.
Suddenly Maka felt a weird surge in Paul's soul, it was faint, but it was still there. A different soul was starting to emerge out of Paul. She decided not to tell anybody, assuming it was probably just Mara.
"I guess I underestimated you but now it's time for this star to end it right now. Tsubaki Uncanny Sword mode now!"
The chain had now transformed into a sword. Paul didn't care and both Mara and his sword had a hellfire like aura around it.
"My thoughts exactly. Soul Resonance, Hell's Razor!"
Paul now wielding two flame swords rushed against Black Star who now had his own. Paul lunged right at him both of their blades went right at each other and both started swinging against each other for an advantage. Black Star would get more hits into Paul, but Paul's hits had more impact from both the two blades and the fire surrounding them. That is until Black Star hits the blunt end of his sword straight in Paul's face. Knocked back Paul saw Black Star going after him tried to slash through him but was dazed to connect it
"Ultimate Move: Black Star Big Wave!"
Paul's body soon gets hit with what feels like an explosion in his stomach as Black Star's soul wave is unleashed into his body. Finally knocking Paul out.
"Wooooo I did it!" Blackstar started celebrating on what seemed to be a win until Paul stood back up, breathing heavily however his voice was different. With each breath he took in, his voice started getting deeper, and distorted, his eyes started looking darker. Maka immediately realised that it wasn't Mara, it was something else from Paul's soul that had been growing more and more. It felt like similar to a kishin but more potent, more rage fueled. Stein immediately stepped in and Mara went back to normal to try and calm Paul down.
"Paul calm down, it's okay, just relax." Mara went and checked Paul branding and saw it was glowing beat red.
But as Paul started relaxing the brand slowly lost its glow, Stein went and checked on Paul to see if there was any real harm to him.
"Ms, Flint, would you mind if I take him to the infirmary?" Stein asked.
"No, but is Paul hurt or anything? Because I'm coming with you."
"He's fine, just needs some rest. You can come if you like."
Stein and Mara both dragged Paul over their shoulders and carried him to the infirmary. Maka wanted to ask about what had grown from Paul's soul but realised he would be to busy to answer. So she turned her attention Black Star instead.
"Hey Black Star what gives? You were fighting Paul like he was kishin or something, you even used your Big Wave at him." Soul questioned towards Black Star.
"Well it's a long story." Tsubaki tried to explain.
Meanwhile Mara and Stein had gotten Paul into the infirmary for him to rest after his fight. There Mara wanted answers.
"Professor what was going with Paul? His body and soul started to transform."
"It was Paul's soul being invaded, there was something trying to take over Paul's mind and body. It was a demon."
Ayyyyyyy and chapter 4 is finished! I apologize for the long wait, hopefully this chapter was worth it. The next one won't a year to make, I promise. But what's going to happen now? It looks like the demon is starting to emerge but what will happen to it and can Paul try to contain it? If you would like, please give it a review for your thoughts.
