The Executioner's Struggle. A Weapon Too Intimidating?


Death City, Nevada. The practice field of the Death Weapon Meister Academy, the DWMA. The instructor walked to the center of the practice field, before turning around to face the class.

"As discussed yesterday, you've reached an adequate level of understanding regarding your weapon and meister abilities. Some more than others, but that's why I'm here." The tall man said, his gray skin looking extraordinarily healthy for an undead man. "Piers, Tobias, step up."

The brown haired Meister, Piers, stepped up to the teacher, flanked by the blonde Tobias. Tobias glowed white before changing shape entirely, flowing into Piers's hand and reforming into a flanged mace.

"Now, usually I'd prefer to make weapons fight with Meisters. That's just the kind of man I was. Unfortunately, since there are an uneven number of students this time around, I want to train you as a lone fighter." The teacher said, turning to the girl standing at the back of the class.

Dark red hair, violent scarlet eyes, and a face that frightened everyone else, the outcast of the first year EAT class stood alone with no Meister to partner with.

"Yes, sir." She said, stepping forward. The others backed away as Evie approached, her focused glare making them tremble. Her right arm glimmered, reforming just as Tobias had, by extending outwards to create a long curved blade. As the glow faded, her arm had been transformed into the shining blade of a Bardiche, lined with jagged red triangles.

Piers and Tobias were clearly uncomfortable having to face the First Year Outcast, but they weren't going to get better by practicing swings.

"We'll take care of duels one at a time, so I can keep an eye on you all. This isn't a real fight, but hits will hurt. Don't hold back too much, but no serious injuries. I don't want to send you to Stein with a box of your limbs." The teacher said, stepping back.

Piers stepped backwards, spinning Tobias in his hand effortlessly. Tobias was able to aid the movement, since they were two people. Evie however was only one person, and without a meister she would need to be very alert.

An eye movement. A shift to the leg. Piers dashed forward, slipping to her left to get at her blind spot. Evie whirled her blade around, smashing the Bardiche into the ground before Piers and sending chunks of rock into the air.

Piers leapt back in the nick of time, flipping Tobias into a reverse grip and spinning around the impact, attempting to get within Evie's guard.

A swift kick to his legs during the spin to trip him, a simple twist of Evie's waist, and a loud crunch sounded out as Evie's Bardiche cut into the rock beside him, stopping an inch from his throat.

"You think that kind of flashy move will put an end to me?" Evie growled, her scarlet eyes glowing with simmering hatred.

"I-I yield!" Piers cried, scrambling away with Tobias equally panicked in his arms.

"Well done. Using your opponent's inexperienced movement against them. Countering flashy moves and punishing them. You've done well." The teacher encouraged.

Evie wrenched her blade from the ground, transforming it back into her right arm. She glared at the cowering Piers and Tobias, before returning to the back of the class.

Only two students clapped, Paris and Tem.

"Nice work, Evie." Paris grinned, patting her back despite the unnerving expression she had.

"I think you did great. You made quite the impression!" Tem smiled, following close behind Paris as his weapon.

"Do you think..." Evie was silent for a moment, before glancing at them. "...they'll want to be friends?"

Paris and Tem stared at her innocent face, burdened with looking much scarier than she meant for.

"I'm sure they'll be open to the-" Tem began.

"Nah, you scared the piss outta them." Paris shook his head.

"Paris!" Tem slapped him.

It was too late, the damage was done. Evie crossed her arms, losing all hope in the idea of making more friends. As the next two pairs were called up by Professor Sid, it looked like Evie was seething with rage due to what could only be described as a curse of misunderstanding.

"Evie, I'm sure they'll like you if they get to know you better! They just have to try to understand!" Tem comforted her gently.

"But they never want to..." Evie growled. In holding back tears, she looked like she was ready to snap and commit a murder, causing the rest of the class to back away just in case.

"Hey, we came around, right?" Paris gave Evie a thumbs up, his face swelling from the massive red hand print left on his cheek. "You'll make it, you just have to have faith!"

"You're one to talk, Mr. Perfect!" Evie put him in a headlock and ground her knuckles into his head in frustration. "You found a weapon first day!"

"Ow! OW! Use your words! AGH!" He struggled, before Evie let him go.

"It's therapeutic, isn't it." Tem said with an unconcerned smile. Evie nodded.

"H-Hey, this isn't a thing! I'm not a stress ball!" Paris protested.


It was late in the afternoon, Evie was walking back to her apartment in the city. Despite the Nevada Desert around them, it was a veritable oasis within Death City limits, and the air was cool and calm during sunset.

Evie fiddled with the Death Skull keychain in her hand, tracing the edge of its three spikes, nose, and eyeholes. Cursed with being the outcast, this scary face that pushed everyone away, she wouldn't openly admit how helpful it was to have Paris and Tem back her up.

To have people that wished for her success, it was more than she could've expected. After being ostracized from her last school for accidentally chopping a desk in half, she'd expected to find some friends, but it turned out that most were afraid of her demeanor mixed with the destructive power of the weapon within.

She crossed an empty street during the quiet night, somberly watching the ground as she walked. A small breeze picked up from the right, helping her notice a different kind of pressure from her left. A soul wavelength.

She spun, looking at the hooded stranger. He had appeared like a ghost, out of nowhere.

"You. You can feel my soul, can't you." He said, his hands in his pant pockets inside his open jacket. In the night, she couldn't see his face.

Evie took a step back, staring at him. He was motionless, like a statue.

"Indeed, what a splendid soul. The soul of a weapon." He raised his head, a grin emerging from the shadow of his hood.

A dip to the left arm, his right shoulder moved forward. Evie transformed her arm and moved it into position. The stranger's dagger stopped fast against the side of the Bardiche's blade.

"Yes indeed, you'll do." The man chuckled, the tip of his dagger coated in an unknown substance.

Evie shoulder bashed forward to launch the stranger backwards, and he caught himself on his feet. He jumped from one foot to another on approach, jolting to the side at the last moment to dodge Evie's Bardiche by a small margin.

This was not an inexperienced opponent. This man was trained, armed and dangerous. With Evie's heavy arm having missed, he crossed her range threshold, now within her guard.

Acting quickly, Evie's left leg transformed into the end of the bardiche's shaft, and she kicked it upwards to send him flying backwards.

The man tumbled across the ground, coming to a stop against the cold pavement a short distance away. Evie raised her arm once more, as he rose to his feet as if lifted by an unknown force.

"Who are you?" Evie asked, as the man looked her in the eyes with his piercing gaze.

"I am many." The person behind her said, plunging their dagger into her back.

Evie gasped, seizing up as the stinging edge plunged into her flesh, drawing back stringy fluids as it exited. The man was only a distraction, there was another.

Evie stumbled, falling to the ground in a panic, as she felt blood falling from her wound. Her assailants turned away as she felt her soul run cold.


Deep within Evie's soul, without any outside material items, she fell to her knees in the shallow water stretching on for eternity. The injury writhed and pulsed, and she coughed into the water. Black ooze spilled from her back, mixing with the blood in the water.

She struggled to regain her footing, as the black ooze formed into strings as tough as steel, beginning to wrap around her and constrict. Her vision began to blur as she screamed and pulled, the twine wrapping tighter and tighter.

Then, just as it had began, it faded. Everything faded. Confined in her soul, she must've been unconscious, but the shallow water of her soul had disappeared into a world void of light, along with all of the blood and twine. Was she dead? Was this the end?

She heard footsteps approach, getting closer.


"They sure got you." A pale boy said, crouching over her bleeding body. "I wonder if you'll make it..."


The last rendition of this chapter was awful, not my best work. I decided to remake it and give it a little more thought beforehand.

There'll be another update soon, so stay tuned for

A Poisoned Soul. A voice from the outside?