Black★Star stood up to his full height and let out a chuckle.
"Good, you shouldn't be using the back of the blade on a man as big as me."
Black★Star reached out his hand and called out.
"Tsubaki!"
In an instant a puff of smoke enraptured Black★Star and Tsubaki, leaving Mifune in front of them eyes narrowed with precision.
The smoke slowly dissipated and Black★Star stood with Tsubaki in hand. She was in the form of a small ninja sword. Slowly Black★Star lowered himself into a fighting stance and faced Mifune.
The two opponents began circling each other inch by inch. Each one waiting for the other to make a move that could prove to be their last.
'His movements are steady and he's tensed, but I can't hear his breathing anymore.'
The two of them continued circling eyes locked onto each other as Nate watched from the sidelines.
'Dammit' Nate thought to himself. 'I should be in this fight, but these two jokers are acting like I'm not even here!'
Nate thought about jumping into the fight uninvited, but he feared he'd just incur the wrath of both opponents. He also realized something was different about Black★Star even from the distance he stood. Something had changed about him in that moment.
After a few moments Mifune realized something was off about Black★Star. It wasn't just his breathing he could barely hear, he could barely even sense his presence despite the fact he stood not even ten feet away from him.
Suddenly Mifune realized what this was.
"Wait a minute, I know who you are!-"
But it was far too late...
In that moment Black★Star's image began peeling away into shadow and dissipating into something that laid beneath it.
It was the image of Tsubaki who stood there in the same pose as the one 'Black★Star' had been in and before Mifune could attack she announced.
"We call this technique the Shadow Star."
Not a moment later Black★Star came rushing in from behind Mifune and crashed into him from behind with a palm and elbow strike.
"Black★Star Big Wave!"
A large blast of Black★Star's soul wavelength emitted from the attack causing Mifune to go flying into a stone pillar with a loud thud and he fell to the ground sword still in hand.
He tried to steady himself on the ground before letting out a pained cough. A bit of blood came out with each cough.
Not knowing if the battle was over Tsubaki transformed back into kusarigama mode and Black★Star walked over to stand tall over Mifune. Black★Star raised up the scythe blade of his kusarigama over Mifune...
"Stop!" someone cried out from above them
Everyone looked to the sky to see a small girl on a broomstick flying down towards them. Black★Star jumped back from the sight, weapon at the ready as the girl crashed landed into Mifune and then stood between the two of the arms outstretched.
"Stop bullying my Mifune! You big meanie!"
"W-who is this?"
Mifune began to stand up and put a hand onto the little girl's head.
"Angela n-no, its not safe for you out here. Go back inside..."
Black★Star stood there in front of Angela and Mifune confused as to what was happening.
"The witch Angela is just some little brat? What do we do Tsubaki?"
Tsubaki's face appeared as a reflection on the blade of the kusarigama
"We have 99 kishin egg souls from Capone's men and the soul of a witch right in front of us. I don't know if we'll get another chance like this again..."
Mifune began standing, using his sword as a brace and put an arm in front of Angela.
"Feel free to take my life, but if you aim to take Angela's soul I swear on my sword I will defend her with all my might."
Sensing the main fight was over Nate walked over to where they all stood. He was also quite confused with the small witch.
As he walked over Mifune and Black★Star continued to lock eyes with each other, each one waiting for the other's move.
Finally Black★Star closed his eyes, turned around, and put his arms behind his head and began walking away. Tsubaki jumped out of kusarigama mode and back to her original form.
"Nahhh forget it, I can't kill a kid. I'd get nightmares. C'mon Tsubaki and you too new guy."
Mifune stood there shocked at what he had just heard and seen. The young assassin had decided to relent and let Angela go.
"Wait, before you go what's your name?" Mifune asked whilst pointing to Black★Star.
Black★Star turned around and pointed a finger to the sky and said.
"I am the great assassin Black★Star! Make sure to remember it."
A flash of recognition went off in Mifune's mind, a memory of a past foe who reminded him all too well of the young assassin he saw walking away...
Outside the courtyard of Cinder castle were the hundred or so kishin egg souls. The dark red floating orbs all slowly bounced up and down as the trio approached them as they exited.
"What should we do about these kishin souls Black★Star?" asked Tsubaki.
"Hmmm well we didn't kill them so its not right if we take the souls...but I suppose the new guy could take a few."
Nate had never absorbed a soul before, thus the notion seemed quite foreign to him. He approached on of the souls and grabbed it with his hand. The blob felt warm to the touch and slightly like jelly.
"So do I just...y'know"
He made an eating motion with his hands.
Tsubaki smiled and nodded.
"Alright then here goes I guess."
Nate moved the soul into his mouth and began to attempt to chew it. The soul was still jelly like but he noticed it didn't really have a distinct taste. It wasn't that it wasn't tasty it just had multiple different tastes overlapping at the same time.
After a few seconds he swallowed it and felt it go somewhere, not necessarily his stomach, but somewhere else.
"Phew, that wasn't too bad."
As he moved to grab another soul a golden light began glowing from his chest. The light was blinding even to Nate, who had thought he was used to his new abilities by now.
In an instant it felt as if a vortex had opened up in his center and all the souls began rushing towards the light at his center. The wind whipped and swirled into his chest as all the souls were vacuumed into his body
Nate was stunned to silence as is body began filling with the energy from the souls. Each one that flew into him was like another notch of power being filled.
"What the hell is going on?!" Black★Star yelled to Tsubaki as they both stood a few feet away from Nate.
"I-I'm not sure, most weapons don't absorb souls like that."
Before Nate knew it each soul had been absorbed and he stood there where all the souls had been. He slowly turned to face Black★Star and Tsubaki before falling over from either fullness or exhaustion.
Tsubaki blinked to his side in an instant and caught him.
His eyes slowly closed and the last thing he heard was Tsubaki and Black★Star's shocked faces as he slowly lost consciousness.