(Rina Antiqua)

(Riley)

(Maddie Antiqua)

(Soma)

(Trashy)

(SwagJames33)

(Cherry-Witch)

(Frost)

(Blue Igneous)

“I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams are something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.” -Monty Oum

Ruby Rose, the Silver-Eyed Huntress and leader of Team RWBY.

Maka Albarn and Soul “Eater” Evans, the Death Scythe duo of Soul Eater’s DWMA.

The world is filled with many kinds of monsters, but unfortunately for them, these two scythe wielding teenagers are more than willing to rise to the occasion and hunt down the monsters threatening the innocent. But it has all come to this, these two renowned heroines finally crossing paths for a special milestone episode over a decade in the making. Will Ruby succeed in this hunt against the demon scythe master? Or will Maka and Soul scatter this Rose’s petals? Time to find out in a DEATH BATTLE!

Happy 200th episode everyone!

Before We Start…

For Ruby, we’ll be analyzing all canon and canon-adjacent material tied to RWBY, which includes all the manga series aside from the anthology, all of its games, the main DC Comics run, the Justice League x RWBY movie duology, the series’ novels and artbooks, and misc. material such as The Grimm Campaign. Explicitly non-canon material such as RWBY Chibi won’t be factored, nor will crossover scaling for (hopefully) obvious reasons.

For Maka, her analysis will primarily focus on the Soul Eater manga, with the anime being used as supporting evidence where it makes sense (i.e. not the finale’s powers), and spinoff material such as Soul Eater’s games and Soul Eater NOT! also being analysed. Additionally, while there’s no easy way to preface this without inherently being a spoiler itself, anything relevant to Soul Eater present within Fire Force will also be taken into account. Oh and since a good amount of the original manga has not been adapted, mandatory major spoiling warning for the unadapted parts of Soul Eater’s story.

Lastly, one of the volunteers for this blog (her name’s Maddie, she’s awesome) had previously written a blog on the matchup earlier this year, which will be used as reference alongside new research from everyone involved.

Background

Background Images by Riley and Frisky

Ruby Rose

“As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books — someone who fought for what was right and who protected people who couldn’t protect themselves.”

The world of Remnant is… rather interesting to say the least. Monsters called Grimm run rampant and every weapon is also a gun. These weapons are wielded by the Huntsmen and Huntresses that protect the innocent from the Grimm. One of these Huntresses is the Little Red Hero herself, Ruby Rose. Born as the daughter of renowned Huntress Summer Rose and Huntsman Taiyang Xiao Long and raised alongside her sister Yang Xiao Long, Ruby wanted to grow up and become a hero, like the ones in the fairy tales that were read to her when she was younger. She wanted to be the kind of hero who fought for what was right and protected those who couldn’t protect themselves. Even after her mother was presumed dead, Ruby still wanted to follow in her footsteps. After her life was saved by her Uncle Qrow, Ruby enrolled into Signal Academy and was trained by her uncle in the ways of being a Huntress. She even created her own sniper-scythe that was similar to her uncle’s own weapon called Crescent Rose. When at a dust shop one day, she stopped a robbery occurring there led by the criminal, Roman Torchwick and a woman clad in red. Little did Ruby know this heroic act would change her life forever.

After being taken in for questioning by the authorities, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin, took notice of Ruby’s impressive combat skills and her Silver Eyes. This gave Ruby an early enrollment into Beacon Academy, where she would become leader of Team RWBY. Consisting of Ruby Rose herself, Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Blake Belladonna, a cat faunus and Ex-White Fang member, and Yang Xiao Long, Ruby’s big sister. Despite not everyone being on the same page initially, the four of them got along as teammates. Together they slayed Grimm, won a food fight against their friends Team JNPR, and combated Roman’s underground crime network, who were working with the White Fang, leading to Roman’s arrest. 

But not everything was sunshine and rainbows, because the Vytal Festival tournament would occur, and after her sister Yang was disqualified after seemingly breaking the leg of tournament combatant, Mercury Black, Ruby suspected some foul play going on. Looking into it, Ruby caught Mercury looking rather healthy moments after his leg supposedly got broken. The timing of this would be rather unfortunate because the next match of the Vytal Festival was about to start, Pyrrha Vs Penny, a member of Team JNPR Ruby was friends with and a combat android Ruby became close with prior to the events of the Vytal Festival. With Ruby too late to interrupt their match and Pyrrha’s semblance being Polarity, Penny was accidentally ripped to shreds in the fight. But the horrors were only just beginning, because the fear of what just occurred during the Vytal Festival caused an overrun of Grimm, as well as hacked Atlesian soldiers, the White Fang, all led by the woman clad in red known as Cinder Fall, it was utter madness for everyone present. Despite Ruby and her team’s best efforts to protect Beacon, even playing a part in ending Roman once and for all, it was all for naught. Many were wounded, including Yang losing her right arm, and many lives were lost including Ozpin’s and Pyrrha’s, the latter of which Ruby witnessed her death by the hands of Cinder Fall, now with the full power of the Fall Maiden. But witnessing Pyrrha’s death unleashed a great power from Ruby’s eyes, one that was a blinding white flash that enveloped Cinder and a giant Wyvern Grimm in it. 

When Ruby came to, she was back home with Taiyang. She then learned that Beacon had become uninhabitable due to it being overrun by Grimm, and that her Silver Eyes were inherited from her mother, a rare form of power which is devastating to the Grimm. With Weiss moving back to her family in Atlas, Blake running off on her own, and Yang now in pain after losing her right arm, Ruby set off alongside the remaining members of Team JNPR to Haven Academy in Mistral to seek out the ones responsible for the fall of Beacon. On their long journey, they continued to save whoever they could, reunited with Qrow, took out the psychotic scorpion faunus, Tyrian Callows, and avenged the parents of Lie Ren. Arriving at Haven, they met up with the reincarnation of Ozpin, Oscar, and reunited with Weiss and Yang, now with a new robot arm. Soon after, they fought against Cinder, who had survived Ruby’s Silver Eyes, though not the same as she used to be, and her allies, who were all followers of the one behind the fall of beacon, Salem. During this battle, they reunited with Blake, reforming Team RWBY, and acquired a lamp Relic, one of four Relics hidden only for the seasonal maidens. 

On their way to Atlas, they learned the truth about the relationship of Ozpin and Salem from the spirit of the lamp Relic. In it they learned of everything Ozpin was hiding from them, including the fact that Salem was immortal and they had no way to properly end her. Yet in spite of all that, they pressed forth to Atlas, but Ruby still struggled to master her Silver Eyes, even after the teachings of former Silver Eyes user, Maria Calavera. But during their fight with a giant Leviathan Grimm, Ruby remembered the allies she lost and love of her friends and family and properly used her Silver Eyes to petrify it like the Wyvern before. 

When arriving at Atlas, it was a rather unpleasant welcome as the forces of General James Ironwood detained them due to their theft of military equipment and reckless endangerment of innocents in Argus. Meeting the rebuilt Penny was the highlight of their welcome though, actively choosing to withhold vital information from Ironwood about their journey to Atlas and what they’d learned from Jinn. After completing a mission to secure the launch site for the Amity Communication Tower alongside Ironwood’s Ace-Ops, Ruby and her team gained their Huntsman licenses. With Team RWBY carrying out missions for Ironwood nearly daily, everything seemed well, that is until Salem’s forces started to invade Atlas and Ironwood learned that Ruby was going behind his back, betrayed his trust, aiding domestic terrorists, and hiding information about Salem to him, which branded Ruby and her allies as fugitives. 

With Penny now the Winter Maiden, Ruby and her remaining allies worked together while split up to fight against Ironwood, gain help from the rest of Remnant against Salem, and to evacuate the citizens of Atlas, eventually acquiring the Relic of Creation. This Relic was useful after Penny was corrupted by a virus to self-terminate and the genie in the Relic helped create her a new physical body, as well as pathways from Atlas to Vacuo so the citizens could evacuate. But unfortunately during the evacuation, Cinder and Neo, the latter wanting revenge for the death of Roman Torchwick, arrived on the scene to kill the heroes and take the Relic for themselves. But in the scuffle, Penny was unfortunately killed by Jaune at her insistence so she could pass the powers of the Winter Maiden to Weiss’s sister, ironically named Winter, Cinder got both Relics from them, and Team RWBY, alongside Jaune and Neo, all fell into the unknown depths below. 

When Ruby awoke from her fall, she found herself in a fairytale-like world known as the Ever After, with no allies by her side, no weapon, and a mouse accompanying her that she named Little. Ruby would eventually reunite with her allies, but after learning of Penny’s death and the uncertainty on if they succeeded with the plan, Ruby began to doubt herself, given that her actions as team leader only led to various failures and that she hadn’t grown as a person across all these years. Now being guided by a being known as the Curious Cat and reuniting with Jaune, who had been in the Ever After for years, Ruby eventually reunited with her weapon, Crescent Rose. But she started to feel the weight of responsibility placed onto her, combined with her directly causing the destruction of Atlas, the deaths of countless innocents, betraying the people who trusted her, and indirectly destroying the village of Paper Pleasers, Ruby reached her breaking point and ran off from her team. In this time, she encountered Neo, who showed her everyone who she couldn’t save and ended up dying, learned that the Curious Cat was just using Ruby for his own agenda, and Little seemingly dying during this encounter. All of this overwhelmed Ruby and she gave in, drinking a cup of tea that would send her to the tree of the Ever After, seemingly throwing her own life away.

Within the roots of the tree, Ruby still began to question her place in the world, what did she both need and more importantly, want to be? How would she change her ways and become a better person? But she then remembered her mother’s final words to her, to be herself. Bursting out of the tree’s roots wielding Crescent Rose, she was ready to take on whatever the world threw at her. Just in time to join her team in a battle against Neo and the Curious Cat, defeating them together, with the Curious Cat being ravaged by the dark forces of the Ever After and Neo staying behind to find her own sense of self. Finally able to return to Remnant, Ruby said goodbye to the revived Little, now known as Somewhat. Team RWBY and Jaune, now de-aged back to his original state before the Ever After, returned to Remnant in front of the city of Vacuo, now with all of the nations of Remnant united to fight the forces of Salem. While the future may be uncertain for Ruby Rose, one thing is certain, she has become the hero that she aspired to be in the fairy tales once read to her as a child. One that saves those who can’t protect themselves, all while remaining herself, someone who her mother would be extremely proud of.

Maka Albarn

“People need fear to survive, we experience it so we can grow stronger.”

As the Great Cataclysm came to a close and the New World was brought into being thanks to the efforts of Shinra, Sho, and Mari Kusakabe, humans would no longer need pyrokinetic abilities. In this new world, the value of life and souls had changed. Humanity would no longer need to despair over death, or worship a god they did not know. Instead, this new world’s God would become an Absolute Ruler of Death, protecting the world and its people with his Madness of Order. Over the centuries, humanity would come to know this God as Death, and later, Lord Death. Hunting down evil people and evil Witches who threaten the world, he established the Death Weapon Meister Academy to continue his mission and train each generation of upcoming heroes. Meanwhile, the story of his creator, the world’s saviour, and the Fire Force who fought alongside him, would become legend. A Hero’s Tale passed down through books for children, it was one of the first books that Maka Albarn‘s parents read to her.

The daughter of the DWMA’s most powerful Death Scythe (Weapons with godlike powers worthy of being wielded by Lord Death), Spirit Albarn, and his Meister (wields and fights alongside their Weapon) partner and wife, Maka grew up idolising her parents. They bonded over a love of books, and little Maka wanted to be just like her mother, one of the DWMA’s greatest Scythe-Meisters ever. But that idyllic family life wouldn’t last forever, as Spirit’s womanising ways drove a wedge between him and his family, eventually leading to Maka’s mother divorcing him, and Maka losing her trust in him over his actions. As deeply hurt as Maka was, that anger and passion drove her to enrol as a Scythe-Meister in the DWMA, wanting to create a Death Scythe to surpass her father, the most powerful Death Scythe in the world.

Enter Soul Evans. The youngest son of the esteemed Evans family of musicians, Soul always felt in the shadow of his older brother, Wes, a famous violinist. Upon discovering the Demon Weapon heritage that flowed through their family bloodline and his ability to transform himself into a Scythe because of this, Soul broke away from their traditions to carve out his own identity as a Weapon of the DWMA, partially because he didn’t want to be a disappointment for his family. Introverted and seeking to overcome his own feelings of inferiority, the day Soul met Maka would change their lives forever. Maka was hardly a music connoisseur, but the somber elegy Soul played as an introduction still captivated her, and despite the fresh emotional wounds she was dealing with due to her father, she knew she could trust Soul.

From then on, the two would become inseparable partners and one of the most talented Weapon and Meister teams the DWMA had ever seen. They became close extremely quickly, bonding intimately and even living together as they attended school, gathering the 99 evil human souls they needed to make Soul into a Death Scythe in a short amount of time. But when it came to getting that final soul – that of a Witch – they may have jumped the gun a little bit. While the duo had thought that Blair the pumpkin Witch would be the last soul they needed, it turns out that she was actually just a cat with very strong magical power who liked the witch getup. So all that work in collecting 99 human souls was then null and void, and they had to start all over again. Except now Blair saw fit to follow them home and start living in their apartment. Though unlike most freeloading cats, she at least got a job.

Now, the proper story of the series would begin. Alongside their best friends Black☆Star, Tsubaki Nakatsukusa, Death the Kid, and Liz and Patty Thompson, the gang of Meisters and Weapons would take on various missions for Lord Death, all while attending class and striving to be the best students they could be. Well, in Maka’s case specifically, bookworm and genius ace student that she is. The rest of the EAT Class members didn’t care much for studying – most were slackers – but Soul and Maka would still do it together and help each other out in their own domestic routine they’d fallen into. Very sweet, very cute. And this connection between Meister and Weapon is what’s needed to perform Soul Resonance and execute the strongest techniques a Meister can wield. They’d first get to try this out on a mission to bring their teacher, Sid Barret, back to class after he’d been killed and revived as a zombie, plus a former Meister and scientist of the DWMA, Doctor Franken Stein.

All of which was a test to see how the pairs performed in combat situations and gauge their connection with each other, which they passed. At the same time, Spirit, despite his lecherousness, was still trying to be a good father and repair his relationship with Maka after her mother had run off. With the wide cast of wacky personalities at the DWMA, you’d be hard pressed to see a day where some sort of hijinks aren’t going down.

But in the shadows, the snake Witch Medusa Gorgon was putting her plans into motion, seeking to revive Death’s first son and harbinger of Madness, the Kishin Asura. With the experiments she’d performed on her own child, Crona, she set them loose in Italy to go on a killing spree, with the ultimate goal of turning them into a Kishin. However, Soul and Maka would show up to stop Crona, and though the duo held their own, Soul was struck down protecting Maka with his life, and infected with Crona’s Black Blood. Though the two survived, rescued by Stein and Spirit in the nick of time, the Black Blood within Soul would compound with his own mental struggles, tormenting him as he tried to keep Maka, as well as their partnership, safe. Stein was able to save Soul’s life, but at the same time, Medusa had infiltrated the DWMA as a doctor to keep tabs on the Meisters and see how this unforeseen development would play out. She was, if nothing else, a scientist at heart.

Over time, Maka and Soul would have a couple of ups and downs as they tried to manage the Black Blood and maintain their own relationship, with everything coming to a head at the DWMA Anniversary Celebration party. Medusa trapped everyone inside in a bid to awaken the Kishin, which was sealed away underneath the academy, and in thwarting her plans, Maka and Soul got to have the runback against Crona. But this time, they had a stronger connection, and in Resonance, Maka was able to enter the Black Room within Soul’s mind and truly understand what he had been dealing with. Seeing the Little Ogre which was trying to get Soul to use the Black Blood and its Madness, they realised that the power it offered was the only way they could beat, and understand, Crona. So, absolutely dripped out, they continued their dance which was earlier interrupted, as Soul kept their sanities safe and Madness took over.

Now able to connect with Crona’s soul, Maka would understand what the poor kid had been through all their life. Experimented upon by Medusa and never having a close relationship with anyone. Vowing that they would be Crona’s friend, they would all start to try and help Crona, even enrolling them into the DWMA after Medusa let Asura escape. Although their gang’s mission to recover BREW wouldn’t be successful, and Medusa reclaimed Crona, Maka and Soul’s bond was able to deepen as their courage in the face of Madness unlocked the Demon Hunt technique. They kept growing and growing, discovering new powers as their bond and trust was proven unbreakable. They uncovered Maka’s Grigori soul, learned how to use Soul’s piano to manipulate soul-based abilities, and even killed the evil Witch Arachne Gorgon, giving Soul the final soul he needed to become a Death Scythe.

And then everything culminated with the final showdown on the moon. Maka and her father were able to make up after so long, and Soul overcame his insecurities, with help from the Little Ogre in using Black Blood and Madness for good; Resonating with Maka to form the Black Blood Dress. Alongside Spirit, Black☆Star and Death the Kid, Maka and Soul fought tooth and nail against Asura, who had taken over Crona, trying relentlessly to reach their friend and save them. The sheer depths of their determination for Crona finally broke through to them, fighting against the Kishin from the inside as Maka and Soul unlocked the greatest Scythe-Meister technique of all: Kishin Hunt.

Defeating Asura from the inside, Crona sealed them both inside the moon, finally putting a stop to the threat of the Kishin for good. Now the rest of humanity could live free from despair once again, just as it was in the beginning of this era. Returning back to Earth, there would be plenty of work to do. Kid had succeeded his father, Lord Death, and under his leadership, with assistance from Liz and Patty, the DWMA would no longer hunt Witches, changing their ways to offer protection, support and sanctuary, cementing their place as allies eternally. Black☆Star would walk the path of a Warrior God, supported by Tsubaki as he carried the legacy of those who had passed. As for Soul and Maka? They’d accomplished what they’d always set out to do. Soul carved out his own path as Soul “Eater” Evans, the DWMA’s last ever Death Scythe, and Maka was his partner and Meister who made him the strongest in the world. Now, their goal was to share the strength of courage to overcome Madness with the entire world, and they would do it as they always did: together. Side by side, partners forevermore.

Experience & Skill

Ruby Rose

With training from all kinds of academies across Remnant, Ruby has shown to be no real slouch on the battlefield. She’s shown to practically be a pro at wielding her main weapon she’s used for a very long time, Crescent Rose (also given that she built it herself) and has shown to use it in very creative ways. Her being a bit of a weapons nerd also gives plenty of benefits, such as how they work and how they can be utilised. This pairs well with her quick thinking to allow her to analyse the specs of a weapon even when in a state of panic. She’s gotten training from all kinds of academies on her journeys. Signal was where she originally was, but Beacon was where she really started to get somewhere.

But she’s also gotten training from the likes of Haven and Atlas. Haven was where she got some training in hand to hand (not the best but it’s still there). And Atlas was where she and her teammates got trained by the Ace Ops, some of the best skilled fighters in all of Atlas. But her time at Beacon was where she got her time to shine as a team leader of Team RWBY. She’s shown to be well coordinated and has damn good teamwork with her friends as long as she knows what she’s doing. Her endurance is nothing to scoff at either, she and her team fought on and off against the Grimm invasion in Atlas for three days straight. Even in the most heartbreaking and defeating moments, she still finds a way to get back on her feet and show her foes what she’s got.

Maka Albarn

Across a large quantity of lessons and missions, Maka and Soul’s time at the Death Weapon Meister Academy has shaped them into very capable fighters. Lessons from combat masters like Sid and Stein have helped them notably, but that’s the bare minimum to mention. Working together, they obviously show top of the line scythe skill, but Maka has also shown good close quarters combat skill on more than once occasion (though as a scythe user, right in the fact fisticuffs are not her specialty). She is also a solid battle tactician given cases like her analysis of how to best maneuver through Medusa’s storm of Vector attacks.

Maka’s greatest individual quality however would definitely be her intelligence. She has shown to be top of her class when it comes to knowledge on both souls and other general subjects, being the only one to get a perfect one hundred score on a major class exam. This is important given intelligence feats done by other students like Ox (the second best student in Maka’s class). Ox was able to help handle the mathematical side of a high-level magic locating spell, which involved multiple factors such as locational coordinates, radiation output, and specific joule output, all examined and handled in a short time frame. A notable feat given the kid’s previous lack of experience with magical factors, meaning Maka should be comparable when it comes to understanding newer phenomena.

Equipment

Ruby Rose

Crescent Rose

Made by Ruby herself during her time at Signal Academy, it’s not just a crazy transforming scythe, it’s also a gun. More specifically, Crescent Rose is a customisable high-impact sniper rifle. Using it, Ruby can fire powerful shots capable of blowing a Grimm’s head clean off. These shots also produce a lot of recoil, which Ruby uses to her advantage to increase the power of her swings or boost her momentum in combat. Combined with her speed, this allows her to zip across the battlefield however she likes. It also has an alternate mode where the blade extends back. 

Dust

A natural resource found throughout Remnant, Dust is described as “God’s bestowing Nature’s Wrath on mankind. It is an energy source that can be used in a variety of ways. For the interest of Huntsman and Huntresses, it can be used directly in combat to enhance their weapons or Semblances with elemental properties. As a powder, it can be used to create explosions, as Ruby saw firsthand on Orientation Day, accidentally blowing a crater into Beacon’s pavement. In combat, Ruby attaches Dust clips to Crescent Rose, which imbue her bullets with a variety of different effects.

Ruby carries Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Gravity Dust on hand, which lets her fire bullets with an extra kick. She’s used Fire Dust to set objects ablaze, Ice Dust to freeze things in place, Lightning Dust to stun foes like the Geist Grimm, and her Gravity Dust increases the recoil from her shots, which Ruby uses to help increase her momentum and propel her faster either away from, or into foes.

Scroll

A holographic tablet that is basically Remnant’s equivalent to an iPhone. While it may not have that much use in combat, it’s helpful for detailing how much Aura a person has left, which is detailed like a health bar. It can also be used as a portable computer, camera, streaming device, gaming controller and flashlight. At Beacon, it could control and direct her weapon locker, but that has not been an option since Beacon’s fall.

Arrowfell Items

Items from the video game, RWBY: Arrowfell, that can be purchased from shops that Ruby should have access to which include the following:

• Chocolate Bar: A milk-chocolate treat that slightly restores health.
• Yakisoba: A tasty stir-fried noodle dish that greatly restores health.
• Energy Boost {Small}: A small boost of energy that restores half of the user’s Aura.
• Energy Boost {Large}: A large boost of energy that fully restores the user’s Aura.
• Wonder Potion {Small}: A small potion that slightly restores health and restores half of the user’s Aura.
• Wonder Potion {Large}: A large potion that greatly restores health and fully restores the user’s Aura.
• Revive Ring: A ring that automatically restores the user and their allies to their full health and Aura when brought to the brink of defeat.

Maka Albarn

Books

Maka’s a bit of a bookworm, so you’ll tend to find her with a book in her hands. You better not underestimate these hardcovers, they make for some devastating Maka Chops. 

Soul “Eater” Evans
(Weapon Form)

Remember the name, he’s Soul ‘Eater’ Evans. Maka’s partner in fighting, he’s a Demon Weapon who joined up with Maka in DWMA as the Weapon to her Meister. He’s able to shapeshift into a scythe that enables him and Maka to use all their shared techniques. Soul can also generally shapeshit to shorten or lengthen his blade’s length to fit the situation, or even reach out of his Scythe form for a surprise kick or sucker punch.

Motorcycle

Soul’s motorcycle that he and Maka use together as their means of transportation. It appears to be a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide model, which is awesome. They’re too young to have proper licenses, but as DWMA students, they have the ability to ride it anyway. They’re just cool like that.

Basketball

Your honour, they’re balling. Well, Soul is. They’ve got a basketball for whenever they feel like playing hoops, and while Maka’s not as great at the actual sport, she’s learning. She also clocked Black☆Star in the face pretty good with it too.

Abilities

Ruby Rose

Aura/Semblance

The manifestation of the soul, Aura is a life force which runs through every living being on Remnant, even animals, though humans are the only ones able to consciously activate and use it with intense concentration. Acting like an invisible shield around the body, it protects the user from harm and requires you to put your soul outward as a force. Skilled enough users are even able to form their Aura into small shields to block attacks, can send it out as a wave of force, and use weapons as conduits through which their Aura can be channeled. One’s Aura can also be used to unlock the Auras of other people, such as when Pyrrha unlocked Jaune’s in the Emerald Forest. Aura additionally grants the user extrasensory perception, protection against the elements such as with harsh weather conditions, superhuman strength, and using Aura is required to activate Dust. It can also heal wounds, Jaune was able to heal a cut on his face and Weiss with her aura restored, healed a torso impalement injury in a small period of time.

However, it is not without its drawbacks. Individuals with unlocked Aura attract greater numbers of Grimm, and if the user is caught off guard, attacks can bypass their Aura entirely. Keeping up the full-body shield requires training to maintain, and certain individuals can have much greater pools of Aura to pull from, such as Jaune Arc, or greater skill at using their Aura in combat, such as Lie Ren and Fox Alistair. Enough damage to one’s Aura will break it and leave the user vulnerable, where they need to rest for a significant amount of time to recover.

The best ability allowed by Aura however is a user’s Semblance. A projection of their Aura in tangible form, it is a unique power tailored for the user specifically, unlocked in different ways. Ruby unlocked hers during training with her older sister, discovering her Semblance…

Petal Burst

Ruby’s Semblance, Petal Burst, is an ability that uses her aura to zoom around the battlefield as a red blur that leaves rose petals behind. It’s very good for maneuverability, as well as closing the gap against an opponent. It’s also useful for flight and if Ruby gains enough momentum, the turbulence of Petal Burst can lift people and objects off the ground. 

But there’s more to this Semblance than at first glance, as explained by Penny Polendina, Petal Burst isn’t just a mere speed boost, it allows Ruby to disassemble herself at the molecular level and reassemble herself at her location. With this in mind, Ruby has been able to use her semblance in more advanced ways, like being able to split herself into three separate bursts that can fly in different directions before reassembling, as well as being able to carry up to four people at once.

With that being said, Petal Burst doesn’t make Ruby outright intangible, she has been caught mid-flight in the past. Petal Burst also has to have a form of mass, given that Ruby has forced open doors with it before. There is also a limit to how much Ruby can use her Semblance, as Petal Burst is limited by Ruby’s Aura, and using Petal Burst gradually drains it over time. If her Aura is broken, Ruby will be unable to use Petal Burst for a period of time, needing time to recharge her Aura.

Silver Eyes

Ruby has a very peculiar set of… Silver Eyes. Inherited from her mother, after witnessing the death of Pyrrha Nikos at the hands of Cinder Fall, Ruby cried out and unleashed a flash of light from her eyes. The Silver Eyes are a very rare trait among Huntsmen and Huntresses, feared by all Grimm. Against Grimm, Ruby can use her Silver Eyes to envelop the surrounding area in a blinding light, which usually pose negative effects for them. They are usually powerful enough to either fully destroy Grimm, scare them off, or petrify them if they are too strong for Ruby to fight normally, like against the Wyvern or Leviathan. Even if a portion of someone’s body has Grimm in them, it will still be just as effective on those parts as against regular Grimm, like with Cinder when she lost her left eye and arm after Ruby used Silver Eyes for the first time. She’s also learned how to properly control them thanks to another Silver Eyed warrior, Maria Calavera. 

But an unfortunate drawback of the Silver Eyes is that it only works exclusively against Grimm and in their presence. This posed a challenge to Ruby considering she couldn’t properly use the ability in training without engaging Grimm in combat. And they have shown to go out of control under immense stress. While Ruby did eventually learn to use Silver Eyes without having to witness a heavy loss like she did when she saw Pyrrha die, it requires a bit of time, focus, and concentration on her life and to protect her friends for her to use it, which can be done when thinking of the ones she values as friends and family. But the fact that it still takes time means that the Silver Eyes can still be interrupted if she’s attacked during usage. 

Resistances

(This is not proper winter wear, put some more layers on.
We’re looking at you, Blake)

• Extreme Heat and Cold: Aura protects its users from all kinds of harsh weather conditions such as scorching heat and harsh cold weathers.
• Empathetic Manipulation: The Apathy Grimm are described as being able to drain your emotion and will to go on. While Ruby got affected, she was able to push on through and snap out of it.

Maka Albarn

Maka Chop

Inspired by Lord Death’s very own Shinigami Chop, the Maka Chop is a devastating strike with either a book or Maka’s hand, capable of indenting the victim’s head and instantly causing severe bleeding. It’s played up for comedy most of the time, but yikes, that’s gotta hurt.

It can even be used in the mindscape, and was able to break Soul out of Arachne’s mind control. This is probably just a traditional resistance showcase, but saying the Maka Chop can overcome insanity manifested is funnier so-

Anti-Demon Wavelength

Passed down from her mother, Maka possesses a unique Anti-Demon Wavelength, which serves as a natural counter to Witches, Black Blood, and the Kishin. On a base level, Soul Wavelengths are used to channel one’s souls into attacks or unique abilities, with Maka regularly using hers to transform her scythe for stronger techniques (which will be discussed later). Maka can use her unique wavelength to resist being corrupted by Asura’s madness, dispel illusions that come from said madness, shield from Black Blood, and transfer similar resistances to others that otherwise lacked them. Enemies weak to the wavelength (such as Witches) are gradually damaged via its presence, though those that aren’t would only be hurt by the techniques channeling the wavelength, rather than the wavelength itself.

Soul Resonance

By sending one’s soul wavelength back and forth repeatedly between Meister and Weapon, Maka and Soul are able to use Soul Resonance to boost their strength well beyond what they could do alone. In addition to purely physical amps, Soul Resonance also increases the potency of every ability Maka and Soul have, whether shared between them or not. It can also be used to leave a trace of one’s wavelength in a person other than one’s Weapon, and while this has been weaponised by other Meisters before, Maka herself generally hasn’t.

Witch Hunt

A legendary Scythe-Meister technique, Witch Hunt increases the size and shape of the Weapon’s blade through Soul Resonance. Increasing the user’s cutting power greatly, it can emit shockwaves and energy slashes, able to kill Witches, demons, and immortals. It can even counteract a Witch’s magic techniques. It has several different variations that Scythe-Meisters can utilise, such as…

Number Six Hunt Slash

A variation of the Witch Hunt technique, Maka swings Soul in a rotating slash shaped like the number six.

Letter “U” Hunt Slash

A Witch Hunt technique, Maka swings Soul in an upwards formation which resembles the letter “U”.

Scythe Weasel

Scythe Weasel, or Kamaitachi, is another technique derived from Witch Hunt, wherein Maka draws in Soul Wavelengths into Soul’s scythe blade, whips them around, and flings them back to the originator.

Demon Hunt

One of the Great Traditional Techniques of the Scythe-Meister, Demon Hunt (also known as Genie Hunt in the anime) is a more powerful version of the Witch Hunt technique, unlocked when the Meister and Weapon both show great courage and resilience against giving in to Madness. Enhancing the user’s Anti-Demon Wavelength, it is incredibly effective against Clowns, and Maka used it to great effect in bisecting Mosquito, as seen above.

Letter “I” Hunt Slash

Using the Demon Hunt technique, Maka swings Soul in a straight line to deliver a blow that resembles the letter “I”.

Non-Physical Interaction

Meisters and Weapons in Soul Eater are normally able to see and interact with the soul, but Maka’s best showcase of this comes when using her Demon Hunt Slash, where she was able to cut down and kill both the Clown and Arachne Gorgon despite possessing bodies composed of Madness. Additionally, Maka’s final bout with Medusa in the anime’s continuity has her directly target Medusa’s soul with her Anti-Demon Wavelength, leaving Rachel Boyd’s body completely unharmed while cleaving Medusa’s spirit clean in two (Episode 45, 17:12). This is not canon to the manga of course, but is consistent with the mechanics of the verse.

Kishin Hunt

The ultimate Scythe-Meister technique, Kishin Hunt has a couple of differences between the manga and the anime. In the former’s case, it allows them to enter into the Kishin and finish the attack from inside, dealing severe damage. For the latter, it is the final version of Demon Hunt, gained through the power of courage, and with a rainbow colouration. No matter the iteration, it was instrumental in defeating Kishin Asura once and for all.

Soul Perception

What might be considered Maka’s greatest skill, her Soul Perception is one of the strongest, if not the strongest in the series. Soul Perception allows for Maka to track the souls of others, though it can also be used to sort through more distinct power sources such as Madness, specific intentions like the intent to kill, determine the personalities of souls, and identify if the person she’s fighting is a Meister, witch, or something else entirely immediately upon sensing them. 

Her baseline ability to sense others is strong enough to work through a magnetic field that actively blocked out the ability to perceive souls, and her developed Soul Perception was hypothesised to be a comparable problem to BJ’s (which is consistent given her best Soul Perception feats). This is notable since BJ could locate foreign entities in others and sense Witches in spite of their Soul Protect ability normally making them immune to detection by Soul Perception. The range of it can detect people outside of sight, and when amplified by Soul’s piano, can even let Maka reach across the entire world and up to the (not as far away in Soul Eater, but still distant) moon. Though, at such ranges, Maka cannot pinpoint specific wavelengths as accurately.

Black Blood

Due to Crona’s Black Blood piercing into Soul, he and Maka developed it and the Madness it carried throughout the series, eventually mastering the usage of it to avoid any drawbacks like lack of sanity. The substance is extremely useful and versatile, being able to grant an increase in stats when revved up. Increasing durability is what it excels in though, being able to act as armor beneath the skin that’s strong enough to let Maka outright block or catch bladed weapons that would normally cut her to shreds. Notably, it also allows for regeneration, to the point where Maka is able to get back into the fight even after being cleanly stabbed through the gut.

Sound Manipulation

Through the use of his inner-world piano, Soul is able to manipulate sound for miscellaneous purposes. He can release it to the point of beating out opposing super-sonic level soundwaves, or even weaponise sound directly, using the impact of soundwaves as an attack. Additionally, Soul can use his piano to carry Asura’s Madness Wavelength into people who come into contact with the affected sound, though it’s not something he’d do within character.

Soul Adagio

After absorbing the soul of Arachne Gorgon, Soul can use his piano in conjunction with Maka’s Soul Perception for a devastating ability. With Maka’s ability to perceive soul wavelengths, Soul is able to play an opposite wavelength through his piano, allowing him to disable an opponent’s spiritual abilities. This ability does carry a crucial weakness, as a stronger wavelength than Soul himself cannot be countered by Soul Adagio.

Soul Hack

With Maka’s help in sensing the wavelength of an enemy, Soul can send out a wavelength to take control of any objects being manipulated through their soul.

Grigori Soul

Maka possesses a special one-in-50-million soul called a Grigori Soul, which gives her soul angel wings and a halo. It’s because of this special soul that Maka can use Soul to fly, due to him also being classified as a Death Weapon.

Resistances

• Madness: The central looming threat for most of Soul Eater, Madness is a dominating force that can ruin the mind if not handled properly. It can create auditory and physically-felt illusions, cause you to struggle to stand, lose full self-control, and cause uh, peculiar obsessions to say the least. It’s contagious across people and spreads faster over time, making it have snowballing potential. Madness can additionally be hard to overcome, sticking onto people like Crona in spite of calls from their friends trying to break the spell. Despite this, Maka showed resistance to Madness on more than once occasion, and can share her resistance with Soul through her Wavelength. This works even against Madness as strong as Kishin Asura, with her being able to strengthen her resistance and spread it to others through Soul’s Piano.
• Soul-Attacks: Maka can withstand attacks that can target and crush the souls of others.

Forms

Ruby Rose

None

Volume 10 for sure.

Maka Albarn

“Pseudo” Black Blood Dress

When the Madness in Soul stirs up, it can activate the Black Blood within him and Maka to make a Black Blood armor in the form of a dress, providing extra defense for Maka in battle.

Black Blood Dress

After Soul’s transformation into a Death Scythe and Maka learning of her Grigori Soul, the Black Blood Dress formed in a completed state during Maka’s final battle against Asura. Alongside the regular benefits that came from the incomplete version, Maka gains wings on her head that allow her to fly while still using Soul as a scythe, and said scythe now had the keys from Soul’s piano, which could be played to fire energy beams as well as anything else Soul could normally do with it.

Support

Ruby Rose

None notable.

Maka Albarn

Soul “Eater” Evans
(Human Form)

“”What do I want to do?” …it’s not the same question it was back then. By now, it should be obvious. Maka’s sound is always there to cut through the darkness for me. What I want is to become strong… for her. And that’s what I’ll do.”

While they’re definitely way stronger when directly together, Soul is fully capable of throwing down by himself when need be. In his human form, he loses some extra abilities provided by Maka’s Soul Perception. He does however still keep his sound manipulation, and primarily can still turn parts of his body into blades, usually his arms. He can also still utilize the benefits of Madness and Black Blood for infection and physical amps, though only the latter is in-character.

Little Ogre

“Just let loose and go crazy! What’s life without a little madness?!”

A being of unidentified origin that resided within Soul’s mind, the Ogre urged Soul to utilize his Black Blood over the course of the series. Originally seeming like an opposing force, the Ogre actually turned out to be an ally, trying to help Soul control his Madness effectively rather than put it away. He does not really add anything to fights given Soul is now willing to properly utilize his Madness, though he can help keep Soul on track if he were to ever develop some sort of sudden self-doubt.

Feats

Ruby Rose

Overall

• Defended villages from hordes of Grimm
• Put a stop to Torchwick’s Underground heist
• Released Weiss from the Nightmare Grimm’s clutches 
• Survived the Fall of Beacon
• Stopped the Leviathan from causing havoc to Argus
• Earned her own official Huntsman license
• Beat the Ace Ops 
• Evacuated the civilians of Atlas and Mantle to a one-way ticket to Vacuo using the staff of creation
• Her message succeeded in uniting the kingdoms within Vacuo 
• Truly found herself again and stopped the Curious Cat from entering Remnant
• Alongside the Justice League, trapped Watts and Kilgore within a digital prison of their own design 

Power

• Sliced a tree in half with one slash from her Scythe 
• Smashed a boulder to pieces with one slash
• Demolished a stone statue by landing on it (1.916 Megajoules)
• Kicked a Griffon into the hull of an airship (17.84 Tons of TNT)
• Beheaded a Nevermore’s head clean off 
• Creates large shockwaves with her strikes 
• Sliced an Alpha Megoliath’s tusk clean off 
• Sends a Kilgore-possessed Yang flying
• Pierced through the Atlesian Colossus and staggered it 

Speed

• Maneuvered around various missiles in mid air with ease (see above)
• Reacted to Emerald’s point blank desert eagle shots (Mach 18.61)
• Generated a mini tornado vortex through sheer speed
• Avoided machine gun fire from Roman Torchwick’s henchmen
• Dodged out of the way of Melodic Cudgel’s explosive rounds from Roman Torchwick
• Moves so fast she can create a gust of wind behind her that can blow away most things in her direction
• Ran up falling pieces of rubble mid-air
• Takes out a horde of Grimm before her bullets even hit the ground 
• Evaded laser fire in training sessions 

Durability

• Tanks Roman Torchwick’s explosive rounds 
• Survives hits from all kinds of Grimm 
• Took an onslaught barrage from Harriet
• Took a direct fireball shot from Cinder
• Survived strikes from the likes of Cinder and Neo 
• Survived missiles being fired at her from Cordovin’s Mecha
• Survived a ship crash

Maka Albarn

Overall

• Became a Two-Star Scythe Meister
• Helped defend many towns and cities across various missions
• Defeated Rasputin, Free, Crona, Giriko, Mosquito, Arachne Gorgon, Medusa Gorgon (Anime), and Kishin Asura
• Alongside Soul, gathered the 99 human and 1 Witch soul necessary to change Soul into a Death Scythe (Twice!)
• Alongside Soul, became one of DWMA’s strongest alongside Death the Kid and Black☆Star
• Was instrumental in bringing down Arachnophobia once and for all
• Brought Crona out of their darkness and helped them achieve their own happy ending, with a promise to see each other again
• Completely shattered Asura’s philosophy, killing the ultimate Kishin for good (Anime)
• Aided in the sealing and defeat of Kishin Asura, saving the world from Madness (Manga)

Power

• Cut through an ice wall with 6-Hunt Slash
• Effortlessly cleaved through stone pillars and bisected Mosquito
• Sent Crona crashing into a roof
• Kicked Crona around a room
• Maka’s Devil Hunt Slash hit Arachne so hard she exploded (no this is not explained)
• One shot Frey D. Sadoko wait WHO
• Cut through Gopher’s explosive attack and could have one shot him if she wanted to
• Yeeted Black☆Star at the moon 

Speed

• Avoided explosions against Blair
• Soul dodged gunfire from Death the Kid
• Dodged a point blank stab from Crona
• Reacted to and blocked machine gun fire
• Flew past Gopher’s wing projectiles to sock him
• Flew to the moon in a short time frame despite having Black☆Star as a weight
• Ran up the moon’s cliffside in an instant
• Avoided Kishin Asura’s attacks

Durability

• Survived her and Soul falling the height of multiple buildings (see above)
• Soul endured blocking hits that were still cutting into him
• Survived being dragged through the ground of Death City while hanging onto Kishin Asura
• Blocked a giant chainsaw strike from Giriko’s Weapon form
• Endured Ox’s electric shocks
• BLACK☆STAR PUNCH
• Blocked attacks from Crona and Ragnarok with just her arms
• Survived getting run over and crushed by Mosquito
• Took the full force of a bunch of Gopher’s wing projectiles
• Endured being pressured by Asura’s shockwaves while in her Black Blood Dress

Scaling

RWBY images by SwagJames33. Soul Eater images by Blue Igneous.

Ruby Rose

Throughout the series, Ruby has shown to stand her ground with her friends and foes alike. Including how much they’ve been together with her main teammates, her many friends she’s met on her journey, and the main threats of the series that get in her way. Even despite how many times she falls, she still gets back up and shows what she’s really capable of when it comes to her friends and foes alike. Starting with…

Team RWBY

With how much they’ve been through together, it’s no surprise that the other members of Team RWBY have shown to all be on par with each other as they often fought similar rogue’s galleries but in the end, they manage to find a way back with each other no matter what. While Yang holds the mantle of the strongest of the team, Ruby has held her own against comparable foes in the past. More direct examples can be derived from her fending off Nightmare grimm-possessed Blake and aiding in the submission of a Kilgore possessed Yang’s defeat. So all in all, Ruby should comfortably scale to her team’s various showings.

• Weiss hit Nora with a swordfish hard enough to make a shockwave
• Yang slammed Ren into the ground so hard it creates a shockwave and knocks away several tables
• Weiss froze over part of the Colossus and caused it to trip over (231.5 Tons of TNT)
• Weiss shielded everyone from a large train crash (7 Tons of TNT)
• Blake dodged the Sea Feilong’s lightning breath

Huntsmen & Huntresses

Team RWBY isn’t the only group Ruby has fought side-by-side with, there are plenty of Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world of Remnant that are good allies to her that she should reasonably scale to. Such as their friends and family like Team JNPR, Team CFVY, Sun and Neptune, Qrow, ETC. 

• Nora can cause large quakes with her strikes and can smash boulders (0.63 Tons of TNT)
• Qrow caused a big crater (0.138 Tons of TNT)
• Coco intercepted a bullet from Emerald’s desert eagle (Mach 6.01)
• Oscar evaded Hazel’s lightning dust and can survive hits from him
• Nora (with the help of Ruby) combined and smashed apart a Geist Grimm controlling a large stone golem
• Yatsuhashi creates large shockwaves with his strikes (4.34 Tons of TNT)
• Penny can slice helicarriers apart and even drag them 
• Nora knocked Yang into the sky for around 1 minute: 30 seconds
• Qrow and Winter moved faster than eyesight and shattered large chunks of the environment with ease
• Penny lifted Amity Tower for a couple of seconds without the use of her Maiden abilities (727.17 Tons of TNT due to Penny only contributing to lifting 1/4th of it)

Salem’s Inner Circle/Grimm

Every hero’s story needs villains, and Ruby has fought her fair share of them. Whether they be hordes of Grimm or members of Salem’s Inner Circle (no scaling to Salem herself to be clear), Ruby has been able to stand her ground and combat them.

• Cinder incinerated a mass of concrete (9.94 Tons of TNT)
• Mercury dodged Lightning and can even shrug off being hit by it (Mach 129.7)
• The main threat of the series, the creatures of Grimm:
  • Nevermore shatters a stone bridge
  • Sea Feilong smashed a large rock formation (8.09 Tons of TNT)
  • Nevermore blew apart a small mountain

Miscellaneous

Along their journeys, they’ve met and have shown to be on par with other threats in their way. Such as old foes they’ve fought against multiple times like Roman Torchwick and Adam Taurus, enemies turned allies like Emerald and Ilia, and even against fellow heroes Ironwood and his Ace Ops, which they’ve beaten.

• Cardin Winchester deflected bullets from Pyrrha (Mach 8.3)
• Melanie Malachite kicked Yang’s bullets at close range (Mach 9.3)
• Adam intercepted the Spider Droid’s particle cannon (42.151% SoL)

Maka Albarn

At the end of the series, Maka was capable of holding her own to an extent against Kishin Asura when utilising her Black Blood to the max. At this point Asura was the ultimate final boss, being superior to powerful Meisters like Crona (who Maka had just held her own with earlier in base). In this final fight she was also keeping up with an all-out Black☆Star and a three stripes Sanzu Death the Kid (while she was amped by Teamwide Soul Resonance, she was keeping up with them when they were getting the same buff, suggesting they would all be relative without the buff), who had each respectively defeated other big bads like Mifune and Noah earlier in the series. A full power Kid specifically was regarded as a necessity for defeating Kishin Asura by the DWMA, as they had nothing else strong enough in their ranks to compete at such a high level. All of this is to say that Maka’s full power lets her keep up with and fight alongside verse top tiers, so specific justification for specific scaling is not really needed here.

DWMA Students

• Black☆Star casually caused a crater (0.075 Tons of TNT)
• Death the Kid generated an explosion of large magnitude (7.55 Kilotons of TNT)
• Death the Kid obliterated a pyramid (8.51 Kilotons of TNT)
• Death the Kid dispersed clouds (239 Kilotons of TNT)
• Black☆Star busted a mountainside (1.26 Megatons of TNT)
• Black☆Star made massive dust explosions on his way to Baba Yaga Castle (7.65 Gigatons of TNT)
• Death the Kid dodged gunfire (Mach 6.53)
• Death the Kid flew from Egypt to Death City (Mach 38)
• Black☆Star can move so fast for the Severed Shadow technique that he breaks free from his own shadow (FTL)
• Black☆Star reacted to and grabbed Asura’s lasers (43.9% SOL)
• Black☆Star tossed around the Moon’s tooth (15.49 Teratons of TNT)  (See Before the Verdict)

DWMA Staff

• Stein blitzed Justin so badly he couldn’t even tell what moves Stein was doing to hit him 
• Stein threw Marie in Weapon form to the moon in seconds
• Spirit could create massive explosive blasts
• Azusa’s sniper form could fire a bullet to the moon in an instant (Mach 2,366.2-8,015.4)
• Sid blitzed some soldiers before they realised he was there
• Tezca Tlipoca could destroy a chunk of forest with a beam of light

Dilemmas of DWMA

• Free could cause a massive explosion alongside Kid 
• Nidhoog bit off a large chunk of a small town (234.28 Tons of TNT)
• Gopher busted through cliffs (70.84 Kilotons of TNT)
• The item “BREW” no-sold a massive explosion (271.147 Kilotons to 7.374 Megatons of TNT)
• Noah could vaporise Mosquito with one attack
• Crona covered a Ukrainian city in Black Blood (260.72 Megatons of TNT)
• Crona opened the Moon’s jaw (176.37-352.74 Teratons of TNT) (See Before the Verdict)
• Asura fired an attack from the moon to earth that reached it in seconds
• Mifune blocked a bullet from Azusa (Mach 22.734)
• Mifune can track and catch Black☆Star despite him out-speeding his own shadow (FTL)

Weaknesses

Ruby Rose

Despite being a great Huntress and worthy leader, Ruby is not without her flaws. Her Aura, while useful in the heat of battle, is limited. If she uses too much of her Semblance or if enough damage is dealt to it, her Aura will break for a period of time. Meaning Ruby can’t use her Semblance and she’ll have no means to reliably defend herself from a fatal blow until her Aura is back up, which can take a while. Ruby is also not that skilled of a fighter without Crescent Rose and was practically benched during most of Volume 9 without it. Granted, she has received some minimal hand-to-hand training, but she has little experience utilizing it.

Maka Albarn

While they are very capable as a team, Maka and Soul are by no means perfect. Neither can operate at full power without the other, with several abilities relying on a direct connection. This connection can be severed if they become too distant from each other; both physically and emotionally, as too much of the latter problem will make them outright incompatible (though this has never been a problem for 90% of the series really). If separated, Maka lacks options for combat besides her basic hand to hand skills, which are not as good as some of her S-Class fighter classmates.

Before the Verdict

Ruby Rose

Do Ice Queens Dream of
Upscaled RWBY?

The anime series RWBY: Ice Queendom provides its own interesting sets of feats for the cast and particularly Ruby herself, and is considered to be canon adjacent. As such, feats existing within the anime would logically be taken into account here in most cases. This would actually provide a myriad of big feats for Ruby to scale to, such as Yang destroying the massive statue known as Big Nicholas, or being able to fight on par with alternate variations of characters such as Negative Blake and Negative Weiss, the latter of whom was able to summon a massive storm that spanned an entire city. And considering it is stated that Ruby is at a much weaker state than normal (even more so considering this anime takes place during Volume 1) it would be a massive thing to upscale a current Ruby Rose to. 

However as is often the case in the world of Remnant; things are not always what they seem.

First and foremost, most feats that take place within Ice Queendom take place inside of the Dreamscape, a world inside the nightmares of Weiss Schnee caused by an infection from a Nightmare Grimm. This being a dream world, the ordinary physics and rules of the franchise do not apply as strongly and this is frequently seen through matters such as there being multiple copies of Weiss as a child, or everybody appearing in this world how Weiss herself views them (hence Ruby and Jaune both being much weaker than normal), reflected especially in the non-human portrayals of her family. As such, the feats displayed being so far above what is standard for the series, especially at the time, should be taken as that; dreams, and not actual feats that can be accounted for here.

It is true that damage that Ruby acquired in the Dreamscape would transfer over into her physical form, however it is portrayed as more of a pain transferral rather than the actual actions happening to her physical body. Nothing displayed with Ruby in the real world – even acknowledging that she is depowered in the Dreamscape – would match up to the abilities the characters are portrayed as being capable of inside of the nightmare, and any feats displayed by the characters physical selves are recreations of feats that already happen within the first volume of the franchise.

In short, no, Volume 1 Ruby is not going to be capable of dishing out hits equal to Salem based off of what happens in Weiss’ dreams. 

Maka Albarn

The Fiery Elephant
in the room

You may have noticed two high-end calculations in Maka’s scaling section, being Black☆Star and Crona moving large chunks of Soul Eater’s signature iconic moon. On paper, while these feats are impressive, they should not be reaching 15.49 and 176.37/352.74 teratons respectively at first glance. What makes these feats get so high is a certain dreaded topic when it comes to Soul Eater discussion: Fire Force. However, whether you think Soul Eater and Fire Force top tiers scale to one another for this specific topic is irrelevant funnily enough. What actually matters is the lore behind Soul Eater’s moon that Fire Force elaborates on.

According to the laws of gravity in Fire Force, objects of more mass will have a greater gravitational pull then objects of less mass, like say a bowling and tennis ball. The reason objects on Earth always fall down is due to Earth’s greater mass. This is important because of a specific ability used by a character named Fairie that allows for an object’s mass to be increased, and that Fire Force’s laws of physics have it so that an object with equal mass to Earth will not be subject to its gravitational pull due to its equivalent gravitational pull; meaning an equal mass/gravity object will just float in mid air. This matters lastly because later in Fire Force, the moon is stopped from crashing into Earth and is left floating in the air, showing that it has equivalent mass and therefore gravity.

Now, does this science actually work in real life? God no lmao, but these are the rules that are being operated within the story present here. With this in mind, the Soul Eater moon actually has a lot more mass and density than one would assume off of just what Soul Eater presents, and thus the feats mentioned above are significantly higher with it in mind.

But what about the big elephant, scaling to feats in Fire Force specifically? There are points that can be made both for and against it, but a comprehensive analysis of the topic would require a lot of research for a separate series to argue about a point that does not really alter the outcome of this matchup much; you’ll understand when we get to the verdict. Thus, we will not be covering either the contents of Fire Force itself or whether the top tiers of Soul Eater scale to the best feats from Fire Force.

Fan Art

(Condedunkula)

(Frost)

(Carbonated Jem)

(LaughingXenn)

(Brobuscus)

Verdict

Stats

Starting with our little red riding hood, Remnant’s Silver Eyed Huntress shows great promise in the field of battle against the creatures of Grimm and does not disappoint in how much she can diss out despite her small size. As she regularly fights side by side with her teammates against their large rogue’s gallery, she should scale to their more impressive showings. Weiss displaced rocks with her fire dust (6.93 Tons of TNT) and Blake killed the Sea Feilong which crushed a large rock formation (8.09 Tons of TNT). Ruby herself is no slouch either, kicking a Griffon into the hull of an airship, a feat that clocks in around 17.84 Tons of TNT and beheaded a nevermore at the beginning of her series, the same nevermore blew apart a small mountain which would require roughly 229.48 Tons of TNT. She does end up facing the Ace Operatives alongside her team and defeating them, the same soldiers who could give Penny a run for her money. Keep in mind, Penny was strong enough to temporarily push up the Amity Communications Tower without her Maiden powers, requiring an impressive yield of 727.17 tons of TNT.  

Moving onto Maka, the Scythe Meister is a lot more impressive than you might assume, given how she was able to compete with people like end of series Crona and a holding back end of series Black☆Star in base. Not to mention how the Black Blood Dress put her fully on pair with a three stripes of Sanzu Death the Kid and an all out Black☆Star. Because of this, Maka at her full potential should be able to scale to basically every relevant AP feat in Soul Eater. This includes a factory destroying explosion “BREW” no-sold (271.147 Kilotons to 7.374 Megatons), or Crona covering an entire city in Black Blood (260.72 Megatons). There are higher feats because of the anime or additional Fire Force lore respectively, such as Black☆Star making giant explosions of dust (7.65 Gigatons), or Black☆Star and Crona each moving different giant chunks of the hyper dense moon (15.49 and 176.37/352.74 Teratons respectively). 

The big point here is that Maka has an extensive catalogue of feats she can scale to that trump anything you can argue for Ruby reasonably. Even the bare minimum of what’s been listed with the explosion “BREW” survived would be more than enough to shatter Ruby’s aura in a single hit and take her down. Keep in mind, superior strength has been able to shatter and bypass Aura before, like with Adam against Yang in Volume 3 and Vernal against Weiss in Volume 5. Plus they were far closer in power than Ruby and Maka are, so one single strike would be more than enough to do Ruby in. And considering that Maka can take hits as hard as she deals, it’s not like Ruby is going to be doing any traditional damage herself. Maka and Soul handedly take power. 

Moving onto speed, Ruby should be comparable to Adam reacting to and blocking a particle beam (42.151% C). In contrast, Maka can scale to Black☆Star at his best, who earlier in the series was capable of outspeeding his own shadow for a technique. Even if you for whatever reason argued the speed burst was exclusive to the technique, Mifune was able to catch Black☆Star when he was performing it, meaning the scaling here should be solid. With that in mind, Ruby is about 40% light speed while Maka is vaguely a bit faster than light, with both having similar upscaling due to when each feat takes place in their respective stories. It’s a much smaller gap than strength, but considering that Ruby is relativistic while Maka is outright FTL, the speed advantage goes to the Meister, solidifying her edge in Stats.

Arsenal & Abilities

Moving onto arsenal and abilities, both are similar in a couple ways. It should be obvious, but both being scythe wielders means neither has a particular advantage when it comes to weapon choice. Heck, both weapons can shoot projectiles and shapeshift to adjust strategy, though obviously the exact methods and results differ given Crescent Rose and Soul’s unique properties (bullets VS soundwaves, machine VS person, you get it). Both Ruby and Maka also have comparable armors of sorts, with Aura and Black Blood letting them take sharp hits far more comfortably. Ruby does have a good distinct ability in Petal Burst, which lets her separate herself to avoid attacks and speed across the battlefield. This is when we get into Maka’s advantages though, which are definitely superior.

Sure, Aura matches Black Blood in purpose as a defensive armor, but Black Blood also has the additional perk of serving as fuel for regeneration, closing wounds to stop bleeding and even letting Maka heal from being impaled in the gut. With the Black Blood being able to be easily replenished and sped up in effectiveness thanks to Soul’s piano, Maka is both going to have sustained armor and easy regeneration access. In contrast, Ruby’s Arrowfell items let her recover Aura and health, but they are limited and cannot undo wounds as bad as the ones Black Blood can help cover.

Petal Burst also is facing a big problem here in that Ruby has been hit out of it before, like with Mercury Black in Volume 3, and Maka can counter intangibility given her history with non-physical interaction, with the anime even letting her target someone’s soul directly without touching their physical body. Even apart from her NPI, Maka also has the capability to outright fully turn off Ruby’s Aura and the abilities that come with it thanks to Soul Adagio. Soul Adagio specifically lets Soul disable spiritual powers by applying a counter force to Soul Wavelengths, and Aura is a power that is inherently tied to the soul due to being a manifestation of it. With this in mind, there is nothing Ruby can do to stop Soul from disabling her Aura, removing her defensive shielding and Petal Burst to leave her vulnerable for Maka to finish the job. Considering this big counter, and the strength of Maka’s own uncounterable powers, she solidly takes the advantage in Abilities.

As a final note, no, the Silver Eyes would not work on Maka or Soul. They specifically only work on, and in the presence of, Grimm, or people with Grimm physiology attached to their bodies like Cinder, with neither of these qualifications applying to Maka. Even if you argued that, for whatever reason, the Silver Eyes worked on “evil” substances, and therefore could counter the Black Blood, that still does not work as an argument. The Black Blood and Madness are explicitly not inherently evil, with there even being a big character development for Soul about how he should not fear Madness as it’s a neutral force rather than something inherently toxic.

Tertiary Factors

When it comes to skill, both should be about equal. Both have undergone extensive combat training and are clearly experts when it comes to scythe combat, which should be a given considering how much cool stuff they pull every other fight twirling those things around. While you could argue that Maka has better showings of beating people up without Soul in her hands, Ruby has fought against the supernatural for a longer total period of time and therefore is more experienced. Thus it is fair to say that Skill cancels out here. 

But how well can they control the full battlefield? On paper, Ruby has better mobility due to the quick dashes of Petal Burst and her still having full access to her offense while using it. In contrast, if Maka wants to fly Soul through the air, she needs to ride on top of him like a witch with a broom, and therefore has to leave herself more temporarily vulnerable to rev up hits when she wants to go for one. Ruby’s ranged option with her bullets is also more precise than Soul’s soundwaves, while also having far better range (is a sniper rifle after all). This is where things shift back to Maka though.

While Ruby’s bullets have their advantages, Soul’s sound waves are able to cover a lot more ground with each attack in comparison, giving Maka better AOE here. And while Petal Burst gives Ruby better mobility than base Maka due to Soul’s restrictions regarding flight, the Black Blood Dress form reverses things with Maka being able to fly while having full proper access to her offense. Remember, the ability is called Petal Burst, Ruby can’t maintain air time 24/7, in contrast to Maka who can. Giving her better AOE and overall stronger mobility, Maka takes Battlefield Control.

Conclusion

“I’m so glad that we got to meet you. But now we have to say goodbye.”

Advantages:

• More long-ranged options
• Better mobility in base with Petal Burst 
• Holy shit listen to RWBY’s OST it is actually amazing

Disadvantages:

• Significantly weaker in the stat trinity 
• Aura is a less enduring defense than Black Blood
• Worse recovery options
• Has no answer to Soul Adagio
• Silver Eyes won’t work on Black Blood
• Inferior mobility to Maka with the Black Blood Dress
• Will sadly never brush off Crater Face

“So let’s spread the word together! We’ll go and see Crona again! And we’ll put the Kishin in his place as many times as it takes! I want everyone in the world to witness this courage! This Soul Resonance!”

Advantages:

• Comfortably takes the stat trinity
• Black Blood is a better and less counterable defensive option than Aura
• Can shut off Ruby’s Aura and Semblance with Soul Adagio 
• Greater AOE with Soundwaves
• Has much greater mobility with the Black Blood Dress
• Black Blood’s Madness would significantly weaken Ruby
• Maka Chop solos

Disadvantages:

• Less long-ranged options
• Worse mobility in base
• The Brotherhood treatment isn’t happening

Overall, the verdict here is pretty clear cut. While Ruby is not exactly a push over, Maka can scale to several feats that would wither this rose when it comes to raw power. Ranging from hundreds of kilotons to hundreds of teratons, Ruby just cannot keep up here. Speed is closer, but Maka should still solidly be a few times faster given her scaling to faster than light speeds whereas Ruby is only at relativistic levels. For abilities, Maka’s healing and defensive options outdo Ruby’s, along with Soul Adagio letting Soul outright nullify Ruby’s Aura and Semblance. And while the Huntress can match in skill, the Meister’s greater AOE options and mobility triumphs over Crescent Rose’s precision. Ruby Rose was certainly capable, but Maka Albarn and Soul “Eater” Evans had the stats and tools needed to pull off every petal from this flower. 

Chop chop, let’s cut to the chase: they had the best Soul-ution for victory, and let’s have a moment of scythe-lence for Ruby walking away with silver, cause this win is ALLbarn Maka’s.

Final Tally

Ruby Rose (0) – 🥀

Maka Albarn & Soul Evans (10) – Blue Igneous, Cherry-Witch, Frisky863, Frost, greymerlion2, Maddie Antiqua, Riley, Soma, SwagJames33, Trashy235

Afterword

As you all know, this is the 200th episode, and a few of us here wanted to express just how happy and proud we are to have seen Death Battle grow into what it’s become today. We’re coming up on 15 years since the show first began back in 2010 and it’s had such a significant impact on all of us, bringing together so many people who never would have met otherwise. It’s a celebration of media of all types, showcasing the best of characters who we’ve come to love so dearly, and for that, we just want to say thank you. We’re eagerly looking forward to Episode 200 and the rest of Death Battle’s future from there!

Next Time…

As for one last surprise, here’s a bonus blog coming soon!