The moment the black hellfire began forming, Merle's occasional, soft noises were broken by a sharp intake of breath. Vaan's inexperience made the sensation feel almost as hot as a real flame, and the longer he held it the more intense it became. Her body made weak attempts to squirm away from the uncomfortable feeling, but she was unable to escape from Vaan's grip. It never got to the point of being too intense to bare.. but then, it didn't particularly have time to, either.<br/><br/>"Ahh!"<br/>In the blink of an eye, Merle's head found a momentary glimpse of strength, enough to jerk away from Vaan's hand as she released a high-pitched gasp of pain, the wound on her cheek emitting a light amount of red smoke. Somehow, the already-existing cuts were becoming deeper and longer in front of their eyes, and the girl writhed in a silent agony as her face became further stained with a mixture of her own blood and tears. Coronis was now detached from its perch, and instead took to flying around the two in a circle, still cawing loudly.<br/><br/>-----------------------------------------<br/><br/>"Damned, troublesome girl.. If I can't kill you directly, I'll just have to<span style="font-style: italic">bleed you dry!</span>" The Reverend's fist clenched as he stood over the edge of the rooftop, red smoke flowing from between his fingers. The bloodlust in his eyes was almost palpable as he watched the mist dissolve, soon after releasing his fist and letting it fall back to his side, content that the wound he had inflicted upon the girl would end her soon. "Even now, with the city in ruins, there are<span style="font-style: italic">still</span>those who wish to stand against me! And for what purpose? Is their struggle not utterly hopeless?" he wondered aloud, though it was unclear whether he was speaking to his nearby protege, or just to himself. The one thing that was clear was that he was agitated; the fight against Levin had done nowhere near enough to quell the demon-fueled anger inside of him.<br/><br/>-----------------------------------------<br/><br/>"Abaddon and Lucifer had a falling out?" Death questioned rhetorically, setting a hand to his chin. "Interesting.. Turmoil in the demonic kingdom. I suppose it's just as well that we have one less opponent to worry about," he mused, speaking more to himself than anything. After a few moments of silence, Death sighed impatiently. "You said you have messages for me? Let's hear them, then. My business can wait."