Death made no response as Azrael unfurled his wings and flew away, instead keeping his focus on the boy, Hatsu. He couldn't help but smile as the kid announced his readiness; by now, a large majority of the gathered Hunters were gone or leaving to attend to their business. The stage was prepared.<br/>"Very well, then," he responded simply. One of his hands reached upward, thumb and middle finger together, until quickly shifting with a resounding<span style="font-style: italic">snap.</span>In that instant, Hatsu's vision went completely dark, due to the pitch-black veil now covering his eyes at Death's behest.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"We begin now."</span><br/><br/>With Omen still resting on his belt, Death was free to use his hands to fight in a decidedly less fatal fashion; even pulling his punches as he planned to, this would still be a duel Hatsu would be unlikely to walk away from unscathed. Death began walking around the boy, making his footsteps loud and clear.<br/>"I'll assume you've been spending more of your time harnessing your powers than using them in practical application.. That changes now. In addition, as you may have already 'observed,' you will be dueling me blind." At this point, he was now standing behind Hatsu. He silently leaned in closer so that his head was directly to the right of the boy's, and whispered. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you don't die."<br/><br/>With those words, Death brought up his left arm and held his fingers straight outward, aiming a sort of chop at the left side of Hatsu's neck. His approach had two intentions; the intimidation aspect was to teach the boy to not let his fears cause hesitation in battle, but more importantly, the duel was set up to make him think outside of the box. Hatsu would hear Death to his right, and an attack from a different angle would almost certainly catch him off guard. If he were ever to truly be a successful Hunter, he would have to consider every possible option at any given moment, not just the likeliest one.<br/><br/>-----------------------------<br/><br/>"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot you're a god compared to everyone else, you pretentious fucking prick! I seem to recall<span style="font-style: italic">you</span>didn't fare much better against him!" Merle shouted, in an instant losing all the control she had been working so hard to maintain. As she yelled, she spun on her heel, raising a fist and sending it flying towards Gabriel's jaw with a surprisingly large amount of force, given her stature. The crows that were still carrying Vaan continued slowly gliding towards the tower, ignoring the fact that their mistress was now occupied elsewhere.<br/><br/>"It wasn't<span style="font-style: italic">my</span>fight, jackass! I'd appreciate you keeping your nose out of business that doesn't concern you! This is<span style="font-style: italic">way</span>bigger than you..<span style="font-style: italic">Way bigger than either of us!</span>" Without giving him time to respond - or, more accurately, without giving a care if he was going to respond or not - Merle turned around again and stomped off, quickly catching up with the crows that were now mere feet away from the entrance of the tower. Rather than force her companions to ride in a cramped elevator, she had them drop Vaan's still-unconscious body next to it and dragged him in herself, angrily punching the button on the elevator to begin the trip to floor 58.