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BY THE TIME MELIODAS HAD MADE HIS WAY TO RAVEN, Elizabeth behind him with every step, both were surprised to find the demoness sitting in a large dug-out tub filled with steaming water.
While Meliodas wasn't opposed to watching Raven bathe, he wasn't sure how it helped anything. "I thought you were doing a spirit locator spell."
"Soul locator spell", Raven corrected, her eyes remaining closed as she reclined against the edge of the bath. "And I am. I have the candles, the pitcher plant, the dragon root seeds, the petals of a black poppy, the water, my spell book, and now the blood. You're the one who's late."
Meliodas and Elizabeth didn't move. Raven groaned and opened her eyes. "Are you going to get in or not? You're prisoners, not slaves - and trust me, I know the difference, I've been both. Besides, I need you to colour the water."
"You wanna bathe in my blood?" Meliodas questioned.
"Wouldn't be the first time", Raven pointed out. "Whatever, I'll get out if you won't get in, but we'll have to do it multiple times."
"Don't get out on my accord", Meliodas said. Similar to Derriere, the demon prince wore darkness instead of clothes. He let the darkness fall away before he joined his old lover in the water.
Elizabeth however, uncomfortable with Raven around and jealous the demoness was seeing Meliodas nude, remained out of the water.
"Shall we?" Raven asked. She moved towards the middle of the tub, beckoning Meliodas to join her. Once the two stood face to face, Raven spread her arms and closed her eyes.
Her scythe appeared from thin air, floating above the demons. It twisted in the air until the curved blade touched the water like a feather. The spirits held within the hourglass embedded in the handle began pouring into the other side like sand.
"Run your hand along the blade and let the blood flow into the water", Raven instructed, her eyes still closed and hands out. "It'll seal itself once there's enough."
Following her orders, Meliodas ran his left palm along the length of Raven's blade. He held his fist over the water, letting his blood drip and stain it red. Within a dozen seconds, his cut healed itself, leaving the two demons standing in the bloody water.
"Now let the magic happen." Dark flames flickered to life in Raven's opened palms, the candles in the room lighting up in the next second with the same black fire.
As the demoness began chanting, various other materials floated up from around the room. Raven's spell book hovered next to her scythe, opened to the page containing the spell she was speaking.
"Comitum numero indagare animas nostras. Ostende mihi locus in", Raven chanted. The black poppy petals fell into the water. They moved along the water's surface, spreading ripples in the red liquid.
