Life Loved Death [S-Rank Exam]

CLAWED MY WAY TO VICTORY

Millenniums ago, a beautiful child had been born, into a world much harsher than this one, into a world where it knew not the hardships of Life. Its smile brought light even to the darkest of souls, its giggle brought Life into those who had no hope, but a prayer for Death. But even at its earliest age, this child would know nothing more but Death constantly at its doorstep, taking away what it loved most. What smiles it brought to the people of its kingdom, why it took the breath right of them and left them on the ground, Lifeless. Each giggle that left its mouth sapped the happiness from the near dead and put them to rest with sorrow in their minds. Unrest was left in this little kingdom, unrest that would remain for as long as the child lived and thus, for eternity. Oh, but the sorrow and unhappiness and happiness and love it brought, it sapped it from the one that truly loved it.

The one who held it at birth gave her last breath in order to give Life to the one thing that would kill everything and nothing at all. She held it happily in her arms until the strength was taken from her and she let go of the child she loved most. And so, that child cried, cried and cried at the lost of its mother, feeling the emptiness that it would bring to everyone else. Its father could only grieve and wish nothing more but Death upon the one thing that had taken his love away from him. So, he pushed the child away, removed it from his sights, and let it grow to be something he regretted bringing into the world. Such pain would be felt for years, as the child grew to know a Life that it wished not to know and prayed for better. A Life where it did not have to grieve for being alone in a world where thousands lived and breathed each day of their Life.

Everyday, this child looked out her window and watched as her elder siblings went about their day in the gardens or the patio. They knew not of her existence, but that of her sister's, whose Life would be shorter than the one watching through glass. Tears would claim the windowsill as their own, a safe place for happiness that no longer belonged in child's room. So, she imagined, let her mind take her away to places that she could only dream of existing and eventually seeing the older she grew. But she would not know of happiness for years, not until her final days were quickly approaching her as Death came to claim her. And in those years, she would lay in her bed and stare up at the canopy she had grown accustom to, wishing and praying. Why, may she have a Life just like her siblings, one where she could play and explore just as they did in the gardens.

But that day would never come.

For as the days ticked by, her breaths grew shorter until, at long last, her final breath would leave her lips, just like she took it from her mother. Her body lay heavy and still in her bed, just as her sister's would lay in her bed the same day that hers gave up on Life. And Death would enter the room on the fateful day He knew the soul of His daughter would leave the body of the living realm. Though as He looked at His daughter, regret would come to His eyes and He would realize all of the mistakes He made. Torturing her just as she had tortured Him had made Him regret the decisions He made and pray to Life for mercy. His prayers would go unanswered for days, as though it was punishment to show Him how He treated Life's gifts to Him. One day, Life finally answered Him and gave Him hope, told Him how to bring back His daughter for a final chance at what she wanted most.

And so, she was reborn. . .

Fingertips trailed along the grooves of the wall, feeling every dip, curve, and bump of the design as she walked through the halls. Red irises stared longingly ahead of her as she made her way through the corridor, glossing over each empty room. She lived alone in this place, deep within the confines of a Hellish world where no one could reach, but a select few. Her steps echoed into a silent hall, where not even the servants that kissed her boots were found at this time of day. Black droplets hit the floor before her where she walked, leaving a trail leading to nowhere as she roamed her castle. They marked her cheeks like dirt caking her face, leaving evidence behind as she wept tears of strangely colored blood. Left alone in this castle, she was left alone in Life, not even her father there to comfort her as she had taken His life.

She came to a room full of statue pillars, where at the back, a strange throne sat, empty and silent in the vastness. Solemnly, she walked her way to the seat and took her place upon it, where she stared out into the darkness of her castle. No servants to do her bidding, no guards to rush for confirmation of something bad occurring, absolute silence and loneliness. A smile crossed over her lips, breaking the stride of tears that caressed her cheek with each one that fell to the floor. Her loneliness had crushed her mind so, to the point that what sanity she had left had been stripped away from her. Life as Hell when it was fought through alone and for millenniums, she had fought for what was rightfully hers on her own. Laughter filled the air, not laughter of happiness, but a crazed kind of laughter, a laughter that was filled with hopelessness and sorrow.

The Queen of Tears, but not many knew her by such a name. . . no, they knew of her cruelty and her hatred toward her loneliness. They knew her as the Lady Without Mercy. . .

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It was hard to not be aware of everything that was around her, even when she was trying her hardest to ignore things. She still heard the footsteps as they wandered closer and closer to the place where she had chosen to hide for a while. What confused her was how he had gotten here, how he had been able to find her place of living so easily unlike others. Maybe it was not that hard of a place to find from the start, they were just not adamant in finding where she lived because they were scared. They were terrified of what she would do to them in her own castle; they didn't once think that maybe she just wanted a friend. Or perhaps they were scared she would imprison them forever because that's what she wanted most and she didn't want to ever lose them? A sigh escaped her lips and she lifted her head, tear-streaked cheeks pale against the dim lighting of the room as she watched and waited.

Each clack of the heel of his boots was like a second too slow passing by and she was slowly beginning to dread seeing him. What would he think of her the moment he saw her in such a state? In a state that wasn't like her when they had first met? No one had ever seen her this horrible before, not even the one who she truly loved and adored, and even held captive a part of his soul inside her. Yazuki would have been the first one to experience just how sorrowful the maiden was and how lost she happened to be. It frightened her to think that he would be the one to see her at her lowest point and she was scared he would think otherwise of her. Yet, a small inkling of hope resided inside of her, pulsating like an orb of warmth, trying to comfort her and give her strength. A part of her didn't want to believe this orb of hope inside of her, but her mind let her play the orb's game while it lasted.

At long last, the man entered her throne room in silence, the soft lighting the only thing allowing her to see his features, though shadowed. She remained quiet as they looked upon each other, studying each other in the silence of the room as neither spoke at first. This quietness felt like an eternity as they merely stared each other down, unsure of what to say to the other or had nothing to say at all. Eventually, Marceline glanced away from Yazuki, her red gaze wandering around the room to look at everything, but him. In a way, she couldn't bear to look at him, as if fear was slowly consuming her and not allowing her to face what she disliked most. Her teeth found their place in her lip, crunching away at the skin that was made of earth, breaking a hole into her lip. However, just as quickly as the hole was made, the hole mended through her healing, leaving her lip restored to itself once more.

"I weep because I am alone and the people do not see how lonely I am; they do not understand why I shed these tears," she responded to him softly. The smile was back upon her lips, even a soft chuckle across her voice as she spoke to her acquaintance and soon-to-be opposite. "They take sight of me and flee, as though my mere presence is something that they despise and wish never to see." It hurt her to see the people of Earthland run in fear from her because even as Death, there was nothing to fear about her. She hurt people, but not on purpose; it was merely how her magic worked and it wasn't something that she could prevent on her own. Death was its own thing and as hard as she tried to stop it from taking effect, nothing in the world could stop it from taking things. As it was, Death had no mind to who it hurt or what it took, as long as it took something from Life as the cycle goes.

Marceline giggle slightly at her own stupidity and wiped away the bloody and black tears that had streaked down her cheeks. They smeared across her face, leaving wet, black marks, but stopped flowing the second she realized what she was doing. "I apologize that you find me in such a state as this; no one as ever come to my castle without informing me, let alone know where my castle resides. For you to come here, you must have gone through many hardships and had faced many demons and monsters that are out there. Please, let me call upon one of my servants to get you what you wish, you are my guest, after all, it is only a custom thing to do." She snapped her fingers together and as though they melded from the shadows, a young child made an appearance before Yazuki. "This is Merle. She doesn't speak your language, but she understands it well enough to know what you may ask of her."

Breathing deeply and closing her eyes for a moment, Marceline regained her composure and opened her eyes back up to look at Yazuki. "You've come to speak to me for a reason, yes?" she inquired, recollecting what it was that Yazuki had said to her moments ago. She was already quite aware of what it was that he wanted to speak to her about, but she did not cringe away from his presence. "I understand what it is that you are here for and I already know, but I will allow for you to speak your mind as you wish." For Life and Death to be in the same room as each other, that was a feat not yet accomplished until just now with him and her. Marcy smiled sweetly at the man, but did not let the pain show through her smile at how disappointed she was for who he was. Nor did she hate him for who he was, but rather, she was unsure how she was to go about continuing her interaction with him. . .

When Death stood in front of her.

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Studying him, the woman watched his every move, even the ones that took a closer step to her when they shouldn't have. She badly wanted to pull away from him, but she refused to let that fear show through without fearing she would lose him. Aside from Kite, Yazuki had been the only one to bear witness to her aura and still choose to stand by her side no matter what. Even when she felt that she had no one there to be with her, many were there to hold her hand and take her through life. Friends existed for her, but she had gone through life alone for so long that it had been easier to simply push them aside. So, no matter how she looked at it, she had always felt alone, despite those who had chosen to remain at her side. Despite the pain and fear they would go through just to be with her, and she refused to accept that such people existed.

Yazuki spoke to Merle, who only stared at him as she tried to decipher what he was saying before Marceline leaned down and murmured something into her ear. The little girl gave a small nod of her head and darted off, leaving a gentle smile on Marceline's face as she watched her. However, Marcy turned her attention back to Yazuki, whose own attention was back upon her after speaking to Merle. Her face was hardened in expression, having no real interest in showing what she felt to the man that stood before her. Instead, her gaze bore down upon him from her throne, leaving little comfort room without feeling as though it was a peasant to a queen. She lightly tapped her fingers on the armrest of the chair, the click of her nails entering the stillness of the air. In a way, she anticipated what Yazuki would say to her, but she was also frightened by the words he would say.

She remained emotionless as he knelt to one knee and grabbed hold of one of her hands, keeping it within his own. Yazuki would find that the moment he touched her, the skin on his hands would begin to rot away centimeter by centimeter. Pain would not follow it, but rather, it would be a sort of numbing sensation as he lost feeling in his hands and soon the muscle. Seeing this would lead to Marceline pulling her hand free of his and bringing it close to her chest to keep it away from him. Her gaze would turn away from his, though she would listen to what he had to say to her about the entire situation. Words that seemingly only hurt what she thought about him and what she thought about Life as a whole now. A frown creased over her lips and now matter how she looked at it, she felt she could not look the same again.

"I like to think that it was my mother," she answered him in a harsh tone of voice, "getting back at me for killing her at birth. It wasn't like I had meant to, but I feel it justified for what I had done to her, so I will bear the burden that I have now." Her eyes glanced briefly back at Yazuki before they looked away again to hide the feelings that were apparent there. "Or my sister, for taking her life when mine was taken the day of my death and how she did not get hers back when I did. I abhor Life for giving me a second chance, and I do not understand why Life would place such a burden on a young child like me. But it had and as much as I dislike what has been given to me, it is something that I have to learn to bear for eternity. Death will never come for me because Death is me and I cannot come for myself, no matter how hard I try to kill me."

This time, Marceline chose to look him head on, staring down at him from where he knelt on his knees before her. In this moment, she rose to her feet, her red cloak sweeping out around her like it was some offshoot of a ball gown. "What you are is far more deadly to me than any heat could ever dream to be," she explained to him in a hardened voice. "You must understand that being in my presence hurts me, though I may never show it to you that such pain exists. Life cannot exist without Death and Death cannot exist without Life, but the two should never be in the same room together. There exists no room in which the two can share without pain from the other. . . Please, understand what I ask of you. Do not take it harshly in what I say, but take heed in my advice, for it is for the better of the both of us, I promise you that."

A sorrowful look crossed over her face and for a moment, she wasn't sure if she had anything more to say to him. But, without thinking, the woman pulled free her hand from her cloak and placed it underneath his chin to bring him to look at her. "You are a precious thing to Earthland," Marceline added, the smile returning to her face in the sweetest way possible. "Please, do not burden yourself in believing that you must stand by my side through thick and thin simply because of who I am. If I must, I will bear this burden alone as I have for millenniums; it is not something that I fear like I had since rebirth. Should Life wish me to be Death, then I will embrace who I am and learn that what I do is for Life and Life alone." Her hand pulled away from his chin, but she beckoned for him to come to his feet rather than kneel before her.

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She had beckoned him to merely stand to his feet, yet Yazuki had chosen to turn his back to her and start to walk away. The smile on her face slowly faded away and she clasped her hands together beneath her cloak in a saddened, yet worried way. Her eyes downcast to the marble floor, staring at her reflection as it stared back at her, like it was questioning her motives. Marceline didn't answer the reflection, but looked away to watch as he reached the doors to the throne room once more. Stroking her right hand with her left thumb, the woman contemplated saying something to Yazuki before he left. Yet, she couldn't find the words to stop him from leaving her alone in the room again, with no one but her servants to keep her company. A small part of her wanted to scream out at him, ask why he was leaving her when she just wanted to be with someone, but no voice came.

She wanted to blame him for everything that's ever happened to her, in spite of knowing he wasn't the one to cause it all. Her body wanted to reach out toward him and hurt him physically for all the mental and emotional pain she went through because of Life. But her mind told her not to, kept her from doing something irrational and hurting someone who only wanted to help. Again, the tears welled up in her eyes and began to spill over her cheeks like streams filling in toward the ocean. Quickly as it had come, the feeling of impending doom would wash away and a calmness in the air would rise up. An eerie calmness, but it would be a peaceful sensation that Yazuki couldn't ignore, even as much as he wanted to let the storm rage. Marceline would merely stand there in the eerie calmness, the tears streaming down her face like she couldn't stop crying.

When she saw the tears streaking down his own face, it would only be then that she understood why she was crying herself. They weren't her tears from the start, they were his tears that were spilling down her cheeks like she was the one crying. Her eyebrows scrunched together and she disappeared into a cloud of ash, the particles floating to the ground peacefully. Marceline appeared a foot in front of Yazuki, her bloodied eyes staring into his with ease of only a few inches difference. She looked over his face up close, then reached outward to cup his face into her hands despite the pain it may cause from her touch. Carefully, she wiped away the tears that trailed down his face, a slight pout to her lip as she realized why he was crying. "Do not cry, old friend," she whispered to him in a mildly hoarse voice, "do not cry for something that hasn't been lost."

A brief smile crossed over her lips again, staring up into his eyes for a moment before she glossed over his face again. "Desire and feeling are one and the same," she said, her eyes still not returning to look back into his when she spoke. "Desire is a sensation of wanting to do something and a feeling is a sensation of emotion, such as desire. There are different kinds of desire, however, like longing for something, wishing for something, and hoping for something." Her hands pulled away for a moment, just enough so that it was only her fingertips that brushed against his skin. "I desire not for an eternal friendship, but I wish for someone to understand what I go through and be there for me, just as I am for them. Life and Death are one and the same, just as the river and sea are the same, just merely parts of a whole."

A soft giggle left her lips before she spoke, "I will always accept your gifts, as long as you continue to make them for me. They will be things that I cherish for all of eternity and things that I will return to you when you wish for them back." She took a step back and glanced back into his eyes, noticing for once the Life that burst through them as sorrow did hers. "You are a precious thing to this world and a precious thing to me," Marcy repeated, finishing what she had said earlier. At first, she had been too nervous to complete what she wanted to say and had left it as just him being a precious gift. Now, she felt that she was able to say what she wanted to say, more so in a way that she felt wouldn't scare him off. "You are the perfect gift you have given me thus far and it is one that I will cherish until my time has come to an end."

Perhaps what she had said was something irrational, as she hadn't quite thought through the emotion and meaning the words held. However, no matter what she said, every word that came out of her mouth was meaningful and held all of her emotions. It was what she decided to choose to do next that would define just what they were or confuse them even farther. Illogically, she stepped forward and grasped his face into her hands again, stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his. Instinctively, her lips parted, her magic taking effect as it began to draw the life force from within his body into hers. The blue light a wispy sensation as it was drawn out from his mouth, revitalizing her while slowly beginning to kill him. An irrational step, something she shouldn't have done simply because she did not have control of the succubus side of herself.

It was a delicious taste upon her tongue, as though his life force was the sweetest thing she had ever tasted and couldn't get enough of, like she couldn't stop herself from sucking him dry.

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It was hard to pull herself away from him when she was in such a state, as she just wanted to take it all from him. The feeling of his Life Force entering her rejuvenated her, refreshed her mind and even refreshed her body as well. She didn't want to let him go when Life Force was still inside of him, she wanted to stand there and drain him of it all. Yet, she knew she shouldn't and even as hard as she tried to ignore the feeling and knowledge of needing to stop, she had to. Luckily enough, it was not her that pulled away from the kiss, but it was Yazuki who took a step back from it for a moment. He stared at her as though what she had done was something she should have thought twice about, like it was a mistake. Marceline stared back at him, praying that what she had done wouldn't have ruined their friendship in any way, shape, or form.

The moment passed by in silence before he took another step toward her and embraced her in his arms unlike any other. She was taken aback by his abrasiveness, but she didn't stop him or try to push him away in order to keep him safe. Instead, she allowed for him to simply hug her and hold her there in his arms like Time would never end for them. And it wouldn't; they would continue to live on together through Time until at long last, everything in the world had passed on. Quietly, she leaned her head on his shoulder and let the tears flow more freely this time as her own emotions took control. Marceline hated feeling alone and ever since she was just a little child, she felt that she had no one in the world to be her friend. Even all the animals that came to her window would die from being in her presence and thus, she couldn't even touch them.

Marceline felt her chin picked up by one of his hands, opening her eyes so that the red irises bore back into his green ones. She had a saddened look on her face when she stared back, but the look quickly disappeared when Yazuki kissed her back. Again, this took her by surprise because she had feared that he would see her differently from how she saw him. It was not an admittance of love, but it was an admittance that she needed him in her life, no matter how much she pushed him away. Over and over, she could try to push him away to keep himself, but deep down, she knew she could not live without him. Such a strange thing to admit when she was not in love with the man before her like she was in love with the man whose soul she held captive. However, it was a truth that needed to be said in her mind and now, she could rest peacefully at night knowing what was between them.

"I am sorry for all of the things that I cause, for all of the pain that you've felt because of me," she spoke up after breaking the kiss. "Truly, I mean no harm, it is just how Death works and it is not I who is control of when someone's soul is ready to move on. Therefore, I wish to make peace with all of the wrongs that I have done to you and all of the wrongs I may do in the future." She was a terrible person from the start, killing all of those people in the most horrid ways possible, including the animals she encountered. It was all painful to remember, but they were memories that would remain there for all of eternity to plague her mind. "Life is a beautiful thing and all of the things that I have seen are so pretty that I wish to keep them all for myself." A laughter followed after her words, as though she was finding herself to be stupid and selfish over her own choices.

His words only brought more tears to her eyes, tears that she couldn't stop from flowing down her cheeks for some reason. She had never cried so much in her life, like all the pain she had felt through her life was finally being emptied out of her. It was like standing in his presence consumed her enough and enveloped her into a comforting orb, where pain could not be felt. Marceline squeezed her arms around him and nuzzled her face into his chest, dirtying the clothes he had freshly cleaned. Tear-stained streaks would be left where she had planted her face in his clothes, but she didn't care as long as he held her. If this was what it meant to be a complete circle, to feel complete and never have a missing half, she never wanted to let him go. Why did it feel like she was admitting to loving him when, in reality, she only wanted to keep him fully in her life?

But it was that craving for his Life Force that clawed at her mind and urged her to make another move to get it out of him. The bloodlust crawled into her eyes, turning her eyes completely black, even the pupils and irises were no longer visible. Black veins crept down her face to her cheeks and sharp fangs poked out from her lips as she fought the urge to attack him. Wings flared out behind her, leathery and black, with bits of feathers dangling from random sections over the bat-like structure. They aimed to wrap around Yazuki and herself, so that he was pinned in her grasp and unable to escape from her. She stood on her tiptoes again and kissed him on the lips, forcibly drawing out the Life Force from him in order to kill him. Her hands held his face captive, sharp claws digging into the flesh of his jowls as a means to keep him from fighting back.

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She breathed heavily against his lips after breaking the kiss, a sickening smile crawling across her lips as seconds passed by. A dark chuckle left her lips, growing mildly louder before dropping back down to a lower pitch and into a soft whine. Marceline pulled back from Yazuki, but her hands were pinned behind him, trapped by the dharma upon his back. The woman let out a hiss that sounded more like a snake than a human's breath rushing out from their lungs in anger. Even a few words were mumbled from her lips as incoherent, though audible, as possible to the man standing before her. Moving back in toward him, the woman tilted her head to press her lips to his neck, to feel the pulse of his Life Force inside him. Her tongue's tip poked out from between her lips and she drew a long line of saliva from his collar one to his ear lobe.

"Mh. . . but I want all of it. . . I want every last drop until your body is on the ground, drained of the Life Force it had," she murmured into his ear. "You taste so sweet, like honeysuckle; it just makes me want more and more, and I can't stop myself. . ." She smiled against his neck, kissing along the flesh, back down to the soft skin where his collarbone protruded gently. Her mouth opened partially more and she sunk her fangs into the flesh, letting the blood where she pierced flow outward. Marceline tugged at her wrists that were trapped in the dharma's spacing, her claws finding their way to dig into the metal. At her touch, the dharma would begin to rust, not enough to create holes, but enough that it weakened the armor. The taste of his blood on her tongue only overwhelmed her, to the point she wanted to suck him dry of that as well.

Another hiss left her lips as her fingertips touched the holy armor, piercing through the unholy earth her body was made of. In retaliation to the pain, the woman let out a cry, her hands going rigid until she was able to free herself of where they were pinned. Her wings unfolded around Yazuki and back to her sides, wrapping around her to keep her safe from the holy magic. "You. . . you. . . why?" she inquired, red irises flicking around the room to see what other holy things he had with him. "Why do you bring such a wretched thing in my castle?! Do you not know what it can do to those who are unholy?!" She kept herself guarded by her wings, staring back at him from the farthest distance the room would allow her to get. "Holy items, armors, weapons, whatever are not welcome in my castle; remove it, discard it, something, anything so it's not here."

Should he discard the armor upon his back, Marceline would withdraw her wings from around her body in a tangled mess. She stared at him with her abysmal eyes, the hidden pupils dilated into slits as she fought off the one thing that controlled her. Her nostrils flared and for a moment, she lost the control she had over her own magic, letting it seep out around her. It had an almost undeniable pheromone smell, as a means of being able to attract those around her to her vicinity. In a way, it was almost an attraction spell, luring unsuspecting victims into coming to where she was, so they would meet their fate. "I don't like holy things in my castle, not in a place where the holy is unwelcome and the unholy is welcome here." Marceline crept closer to Yazuki, the nearer she came being more apparent as to what her eyes looked like from a distance.

Quickly, the woman disappeared into ash again, lingering in the air as invisible particles long enough to make him curious to know where she went to. After a few seconds passed by, the woman would reappeared just a few inches from his face, her tongue drawing across his cheek. She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, letting out a soft purr of contentment, though it sounded demonic in a way. "So sweet," she murmured again, "sweet like candy, and I could suck on you all day like you were a lollipop." Her fingers trailed along his chest, playing with the folds of his robe and letting the thread begin to fall apart. What her succubus side didn't like was the inability to drain every drop of his Life Force, that it would just continue to replenish. Yet, in a way, she loved it, being able to suck it out of him and force him into submission until she was done with him.

Her fingers curled around a few of the folds and tugged at them lightly, trying to pull them off with how weak the threading had become. Another purr left her throat, one that was more contented and didn't sound as demonic as the first one had. This purr was more alluring, more intent on getting the attention of Yazuki and forcing him into doing as she asked. Perhaps this would be the next step in what she had to control, now that she had her Death magic under control. Breathing deeply, she let out a breath of air that had a succulent scent to it, almost like pheromones were attached to it. "I think I know a game that we can play," Marceline whispered into his ear, "a very fun game the both of us would enjoy." A sly grin spread across her lips as she pulled away and twiddled at the fabric tightly wrapped around his waist now.

Whether he understood what she was asking for or not was entirely up to him, and whether he would play her game as well. Yet, what she wanted was asking for a lot, but little did she know just what exactly he had done before her own intent.

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Marceline was not attracted to people because of their looks or how they treated her, or even how their personality was. In fact, it is extremely hard to determine whether she is attracted to a person or not because she doesn't have set attractions like humans. As a succubus, she was born and created for one purpose, and that purpose was to drain the vitality out of men. It did not matter if a person was the ugliest being in the entire planet or the sexiest guy that ever happened to exist. If she encountered the person, it was bound that they would end up in bed and the man would either be her eternal slave or dead. No in between existed when it came to such encounters; it was one or the other and that would be the end of it. She would go on her way when the deed was done and the man would either follow her madly in love or lay dead on the ground.

When she became like this or got into moods such as the one she was in now, she had a tendency to disregard friend and foe. Her mind wasn't focused on keeping her friends safe and her enemies at bay, it was focused on regaining energy and sapping the life out of others. In a way, it was similar to her primary magic, how it just wanted to sap the life out of those around her, regardless of who it was. It didn't work the same like her succubus side, but it worked similarly enough that she was able to work in conjunction with it. By sapping the life out of others, whether it be through sex or other means, it appeased the wanting sensation of death. And by sapping out the life force of men through sex, this was able to appease the woman's more dominant succubus side. Because of this, her demonic side and her undead side were able to live in conjunction with each other without harmful consequences.

It was strange to think that she was so many things, all of which were able to work in conjunction with each other without issues. One would have thought that with all of the things that she was, she would have had some issues hidden inside of her. To be honest, she did; she had a lot of things that were wrong with her, but a person really had to dig deep down to find them. For one, she wasn't truly any one person to begin with, she was a series of people who all voiced their own thoughts and feelings. What she felt was often not things that she felt herself because she didn't have true emotions like normal people did. The emotions that she displayed right now, were not emotions that were her own, but the emotions of the demonic soul inside of her. They were the emotions of the succubus, emotions that were out for one thing and didn't mean a damn of what she actually wanted.

She felt him rigid underneath her, frozen in time simply because he didn't know how to react to what she was doing. He explained to her that he wasn't quite certain what it was that she wanted from him, but he would be willing to give it. In a way, she felt bad about it, like she was taking advantage of him somehow and that she should stop, but she couldn't. Her succubus side had a goal and it wouldn't stop until it was either full of the Life Force or he had been completely drained. Marceline's fingers paused as they were playing with the fabrics of his robe, waiting for him to come down from his rigidness. A small shrug of her shoulders would follow in response to his words, as though she truly didn't care what he was saying. So what if he was inexperienced? A lot of the people she had tended to didn't know what they were doing either when she was with them.

For her, it wasn't the emotions that were involved in the act, it was the doing and the taking that she loved the most. And that was her succubus side taking over, the side that wanted to dominate and take control as much as possible. It wanted to run rampant as it was doing now, and unfortunately, she barely had the control she wanted over it. So, all she was able to do was bow to what it wanted and let it do what it needed to do so that it could be sated and leave her be. Marcy's fingers curled around the fabric again and pulled it completely off, letting it fall to the ground below them. Her fingers trailed along his bare chest, lightly brushing along the skin as a more animistic growl left her throat. In this moment, it was hard for her not to completely snap, throw him to the ground, and take him there, but she didn't.

What was even stranger was the years of difference between the two of them, yet it looked like two young people together as one. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, his smell causing her mouth to water and her eyes to dilate a bit in the pupils. Her tongue ran over her fangs, then she leaned forward to kiss him on the lips, pulling him down to her level rather than her on her toes. "Don't worry," she murmured to him once she broke the kiss, "I don't hurt those that I have an interest in, least of all you." And it was true, she didn't intentionally hurt those that she hung around; in fact, she tried extremely hard not to hurt them. If they did end up hurt, it was due to her magic and because of the fact she didn't have complete and utter control over it. It was Death, after all. But the exchange of words wouldn't last between the two for long before she returned to what she was doing and leading into. . .

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