Exam

The mages and archer had snuck into the sanctuary in the back of the church. Aktheus had not been lying; it was in a sorry state of disrepair. But it would stay up for one night, and that was all they needed. None of them slept well, so loud were Sister Monica's cries of lust and pleasure. The acoustics of the church didn't help either. The reasons for their insomnia were varied, however. While Rebecca was simply annoyed and Marianne shocked by what the formerly-chaste sounding nun was saying, Sagus was using his focus to prevent himself from visualizing what was happening. Not wanting to imagine Aktheus' nude form balanced out being more open to seeing Sister Monica's. Sophie, meanwhile, was thrilled by the nun's pretty voice saying such profane things. She wondered if she could pleasure herself quietly enough that the others wouldn't notice.

When morning came, Aktheus knocked out an up-tempo tune on the door. He entered without waiting for invitation. Marianne shrieked, but Aktheus paid it no mind. He wasn't entirely sure why she had even made the sound, being fully clothed and doing nothing unsavory. Instead, he sat down by Rebecca and asked to see the arrow. She wiped the crust of an hour's sleep from her eyes and handed it to him as she mumbled a threat about what she would do to his head if he tried to steal it. The priest examined the arrow and handed it back to Rebecca.

"Well?" she asked.

"This arrow was made by 25 mages of light. Its power to destroy evil beings is perhaps the strongest I've seen, and it is able to increase the user's accuracy with it by around 10 fold. It will also likely produce light in dark places and the point is crafted by masters. Is that all you needed?"

Sagus sat up. "No. We need to know if its powerful enough to kill Arakarin."

"Arakarin? I guess then that i don't need to give you many supplies. If he is your target, you'll all be dead within a week."

"You give awful encouragement, priest," Sophie said.

"Perhaps not, young alchemist, but I give the truth. This arrow will make short shrift of any demon, and Arakarin will be unable to ignore it. But it will not kill him."

Marianne looked at Sagus with worried eyes. All of their hopes had been on that arrow, and now those hopes were dashed. As much as she wanted to think Aktheus didn't know what he was talking about, she couldn't convince herself of it.

"Sagus, what will we do? We were depending on that arrow," she said, almost in tears.

"Could it be made powerful enough?"

"I'm afraid not, or at least not by me, nor anyone else that could be reached within a year from here. Only three beings can make it powerful enough: Stradi the Genocidal, who i imagine is less than helpful to humans; Utoness, who will not assist in killing, no matter who it is; and Lady Fate, who dwells in the void beyond life. Other than that, your arrow must remain as is."

Without thinking, Sophie blurted out "What about more mages of light?" Rebecca looked away as Sagus answered.

"Arakarin killed them all."

Sophie paused to give Rebecca an apologetic expression for bringing that up before continuing. "Well, then, what about other kinds of mages? Sagus, you're a mage, aren't you? Can't you do something?"

"No. If I try to infuse any element other than light into this arrow it could destroy it."

"It COULD destroy it. It could also work!" Marianne knew how quickly hope was slipping away, but it hadn't escaped completely yet.

"Theoretically, yes. It could. _If _I knew which element is safe. But I don't know that."

"Dammit! There must be something we can do! I don't like sitting on my ass while that son of a bitch goes around doing whatever he wants. We need to do something to this arrow and put it in him fast!"

"Patience, pretty alchemist. If we cannot enhance this arrow, perhaps another would have the same effect."

Sagus thought about that. "I suppose it would. And if there's no fear of destroying the arrow, I can do it myself. It wouldn't be as powerful, but the opposing forces may be enough!"

Marianne clasped her hands. "Ok! Lets do it!"