Elnor's first shot arced across the sky with the bzing light of the twin infernos wreathed around her arrow and its ephemeral copy. Sarai gasped and admired the sight as the projectiles soared across the hundred yards or so of open field before smming into the demon with the force of a ballista. The original arrow was stopped dead in its tracks as the demon hardened its flesh against the lone projectile, but the ephemeral one tore through it in a fiery, gory mess.

  A hole at least two feet wide was carved straight through the writhing mass of bck flesh, but on a creature easily thrice the size of Cinder, this hardly mattered at all. It was hundreds of feet wide, and at least a dozen feet tall at the highest point. They couldn't truly grasp the whole mass of the creature, since they could only see the leading edge it presented, but the impressive wound Elnor had given it looked positively dainty in comparison.

  In the time it had taken Shiloh to assess the efficacy of the first shot, Elnor had loosed a half dozen more. The four hundred and fifty point boost to her Finesse was allowing her to move so fast, the others had a hard time following her arm as it snapped forward and back, over and over.

  While Elnor attempted to empty her bottomless quiver, the others got into position. Twil was busy casting... something. Shiloh didn't spare the brainpower to contempte which of her spells would be of use against something so massive. He handed his Wand of Minor Healing off to Katerine, and drew out his Staff of Ice Spikes. Both were tremendously under-powered for this fight, but they were better than sitting around doing nothing.

  Their front liners assembled a loose half-circle between them and the demon, with Beck taking up point with her enormous defensive stats. Ara stood to her right, with Viktora to her left. Sarai pced herself to the left of Viktora, and shifted from foot to foot, as a runner before a sprint would. With any luck, the lumbering mass of demonic force would prove too slow to keep up with them, and they would be able to distract it away from Chattery.

  Elnor continued raining fiery ephemeral arrows into the demon as their group slowly backed up and to the right, steering the demon westward. At first, Shiloh thought they would go unnoticed. Slowly, though, the demon began altering its course to give chase. The downside to the fire arrows was their inability to sever flesh. They burned holes through it just fine, but the holes began to close up after a minute. Without bdes cutting the weakened flesh free, she was simply deying a slow and inevitable defeat.

  "We need a change of pns!" Elnor shouted as she fired. "This isn't going to kill it unless I get lucky and hit the heart!"

  "Alright, we're going to have to focus on the extremities, then." Ara said as she came up with a contingency pn. "Viktora, Sarai and I will advance on the left in preparation to cut off whatever you wound. Stay safe, don't take risks. We can always shoot another arrow and swing another sword, but we've only got one life and I don't pn on giving mine to this snot rag. As soon as we have a piece cut off, we haul it to the side and hope the fucker doesn't reattach it before it dissolves."

  "If we have any access to acid damage, that will significantly speed up the dissolution." Sarai commented.

  "Would it be more effective to just always use acid, then?" Elnor asked as she stopped firing for a moment.

  "Not any more effective than fire, and acid won't stop the heart if you get a lucky shot." Sarai replied evenly. "The heart has to be burned with fire to purge the demons from the flesh. Acid damage will simply be regenerated."

  "Alright. Fire to separate pieces, acid once we have them severed." Ara said. Elnor nodded, and the front liners began to close the distance with the demon.

  Their tactics worked fairly well, all things considered. Within a minute, Elnor had loosened up enough of a massive portion of flesh that Viktora and Sarai were able to flit in like ghosts and chop the remaining strands connecting it to the main body. The lump became inanimate as it fell away, so Beck and Ara were forced to drag it out of the demon's reach before it could reconnect, then jump aside and let Elnor's acidic arrow fly past. The result was spectacur. The moment that the bck mass was exposed to the acid, it began melting like an ice cube in hell.

  ***

  The fight was not a fast one, Shiloh noticed. After the first minute, he was forced to be very judicious in flickering his buffs on and off to avoid wasting too much Lust. When they moved in to cut apart and haul of demon parts, they got the defense buff. He didn't bother with the offensive buff unless it looked like the demon was trying to encircle them.

  Darkness fell in earnest as they continued kiting the demonic mass to the west. They were blessedly able to see quite well by the light of the fire surrounding Elnor's arrows. The demon lost more and more of its body as the night wore on, but Shiloh could tell that the extended fight was taking its toll on his allies. Though they didn't take more damage than he was able to heal, they were slowing down as fatigue set in. The stray hits from the demon were beginning to come more and more frequently, and Shiloh estimated they were only about a quarter of the way through it. When he pointed this out to Twil, the mage simply nodded.

  "We will need to finish it in one fell swoop, but we have to weaken it as much as possible first. If it survives our trump card, all of Chattery will be at risk."

  Shiloh called out during a lull in the action, and Ara came running back to them. Panting, the Berserker bent over to catch her breath before addressing him.

  "We can't keep this up forever." She said angrily. "I'm shocked at the amount of damage we've already done, but we are exhausted up there, and I'm sure Elnor is going to have some seriously sore shoulders and elbows tomorrow."

  "That's what we were discussing." Shiloh affirmed. "We need an all-out attack that will put this thing down for good. I just don't think my Aphrodite's Favor is going to do enough damage by itself."

  "Future Strike." Twil interjected before Ara could pn something out.

  "What?" Shiloh and Ara both looked at her in confusion.

  "My single offensive spell." Twil arched an eyebrow. "I make temporal nces and phase them out, then recall them ter. The more time they're phased out for, the more damage they deal. I spent nearly my entire mana reserve creating them when this fight started, and they've been waiting for the st couple hours."

  Ara and Shiloh's mouths fell open.

  "That's brilliant!" Shiloh finally gushed, hugging his Mistress and decidedly not lifting her from the ground.

  "Where are they?" Ara asked, all business.

  Twil pointed in several different locations, but Shiloh and Ara saw nothing.

  "I d-don't think a-anyone b-besides you c-can see th-them, T-Twil." Katerine observed.

  "Oh! I suppose that makes a bit of sense." Twil mused. "Well, they're hovering around me at the moment, waiting to finish their trajectory in the direction I aim them."

  "How far do they reach?"

  "I'm not sure. I threw them pretty hard, but not in any kind of an arc. I think I will need to get somewhat close to the demon for them to all be effective."

  "Okay, stay back here until I signal. We can go for a bit longer, and we need to get this as weak as possible before we spring the trap. On my signal, Twil will join us on the front line and unleash her Future Strikes, Katerine will dump her mana reserves on whatever is going to do the most damage, then Shiloh will activate Aphrodite's Favor and we'll see if we can't uncover the heart for Elnor to burn through. Keep aiming at the rgest part of the thing that you can." When the backliners nodded, Ara rejoined the front and helped Beck drag yet more demonic flesh away from the abomination.

  They spent another three hours hacking pieces of the demon, reducing it to nearly half its original size, which was still half of a literal army. Shiloh had burned through five thousand Lust already, but it had done more good buffing and healing his allies than it would have as true damage. Their patience and slow track was rewarded with the knowledge that soon, this would be over and they would be able to rest. Eventually, the summoning cry from the front line came.

  "Twil, now!"

  The mage rushed forward, aided by Shiloh's offensive buff, and closed with the front lines in short order. She positioned herself behind Ara and Beck, with Viktora to her right and Sarai to her left. Shiloh transferred his Empowering Pool onto her, and she glowed with a faint, blue light as she summoned up her magic. The spears suddenly materialized all around her, obscuring her from view behind what looked like twoscore of the ethereal shafts and bdes. With a shouted command, they mobilized and blew through the demon with such force that enormous portions of it were bsted away from the main body. Katerine's spell immediately followed.

  Thick sbs of demon meat crashed into the ground around them, and the main host writhed in agony. It let out a bloodcurdling scream from a mouth they could not see, and thrashed around in a tantrum at the sudden shock and loss of so much matter. It shed out at Twil, but her Foresight saw the strike coming. Her allies dove to the sides, but Twil stood her ground, unfazed.

  She activated Deyed Satisfaction, and Shiloh got the briefest of gnces at Sarai's horrified, revolted, and slightly intrigued expression as Twil screamed an ungodly orgasm to the heavens before spraying load after load on the ground around her. The massive tentacle the demon had shot forth to crush her with simply bounced off, but it was severed by Ara and Viktora before the demon could withdraw it.

  What none of Shiloh's lovers had seen was the second strike coming in at an angle. Sarai noticed it a split second before it connected, and the air around her and Twil shimmered for a moment before the two swapped pces. Twil was safe, but Sarai was batted like a slow pitch baseball hit by a major league slugger. The olive-skinned beauty flew more than a hundred yards through the air before smashing into a boulder and crumpling to the ground, unmoving.

  "No!" Shiloh, Twil, Elnor, and Katerine all screamed. At their shouts, Beck, Ara, and Viktora looked to see what happened. Their distraction nearly cost them their opening, and it was only Ara's commanding voice that saved the day.

  "Gods dammit Shiloh, FIRE!" She screamed at him.

  He whipped his head back around and saw that the demon's flesh was already starting to repair the damage Twil had done. He quickly focused in on it and called up his Miracle. The Lust he had remaining, along with the Lust released from Twil's Deyed Satisfaction, was unleashed in the most magnificent beam of pure, white light they'd ever seen. It lit up the surrounding countryside almost all the way back to the city walls. None of them could look at it while it devoured ravenously the feast it had been directed at.

  When the light finally cleared, they saw a smoking, twitching field of bck goo with a rge, red, pulsating mass exposed in the middle. Elnor immediately fired three arrows at it, and the inferno burned through the heart of the demon with a popping sizzle and the disgusting smell of burnt feces and hair.

  With the deed done, they stood and stared at each other in shock. They could hardly believe that their ploy had worked, that the army arrayed against them was finished, fallen and broken at their hands. There should have been cheering. There should have been congratutions and smiles and cps on the back for all their hard work. Perhaps there would be ter, but now there was just numbness. The day was theirs, but it was a long, hard-fought victory.

  Ara, Beck and Viktora slowly made their way back to the others, and the seven of them cautiously approached the boulder that Sarai had been tossed into. There was blood smeared along the surface of the rock, and Shiloh had to stop from retching as he saw the unnatural angle her limbs were bent in, as well as the back half of her skull that had been smashed in.

  "I can use Lesser Resurrection." Shiloh managed to choke out.

  "N-not when s-she's l-like this." Katerine mumbled, resting her head on Shiloh's shoulder and leaning into him. "Her soul would return only to depart again. She needs a healer."

  "I'm pretty sure she's dead." Shiloh looked confusedly at his Artillerist lover.

  "Healers heal the body, living or dead." Twil expined. "When someone dies, their soul parts company with their body. The body can still be healed, and must be if such traumatic damage was done to it, if you wish to return the soul to the mortal realm."

  "Could healers make the bodies move about without a soul?" Shiloh asked nervously.

  "That is necromancy." Twil stated, grim-faced. "It is a most despicable magical art, and requires that the souls not return to their bodies to allow the caster control over them. The truly evil necromancer will not only kill people for his army, but harvest their souls and either destroy them or trap them, using their power to fuel some kind of monstrous experiment."

  "Oh." Shiloh could come up with no other suitable answer for the response he definitely asked for, but didn't want.

  In short order, they had fashioned a stretcher out of two long poles Ara had called her "adventuring sticks" and several bnkets. They moved Sarai's body onto the stretcher and, with the three moons of Glitnir high overhead, began the trek back to the city. Shiloh, Katerine, Ara, and Viktora bore Sarai, while Beck lead the procession and Elnor and Twil followed in the rear, eyes peeled for any further danger.

  Their slow slog back to civilization was unimpeded until they came within view of the sentries that had been set up by the forces still waiting at the gates. Shiloh could hear the commotion begin as soon as a cry went up announcing their return. Thousands of boots tramped hither and thither as the fighters assembled shifted further out of their way. Shiloh was acutely aware of their faces following the procession as the Apostles passed. Shock, disbelief, and awe were all present, but the dominating feature was grief.

  Upon seeing their dy ying dead on the stretcher, a great cry went up among those assembled. The natives of Chattery were distraught beyond measure; apparently Sarai was very popur among the general public. The foreigners to this city, however, were weeping as well. The eight brave souls who took the demon on alone had spared all of them the horrifying memories that would haunt them for the rest of their lives, but at the cost of one of their own.

  To them, Sarai had died a hero. For them, Sarai had given her st full measure of devotion. Many heads bowed, many knees were taken, and countless tears fell. Shiloh and his girls were not interrupted. Beck only said that the demon was dead, and ignored the other questions asked. The rumor mill would have the full story eventually, but Aphrodite's Apostles were striving to make it to the Pace healers while they had strength left in their limbs. Twil eventually took over for Ara, as the Berserker looked like she was about to colpse, and pced the handle of the stretcher on her shoulder, allowing the others to walk normally.

  The adventurers insistent on showing their loyalty or admiration formed a sort of honor guard behind them, turning their pilgrimage to the Pace into a parade. A cheer went up here or there, but the solemnity pressing down upon all of them quickly stifled it, especially when Sarai was seen by whomever had thought to celebrate. Through the streets they marched, drawing more attention from civilians who peered out of windows or stepped onto porches to see the return of the heroes.

  Shiloh didn't feel like a hero. He had done what he was able, as had his lovers. They'd bested a force that should have been out of their control, that was true, but it did not leave him with a sense of accomplishment. Not yet, anyways. He only felt drained, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. What he would give to feel Aphrodite's embrace right now...

  Soon. The whispered word and scent of wildflowers whirled around him for a moment, and he allowed himself a small smile, which quickly faded upon hearing the most recent cry.

  "Sarai!" Hans' strangled utterance tore Shiloh from his musings, and he saw that they had finally arrived at the foot of the steps to the Pace. The Viceroy was running down them at top speed, unfathomable grief and anguish etched into every single line of his face.

  "Sarai! No! No, no, no, it can't be!" He wailed and tore at his shirt, pulled on his hair and pounded his breast in misery.

  "Viceroy!" Shiloh said with as much force as he could muster. He thought he sounded weak and trembling, but Hans ceased his mourning even though his eyes wouldn't leave his wife's body. "I can restore her soul to her body, but only after your healers fix her."

  The reedy, weeping man hiccuped and looked at Shiloh with a mixture of confusion and hope. "But... I thought... you have a resurrection spell?"

  "Yes." Shiloh sighed. "But it must be done without dey. Your healers will need time to fix her, and the spell has to be finished no ter than one day after she died."

  Hans looked at Shiloh in wonder and fervent thankfulness before he stepped to the side, motioning up the steps as he dried his eyes. A page met them halfway up the stairs, and the viceroy sent him to wake every healer in the Pace and send them to the foyer. By the time the exhausted futanaris had reached the top with their fearless leader, the healers had been assembled. One of the strange beds Shiloh had been pced on was present, and they carefully moved Sarai to it.

  Then came the hard part. Waiting. Shiloh sat up against a wall, joined by his harem of warriors, and the group dozed in and out of consciousness for the next couple of hours. Shiloh was unwilling to retire to his bed only to be interrupted while he tried to sleep off this travesty of an outing, and his lovers were unwilling to be parted from him after the battle.

  Hans did what he could for them, which was quite a lot, as he was the viceroy. Cushions and pillows were brought out, along with water, wine, bread and fruit. None of them ate, but they all partook of the wine except for Shiloh. His work was not finished yet.

  Finally, after hours of healing, the beckoned for him. Shiloh got slowly to his feet, plodded over to the bed with heavy steps, and looked down at Sarai's body. If he hadn't seen the damage she'd suffered, he never would have known that she'd been killed. She just looked like she was sleeping, like all she needed was the breath of life breathed into her lungs.

  Shiloh reached out and touched Sarai on her breastbone. He closed his eyes and began the complex incantation for the spell. He still didn't know what the words meant, but it came as naturally to him now as it had when he'd resurrected Viktora. Hans stood nervously to the side, and the healers watched curiously from behind him as Shiloh finished the incantation.

  There was a brief moment of stillness. A serenity born not of peace and calm, but of hopeful expectation. The desire for restoration swept through them like an invisible wave and, as it abated, a rattling breath echoed throughout the entrance. Sarai's eyes fluttered open, and she slowly blinked, looking up into Shiloh's eyes.

  "You..." She whispered. Shiloh smiled, and activated Fast Healing.

  The healing infused her with strength, and she sat upright. Hans rushed in and crushed his wife in a desperate hug. They murmured and wept and embraced each other, their most prized treasure, returned to them. The rollercoaster of emotions inflicted upon the unsuspecting couple was enough that they never noticed their honored guests leaving the hall.

  With their work completed, Shiloh and his lovers slipped past the pair of them and headed for the chambers allocated to them. Their walk was silent, save for the cnking of armor and weapons echoing through the stone corridors. Piece by piece, weapons were vanished and armor was doffed as they walked. Eventually, only Beck's armored legs and feet were left, as she couldn't remove them without stopping. They finally made it to the room, pushed their way inside, and locked the door behind them. Beck removed the rest of her armor, and the lovers colpsed into one another on the enormously spacious bed. Without so much as a word to one another, they surrendered themselves to the sleep beckoning for them.