"You're not really in the best condition for this, now, are you?"

"Doesn't matter. Just give it to me."

Sentenza had cornered Narissa at the door to her room. He seemed to be having trouble standing there but was pushing through it. His eyes were locked on her, as he shifted the cigarillo around in his mouth.

When Narissa didn't say anything, he pressed her more. "I know you finished something. That little demon of yours doesn't exactly keep things to himself."

"You said that it had to be done quickly..."

"Or I'd kill you anyway, yep."

"Right, well...it's not perfect..."

"Doesn't have to be," Sentenza spat out. "All that matters is it'll work."

Narissa unfastened a small pouch on her belt. She held it out towards Sentenza, but pulled it away as he reached for it.

"There's a lot of magic in a very small space in here," she whispered. "Whatever weapon fires this will probably be destroyed. That kind of technology is really out of my expertise you know, but we may have found a replacement."

Sentenza dropped his hand down and looked completely unamused. "Then give that to me too."

"You see," sighed Narissa with obvious irritation. "I still need you to do the thing for me. So, you dying because you're rushing to finish this thing before everything is safe would really hamper things for me. Get it?"

Sentenza raised his eyebrow. "I always get the job done."

"Yeah, except for that one time right? I mean, when you ended up here. Wasn't that a big failure?"

In a flash, Sentenza had drawn his gun and put it right up against her cheek. "No one was paying for that job little missy," he sneered. "It was a personal business venture that just didn't pan out."

"Like what you're planning to do here?" she said as she glared right at his eyes. "Besides, we're bound remember? No killing allowed."

Sentenza tapped the barrel of his gun against her cheek, which made her jump. He tapped it a few more times, almost like he was thinking. "Bounds are well and good, but a bullet can be pretty final for someone as normal as you. Now, hand it all over."

"Tsk. You're a real piece of work, you know that?" She complained as she put the pouch into his unarmed hand. After he had gripped the package, she reached back behind her and pulled out a square package wrapped in cloth.

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Sentenza looked down at the item, and quickly holstered his pistol. He pulled open the pouch and reached in to grab what looked like an ordinary bullet, except for a gold and silver inlay that formed intricate symbols over the casing. He lifted the bullet up and turned it around against the light.

"Careful," she whispered anxiously. "To get that to work, it has enough power in there to destroy this whole place."

"I know my way around bullets."

"Yeah, well I don't, okay? And since I was the one who made it, you'd think you would maybe realize how much of a problem that could be."

As Sentenza seemed more focused on the bullet than her, she sighed and started to unwrap the cloth package. Inside was an old revolver, tarnished with rust and wear. On the barrel was a worn inscription, non timebo mala. It was barely visible under all the wear and tear, but it was still legible. So long as you squinted a little bit.

Sentenza finally shifted his gaze from the bullet down to the uncovered weapon. He flipped the bullet into the air like a coin, and then snatched it from the air. Narissa's eyes grew wide as he played around with the unstable magic she had struggled to contain with Og'drimun.

"A little reverence would be appreciated, you know." she hissed. "I'd prefer not to die because you were careless."

Sentenza didn't answer, and instead grabbed the pistol from her open palms. He turned it over and clicked his tongue in disappointment as his eyes scoured the surface. "You know, the guys who carved into their guns always felt a bit pretentious to me," he mused. "I mean, who's going to see it? And if they did, who would care? Was it supposed to intimidate people by making it harder to clean?" Sentenza shook his head. "I suppose it's like branding, but if a man takes your gun, then what good is that? And why write it on the barrel, and not somewhere on the inside of the handle, or somewhere else more inconspicuous?"

"I wouldn't know, now would I?" Narissa sighed. "This whole mess has me more than a little exhausted you know."

"You didn't seem so exhausted when you were singing earlier. Pretty scandalous outfit as well."

"Yeah, well it's not like I had a choice, but of course I can make any outfit look good. It's about how you carry yourself."

"Makes sense." He shrugged as he shifted to hold the pistol by its barrel and tried to get a feel for its weight. "Hmm. Well Mr. Mala, your gun is pretty subpar if I'm being honest. Guess I'd rather it be destroyed than my beauty."

Narissa brought a hand up to her temple, and rubbed her head. "It felt fine to me."

Sentenza shook his head. "No, the weight is too far forward. I'll have to actually take a moment to aim this thing, unlike a proper pistol."

"Well, weight or not, that's the best option. We tried to make our own, but it was even more of a hassle. The shell kept shattering early on from the magical strain. So, I figured we could borrow one. Took some searching, but I eventually found one that could withstand the bullets. I wish I could tell you how. All I know is that that gun you're holding could withstand firing enough concentrated magic to kill a god."

Sentenza took a second look at it. "Hmm? More than it appears huh? Guess I should..." Suddenly, Sentenza started to cough and wheeze. He doubled over before his legs gave out, and he fell into a coughing fit down on his hands and knees. The pistol slid from his grip, and went across the floor of the hallway.

"Ugh, are you alright there?" she said as she tried to back away from him a little. "That cough sounds pretty nasty."

She was right. It was a very wet cough, almost like he was drowning, and his body thought coughing would be enough to protect his lungs from the water flooding in. After over a minute of violent coughing, the floor was covered in mucus and specks of blood. Sentenza wiped his mouth with his sleeve as he tried to catch his breath.

Narissa put her foot against the gun and kicked it over towards him. "It was in such rough shape, that I doubt whoever made it will miss it. Even if they do, how could they find us?"

Sentenza weakly grabbed the gun and with shaking legs, managed to stand up. He was still breathing heavily as he raised his eyes to look at Narissa. "I'm going to need you to find something else for me too. A few people need to learn a lesson, and I'd like to give it in person."

Narissa rubbed her temples as she sighed, "Who? Trizel? Sid again?"

"No, people in one of those other worlds, not here."

"You want to steal from them?"

"No, to put it bluntly, I need to go to their world to kill them."

Narissa's eyes flew wide open. "What? You want to travel away?"

Sentenza kept his hand on the wall as he started to shuffle down towards his room. "Yep. Just find a way to make it happen."

"It doesn't..."

"Figure it out."

With the slam of his door, Sentenza made sure he had the last word as he left Narissa alone in the hallway.

"You idiot," she grumbled. "Asking for the impossible again? Ugh. You have no idea how any of this works so of course you don't see the problem, but blood doesn't flow into the sky so easily."

She grunted in frustration. "Of course, you keep risking your life before getting me what I paid for. Ugh, typical."