Divina moved with the decisiveness of someone who had made up her mind long before the moment had arrived. Swiftly the dagger arced down with determination. A glint of steel shone in the darkness and it reflected in her eyes. She would see her actions through to the end, no matter the possible ramifications.

“Ahhhhhh, good! take your redemption, Storm Chaser!” Rasped the demon, a quivering euphoria shook its basso voice.

Divina felt satisfaction in her choice and a sudden release of pent up nervous emotion that she hadn’t really registered until it was gone. She let out the breath she had been holding onto, firmly convinced she was about to make the right decision. With a sharp, subtle motion the blade fell.

The girl upon the altar winced and in futility tried to turn her head away from what she expected to be the pain of a mortal blow. She waited for the hot sting of the slicing blade. Instead, she found that the blade had loosened her bindings and she could breathe a little easier. The enchanted knife moved through the ropes with a strange ethereal fluidity. Then in the same sway of motion, the Paladin turned to the demon as the severed ropes slackened and she drove the blade deep into one of its emerald eyes, right to the hilt. It ignited with holy fire as it made contact with the demon’s unholy flesh, illuminating the shocked expression of Askathstral and the defiant look on Divina’s. She stared with rage into the demon’s remaining eye, her own eyes filling with burning tears.

“If she wishes redemption, demon,” A newly formed steel edge had found its way into her voice, “then she shall find that redemption in every day she lives from this moment onwards.”

“Ahhhh, What are you talking about?!” The demon screamed as it pulled away from the burning silver blade. The weapon clattered to the floor as it fell from the beast’s, now empty, eye socket.

Divina rounded on Askathstral once again drawing her sword and bellowing the holy words that would cause her weapon to explode with beautiful, crackling tongues of silver lightning. She lunged towards the demon with all the ferocity she could call up from her fatigued spirit. Blows sent sparks of energy cascading among the corpses. They crackled with every attack that hit and caused the demon to move or be struck down. Striking again and again she began to push Askathstral back down the aisle between the rows of seats with her fanatical ferocity.

“You know little of the true nature of things, demon.” She screamed as her blows rained upon the creature. “Redemption must be earned in the work of a life, it cannot be taken by the infliction of death. This girl will have every opportunity under my watch to prove, before Audrashni, that she has truly repented for her actions.” She forced the words out through panting breaths as she descended on the demon.

Askathstral screeched in confusion as it desperately resisted every blow thrown at it by sheer force of will. The lightning from the weapon danced from the blade to the fiend, and with elemental ferocity tore through its very physical being. Electricity rending skin and bone, feathers and chitinous armor from the beast until it had no choice but to open wide its leathery wings and with a single beat, retreated into the rafters of the ruined building. It landed on huge talons that gouged into the great wooden beams that served as the structure's skeleton.

“You mistake me for a simple priest, demon, and that will be your undoing.” Divina’s words had authority and divine power that had not been heard in that building since it’s foundations were laid. Divina looked up to the rafters as the demon’s poison tipped tail swung to an unnatural stop.

“Ahhh you god-warriors are all alike. Full of pious rage at the things you can’t control in others but full of your own lust and greed. You use power you don’t understand, from a source you can barely fathom. How are you and my witch-child any different?” Askathstral let out a low laugh, full of mockery. The demon's claws rippled and dark power swelled in the room.

“The girl and I are exactly the same. Looking to change this world for the better. Using what we have to help others. But you are nothing like Audrashni—” she began.

Her words were cut off as she realized, to her horror, that the corpses of the villagers had begun to surround her, moving around her like rotten-flesh covered puppets. In a matter of seconds the hands of the dead had completely covered her body. They clawed at the unsuspecting Paladin with lifeless hands and decaying fingers. They gripped her arms and legs, pulling at her clothing. Though not one of them was strong enough alone to hold her still, there were hundreds of grey-fleshed hands constantly flailing and grasping all over her body. With a start of terror, they enveloped her and pulled her into the center of the crowd where she disappeared amongst the mindless horde.

There in the sea of grey, pallid flesh panic overwhelmed her mind. She kicked and struggled and screamed. But her blows connected to body parts that no longer felt pain. Her struggle found no purchase to push against and her screams became muffled among the mass of writhing limbs.