A seeming infinity of seconds later, the sea of lifeless bodies parted at its centre and out from their ranks they passed the Paladin, her limbs outstretched to the point of breaking. They held on, pulling her taut as the demon, now convinced of its safety, descended from its perch among the rafters. She struggled, all the while yelling long forgotten northern curses from her childhood, that eventually gave way to nothing more than a single, drawn out scream of burning defiance. That scream turned to sobs of deep hopelessness. Great gasping breaths and wails rose up that mirrored the witch-girl’s, still prostrate on her ritualistic shrine.

“Ahhh, are you done?” Askathstral gloated. “Then we shall continue to the final ritual.” The demon beat improbable wings once again and swooped towards the altar. Its wicked tail snaked and shifted closer towards Philippa’s shoulder blades, hovering over her heart. She lay hopelessly still like a lamb about to be slaughtered. “Ahhh Philippa, my faithful servant. I’m sad to say that our previous arrangement has, unfortunately for you, come to an end. Thanks to this Paladin, I must now devour your heart and soul. It is nothing personal, but I am forced to take your whole body as this one will not suffice for much longer. I feel I should inform you that this will bring an end to our pact.” The demon moved its head down, a fowl grey tongue protruded from between its needle sharp teeth. Demonic flesh caressed the young girl's forehead drawing an abyssal sigil that glowed briefly with a flash of hellfire. “The idea of redemption never sat well with me.” Askathstral shifted its tail up to strike at Philippa’s heart. The venomous stinger slid through the air in a serpentine fashion and hung ready to strike and kill.

“Get up, Philippa! Fight it!”

Askathstral glared at Divina as she began to yell again and she felt the hands pull harder smothering her words into a yelp of pain. She fell silent but to Divina’s surprise, Philippa’s hysterical mumblings had turned to the words of a common liturgical prayer, one that she too had recited as a child in the temple.

“Audrashni, preserve me.” She began, “Audrashni, walk beside me. Be my shelter. Be my guide as I walk in the darkest places. May I serve you in all that I do.”

She repeated that prayer again and again as the demon raised its tail, tipped with a razor sharp sting and vicious looking barbs, higher into the air. Without meaning to Philippa had turned onto her back to see the creature. It’s shell reflecting and distorting what little light was left in that broken room. Something in the quiet prayer had bolstered her resolve. This time she intended to face her demise head on.

The witch-girl’s face suddenly contorted with shame as Divina heard the end of her prayer. Not a traditional part of the prayer but sincere and honest words nevertheless. “— I gave my heart for power.” She confessed. A moment of pure tension hung on those last few words and then she added in quiet solemnity, “Forgive me.”

“Wait!” Cried the Paladin. “Take me instead.”

The demon's head snapped back toward Divina. Its singular emerald green eye narrowed in contempt. “Ahhhh, I will take you as well Paladin. Break her sword arm.” Askathstral idly motioned to the undead. “If she interrupts me again, tear off her right hand entirely.”

Several of the hands grasping her right arm moved at once all together and then a sickeningly loud crack reverberated around the hall as the bones in Divina’s right wrist were snapped in two.

She let out a shriek of pain and felt her consciousness slip away for a second until several of the undead thralls took a hold of her dark curls and pulled her head back with such force that it brought her screaming back to reality. Fully aware of the pain and hopelessness she could do nothing more than wait and pray in the darkness.

“Ahhhh, watch now Paladin. Don’t look away. This is what the futile nature of your mortal notions of hope and redemption gets you.”

With those words the demon’s tail dropped onto Philippa's chest with deadly accuracy and speed.