Splinters of bones went flying as she removed her leg from the hole she had kicked into the High Priests body, and she took a single step forward, then another and another, she went slowly, deliberately making sure every step she took was accompanied by a squelch of blood.

The woman meanwhile, was simply staring wide eyed, completely frozen by fear and unable to even muster up a scream as she saw this blood covered monster slowly approaching, the intent clearly visible behind those crimson eyes. 

It was only after she was grabbed by the throat and dangling in the air, that she truly started to struggle, flaying her arms and legs in a desperate attempt to get this thing off of her, but the only thing this desperate struggle resulted in, was Hanna squeezing just that tiny bit harder on her throat, making it harder for her to breathe.

A humiliation, she had been trained by elite warriors handpicked by her father, the only action she had appreciated he had done for her, and had spend multiple times sparing with her husband. She had been no warrior by any metric, but she had seen battle, and to be so easily overpowered and scared into inaction was truly a humiliation.

It was a new taste for Hanna to experience, and while she definitely didn’t dislike it, it simply couldn’t compare to unadulterated dread and despair, a spirit and mind broken by those were what Hanna was truly after, and as Hanna thought of all the possibilities she could harness to break said spirit and mind, her eyes had begun to wander and she soon spotted three very familiar children, resting in the grassy fields before her, and a truly deliciously dreadful idea sprung into her mind.

Remembering what that hero had told, she pulled who she now certain was these brats mother closer to her, before forcefully smacking her downwards, forcing the woman to her knees before and making her yelp in both surprise and pain, and spinning her around forcefully, before resting her head upon the mother’s neck, making sure to adjust her position to they both had a perfect view of the children.

"Do you see those little brats over there, I had told them to stay put until I was finished with some fun on my part, before I could play with them, and do you know what they did? They ignored what I had told them and tried to stop me from having my fun. Such misbehaving children just have to be punished wouldn’t you agree~?"

Hanna got no response, only heavy breathing and the mother attempting to stand up and escape, Hanna promptly pulled her back down by the back of her clothes, before grabbing the woman’s head with one hand, while keeping the other very close to the back of the woman’s neck, her claws nearly millimetres away from piercing the skin.

Using her hand atop the head, she forced the woman to nod, before snickering to herself.

"Why I just knew you would agree, a good mother such as yourself surly understands and agrees with the notion that misbehaving children simply must be punished accordingly, but just how am I supposed to do it? Maybe flaying off their skins before dunking saltwater onto them? Maybe cutting off their legs before forcing them to crawl through the thorny vines of the nearby forrest? Or how about pulling every single teeth they have before sticking razor sharp blades into their mouths as replacement~?"

And that was the last strain that broke the camels back, and in burst of rage and anger towards this creature subjecting her family to this torture, a bright red light exploded outward from the mothers body sending with it a massive shockwave, something Hanna wasn’t expecting nor prepared for and it send her flying backwards.

Hanna hissed in pain, her entire body feeling like thousands of tiny needles were piecing her skin again and again, with smoke coming of her body and multiple spots on her body showing clear signs of being burned. Looking up, she was greeted by the vision of the mother, now constantly emitting a flaming glow off her body, as well as sporting now two extra long, blood red horns atop her body, with two large, black bird wings sprouting from her back. The unquestioned sign to be a demon of the royal blood line.

In her face was no longer any fear or dread, only hatred and the fire of determination Hanna hated with an all consuming rage. Hanna‘s face dropped and she growled before standing back up, while a gust of wind constantly blew around her followed by the sudden appearance of a black cloud, from which a ghastly voice rang out, though Hanna didn’t seem to care.

"The master will soon begin her carnage!! Ohhhh we can’t wait to see what carnage the master will unleash upon this world!! Hihihihihiihhii~"

"I promise you will not harm anyone ever again you wicked beast! I will not allow you to do so, and I will make sure your dead body be scattered into endless pieces in the endless abyss I will now send you into!" He voice sounded regal and powerful, befitting of one who should have inherited the throne of demons had she not abandoned such ambition a long time ago.

Hanna, laughed in response, the cloud of darkness coalesced right above her head and released a similar ghostly laugh into the wind.

"Your husband told me much the same things you are doing right now dear! What makes you think you are actually able to stop me, while he could not, and had to suffer a slow and painful death, knowing he couldn’t stop me. Knowing he had failed to live up to the promise he had made to his family, that he would protect them and keep them safe."

For a moment the demon‘s brave and determined look seemed to fade, a single moment of doubt crossing through her face, her fist unclenched for a moment, and her new imposing wings shrank back a few centimetres.

It was fleeting, barley more then a second, but it was all Hanna needed, it represented an avenue to attack and break her down, rip that facade of bravery off her was and reveal the horror and dread it was hiding underneath, Hanna knew it was there, she had already tasted it, and it had been taken away before she could take a real bite.

But just as she was about to continue, someone interrupted her.

"I-I will n-never le-let you ha-harm m-my FAMILY!!"

Suddenly there was a weight atop Hanna’s shoulder, in her confusion Hanna turned around and was met with a man she had just described to be dead, a man that was supposed to be dead, and yet there he was right in front of her, blood dripping from his face, while much more had already dried and was now adorning his tattered clothes and arms, most prominent however, was that one of his eyes was no longer there, an empty socket greeting Hanna instead.

The man was breathing heavily, exhaustion and overwhelming pain clearly etched into his facial features, but there was also that flame once more.

In her utter shock and confusion as to how the hero she had injected with deadly poison was now standing in front of her, she failed to notice what he was carrying in his hand that wasn’t currently resting on her shoulder, and before she could do anything else, much less speak the mocking words that had rested on her tongue mere moments ago, a pain unlike any she had ever felt overcame, as with a mighty cry, the hero raised his sword and drove it through her stomach.

Black blood spluttered everywhere, burning through anything it touched, including the man still holding onto the sword, he refused to let go, no matter how much the acidic blood burned away his skin.

Hanna meanwhile released a scream of unmatched agony and rage, the pain completely overtaking her mind. Her claws surged forward, desperately trying to remove the sword and the man still holding onto it, but no matter how much she slashed and flailed her arms around, no matter how much of her blood burned away at the man’s body, he refused to let the sword go.

Then without any kind of explanation, the sword began to emit a golden glow from its blade, engulfing Hanna’s body in its blinding light, slowly the pain seemed to fade from Hanna’s body, she thought that maybe, she could survive this, she had dealt with death before and he had declined to collect her before, but as Hanna tried to move herself away from the hero, so she could simply remove the sword herself, she found she couldn’t move her legs at all.

Hanna looked down and complete and utter horror engulfed her entire being, as she saw her feet had turned to stone, and that her legs were following suit. She screeched in complete panic and horror as she realised what was happening and desperately tried to move her legs and break through the stone that was slowly encasing her, but the more she struggled, the faster it seemed to get and soon her hips were starting to turn to stone.

Realising that this was the end, and there was nothing she could do to stop it, rage and anger overtook her once again, and with a rage filled cry she looked into the hero‘s face, he was barely holding his eye open at this point, clearly mere moments away from collapsing. Hanna grabbed his head with one arm and raised the other.

"YoU WiLL Not GeT THe SaTiSFActioN yOU PaTHetIC WoRM!"

She brought her claws down, and pierced the man’s other eye, but much to her frustration, there was no pain filled scream of anguish, no anger and no sorrow in response, all she could taste was satisfaction and complete acceptance and tranquillity.

With a final scream of hatred, she tried to throw the man to the ground, but at that point her arms were starting to turn to stone making the throw far less effective than she had hoped it would be and as her body was almost completely turned to stone and she could feel her face and head rapidly turning as well, she tried to curse this family one final time, curse this hero, his demon wife and the bastard children that were responsible for all of this.

"I wILl KiLL YoU AlL yOU CURsEd BaSTer-…"

But the curse fell short as her mouth turned to stone, followed suit by her eyes and ears.

In the end a small ghostly whisper rang into the world, as the dark cloud dissipated into nothingness and it‘s dark streams were blown away by the wind.

"the master shall returrrrrrnnnnnnn..."

And then, there was silence at last.