Druella ran through the stretching halls of the palace Lescete, said halls pulsating like flesh at the beat of an invisible drum. She pushed herself through endless doors, leading to room after room with no exit in sight. Behind her, faceless mamono of all races chasing after her and behind them, the head of the red hood stretching out from a never ending darkness. His sunken eyes were staring into her soul and his unhinged mouth touching the floor as if it was a portal to the abyss with his beard dragging behind.
The longer she ran, the more torn the halls became. Windows became shattered revealing an inky blackness behind them, chunks of the floor fallen away leaving behind bottomless pits. When Druella flew over those pits, the mamono who could not fly ran straight first into them. However, when Druella got to the other side, she saw a new mob of faceless mamono climbing out of that pit to pursue her.
How long has it been? It felt like hours. There had to be an exit somewhere! She had to escape this nightmare!
Suddenly, a dark skeletal hand rushed out from one of the shattered windows and reached to grab one of her wings. Then, right when the hand grabbed said wing, it turned into a set of jaws that seemed as though they were stained in dark oil before clenching down and consuming the wing with an agonizing crunch. And then instantly, the hand drew back into the abyss.
Druella screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, but she kept running. She tried to ward off the hand, but she could only do it for so long before slipping up. When Druella used magic to fully leap across a pit, the hand lunged up from that pit and consumed her other wing with two bites.
She stopped running through the current hallway and quickly turned to one of the doors and reached for the handle. But the moment she did, the hand burst out from where the handle was and ate its way up her harm. Druella roared in more pain as she fired magic at the hand to push it off. It flew backwards into the abyss, but the damage was too much. Her left hand was now nothing but a stub.
The succubus had no time to waste however, for right behind her the faceless mamono and the Red Hood were soon upon her. She ran through the now endless bedrooms before finding herself in another hallway.
There was barely any land to walk now, only small platforms to separate her from the abyss. She made due, but the walls disappeared. It was like she was a fly trying to get across a great lake in the dark of night. But in the distance she saw a door floating in the abyss ahead of her. It was the only place to go, for all other paths led to an endless fall.
She leapt and leapt, casting away hand after hand and fending off flying mamono that caught up with her. With every moment she hesitated, the closer the red hood got to her, and the more she could feel its breath on her back.
With one final push she lunged at the hovering door. She used her magic to destroy the door, revealing a normal hallway with the exit of the palace at its end. She was so close! But then right as she landed, two hands rushed from her blind spot and ate her legs.
Instantly she fell to the floor, bleeding everywhere. But, she did not give up. She reached out, trying to concentrate on a teleport spell. However, the moment her hand was fully outstretched, a hand burst through the floor and tried to consume it. Druella grabbed the hand by the wrist and began to wrestle it across the floor. It slammed her against the wall and ceiling and floor repeatedly, but she didn't give up.
Something began to stir in Druella's chest and she roared in defiance, using magic to not only break the bones of the hand but also to squish it so hard it was severed from the rest of its body. There was no scream, but the now nub of an arm retreated back into the abyss, the severed hand melting into a black liquid.
Druella tried to catch her breath, but the moment she looked up, she realized the faceless mamono were right in front of her. She tried to send them off, but they all collectively restrained her and forced shut her mouth. She was getting dizzy, it was getting hard... to think.
The mamono turned Druella around to face what was behind her; but the Red Hood was nowhere in sight. From the darkness, thousands of hands stretched out from it and towards her. Once again a burning sensation rose in her chest as her hand shook with rage, she forced her hand free and with a spell sent the mamono back and began cutting apart the hands one by one.
"LEAVE! ME! ALONE!" Druella yelled. Hand after hand fell dead to her wild frenzy. When the mamono tried to restrain her once more, she fired back at them with magic missiles, killing them dead as they turned to ash. But Druella could only do so much so fast and in an instant, a hand came from the ceiling and at her left arm in one gulp before slinking away.
The mamono instantly restrained her again and had her face the darkness; this time choking her; the Red Hood appearing and slowly walking towards her. His face was emotionless, empty, dead. His sword, covered with blood. And with his other hand he carried the corpse of her general before unceremoniously dropping it in front of itself and walking over the corpse.
The heat in Druella rose again as it got closer, "I... hate... you. I hate you! I hate YOU! I HATE YOU!" She yelled repeatedly, each shouting getting faster and more furious. The Red Hood raised his broken sword like an executioner as Druella shouted, "DAMN YOU!'
Then as the Red Hood swung his blade, darkness overtook everything, even Druella's vision.
"Oh my," Croaked an elderly woman's voice, "Could it be? A descendant of mine after all this time... has hate in her heart?"
The voice laughed like that of a groaning door, "Oh, but that hate can be so much more! I wonder..." A face appeared in the darkness. It was an elongated skull with skin tightly covering it. Its nose and chin made it look like a crescent moon with pointed ears. It had no lips, only a smile of teeth that were like that of a dragon's true form and coated with stains of crimson blood. Its hair was white, long, and oily, with large patches of its grey scalp visible. Druella could smell the reek of death from it, "Are you the one I had hoped for?"
Druella awoke with a gasp, breathing hard as she felt a dry cloth padding her sweating forehead.
"Another nightmare, miss Druella?" Asked her shaggoth maid Cellis.
"Yes." Druella replied in a dry voice.
"How much can you move today?" Asked Cellis With a grunt of pain, Druella looked down and tried to move. But, all she could muster was the shaky movement of her right arm and hand, "I still find it odd, master. According to our healers, you should be able to walk by now."
Cellis reached towards a mana potion that was atop the cupboard beside Druella's bed. When Cellis was about to aid Druella in drinking it, Druella stopped her and forced herself to drink it on her own. Her hand shook frantically but managed to clasp that glass bottle. She almost dropped it, but Druella managed to carry it back and drag it towards her own mouth and drink from it till the potion was empty.
"There is nothing scheduled today. So if I may ask, what activity would you like me to help you with today? Would you like for me to read to you? Or would you prefer another ride through the palace?"
"I'd prefer not to have you read anything today," responded Druella. The princess found Cellis's reading relaxing, but she did not want to go to sleep again and see that any time soon, "I would prefer a ride through the palace."
With a nod, Cellis carefully lifted Druella and placed her upon the wooden wheel chair, its old cushions making Druella feel comfortable as a sense of peace drifted over her. Here she could at least move in some way and not be bedridden as Cellis pushed her along.
It was going through different halls that were not of Lescete. Hall that had ends, halls that did not stretch infinitely with things wanting to kill her. It was a palace of joy and pleasure, not fear and despair. That much was certain with the cries of pleasure from some of the rooms she rode past.
Mamono in the halls would bow at the sight of her, which at first made Druella feel good. However, every time she looked, she saw that look of pity in their eyes and she hated it. She hated being pitied, hated being seen as powerless.
Suddenly, in the twinkle of an eye, Druella noticed someone was walking beside her. His skin was pale yet fair, his dark clothes elegant and decorated with fine linen, and his hair white. Upon his back an ancient great sword, its blade chipped at the side and stained save for its silver tip and the upward curved crossguard slightly deformed. It was in terrible condition, and yet even now the blade looked majestic on her father's back.
"May I?" Asked her father, gesturing with his left hand towards the hands of the wheelchair.
"Oh, yes father, you may. Leave us Cellis," Cellis nodded and slid away.
"I see you're still recovering. How long has it been?" Asked Druella's father as he started pushing her wheelchair through the halls.
Druella counted the days and nights in her head before responding, "A month now."
"Hm, odd," mused Druella's father, "Your mother is hoping I can convince you to stop with your ideas of killing this Red Hood."
Druella frowned, "Nothing I said back then has changed, I still believe the Red Hood should be killed. It cannot be saved."
"It?" Her father chuckled briefly, "I thought you said nothing changed. You used to call the Red Hood a him."
"The Red Hood is not a person, it's a monster."
"Your mother is afraid, that is all."
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Snapped Druella. Instantly her eyes widened what she said and she silenced herself. Never had she spoken like that to him. Thankfully her father was patient, but she still felt terrible at how she yelled at him.
Her father sighed, "Have you heard the phrase that a bad apple spoils the bunch? Your mother and I have worked hard to rid the mamono of their desire to slaughter, but it's still there. Buried deep down in the corners of the mind. She is afraid that if you begin killing, if you focus on that hatred, that you will cause a domino effect. Not to mention that we would possibly... lose you forever."
"She is afraid of what would happen if I sought justice? The Red Hood cannot be turned. If we do not kill it, it will kill us. Why am I the only one who sees that?"
"I too agree with such a motion. But, if you go down that path, you would possibly be undoing countless years of work we made to show that mamono are no longer monsters from past ages. Not only that, I have good reason to believe if you go down that path, you will not stop."
The two arrived at a balcony with a great view of the castle town below and the tentacle forest further beyond it. A small grin formed on her face as she saw happiness through this land, with demonic energy causing the very air to glow with a beautiful light. The smile faded as she knew she did not want to see anything destroy this sort of future for the world. A new question came to Druella who turned to her father and asked, "Then why don't you stop it?"
"Because it is no longer in our hands," he said bluntly.
Druella's heart stopped with a painful thud as she stammered. "What?"
"The gods have captured the Red Hood in Zipangu."
"So they will execute it? Ending this once and for all?"
Her father shook her head, "No, they have told us that they cannot kill the Red Hood. Poseidon killed them, and... they still are alive."
They killed it and yet it lives? That felt odd to Druella. Anything under the right conditions could die, even gods. That had to have been a mistake. But even then, even if it is true, justice had to be done, "They should still torture it with pain and break it till it forgets it can even move."
For the first time in a long time, Druella's father snapped back at her. However it was not like how she would imagine her father would snap at her. He did not yell or shout, instead his voice was stern, hard, slow, and careful in what they said, "Druella, do not mix justice with sadism. This is exactly what your mother was afraid of."
"I only speak of what would be justi-"
Her father cut her off, "Tell me, do you reel with joy at the thought of giving the Red Hood an agonizing death in vivid detail?"
Druella didn't say anything for a minute until she simply replied, "It's what it deserves."
"We must be better than those who came before us. Remember that, Daughter."
Her wheelchair was turned around and they went back inside the palace. Once again, she was taking a stroll through the halls. "I have one more question," asked Druella.
Druella could feel her father raise an eyebrow as he asked, "Yes?"
"When you and mother took the throne and fought the chief god, why didn't you kill the chief god? You slew the demon lord after all."
Her father pondered the question long and hard before leaning in, "The Demon Lord had to die, there was no changing that. But, to tell you the truth, Druella, I have wondered that myself. I have wondered how many lives would have been spared if she was dead. If your mother had not stopped me from dealing the killing blow."