Time stopped for her. All of her focus and attention were guided towards the firm and violent hand grabbing her wrist. She did nothing but watch as the hell surrounding them vanished. She felt a power congregate into the man's fist as it flew towards her.

She could have reacted. She could have slammed into his head with her free hand. She could have flipped and dodged. She had all the time in the world as she observed the killing blow inch closer. Her authority made sure of that.

But her thoughts weren't being spent on the man in front of her. Instead, they were going to a man who had long since perished. The one who instilled fear into her heart, the one who had tormented her for eternity, the man she called father.

Memories rushed forward as the tool of her demise clashed with her neck.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

In the distant past and on a lonely hilltop, far and secluded was a house. The house Alicia called home. She was born there and lived far away from civilization with her parents. Her father would occasionally go to a not so nearby village for clothing and the like, but they mostly survived off the wild and nothing else. She was happy then. Her father would ever so often have a breakdown and start yelling, but she figured that that was normal and overlooked it, no matter how scary it was when it happened.

Her mother, on the other hand, didn't appear to feel the same way. When Alicia turned twelve, her mother left in the night without a word to either of them. Alicia cried her eyes out, and her father, her father, just stared at the wall with hands gripping each other so tight they turned pale.

His outbursts became more frequent, and now they were always accompanied by beatings. No matter what Alicia did, how she did it, she would, without fail, be prosecuted. By Alicia's thirteenth birthday, she had already gotten used to the almost daily trouncings. But one day, she bled in a different way than usual. Her pants were ruined, and for some reason, she felt scared. Instinctually she felt the need to run, to go far away from her father even if it meant braving the wild.

Her attempt to escape was quickly culled. Her father, her captor, bounded her and put her in her room. She had no means of escape and no means to defy what he did next. She didn't know what he was doing to her, but she still felt despair; she felt pain.

Every day following, she was forced to experience a repeat of that night.

An endless hell.

He would untie her only in the act. Every other moment of her life was spent with rope constricting her. Her meals were force-fed to her. She would always try to fight back, but her small physique coupled with her diet and exercise made the outcome each time clear. His hands would hold her wrists with such strength she would bruise, and she would cry out.

His punishments only got worse as time dragged on. If she cried, she was hit. If she lashed out. If she didn't eat. If she made a mess in her room. All these actions resulted in being struck.

The limbo that was her life drudged on in the same way for seven years. Most people would have succumbed to this situation. Even mighty people put in the same position would break but not Alicia. As time marched forward, her resolve sharpened. Her hatred grew, and her patience continued to last.

On the eighth anniversary of her mother leaving, Alicia's father had gotten exceedingly drunk. A rare occurrence considering how far the nearest bar was and how little money they had. After the usual routine, Alicia lay down on her bed, defiled, awaiting the ropes to be placed once again, but to her surprise, they never came. Instead, she heard the soft snores of her most despised person coming from next to her.

With shaky legs, Alicia walked over to the next room and found her father's ax. He had left it inside due to the winter weather being exceptionally awful this year. She held it as if to inspect the holy relic that would end her suffering.

Alicia found it hard to walk forward with the heavy tool. She ended up dragging it along the floor, making a noise that most people who have watched horror movies would know quite well. But when Alicia came face to face with her tormentor, a surge of strength came through her. The ax lifted with ease, and she swung down.

His eyes burst open as he looked down at the tool lodged in his chest. He looked up and saw his daughter's eyes. They were filled with a fury that could never be sated, but there was something in there as well, something that scared him; pleasure. She had enjoyed that swing, and with little effort now that the adrenaline was bursting through her, she lifted the ax and swung again.

Then again.

Again.

Again.

Wet and sometimes hard sounds reverberated through the room as she repeatedly dropped the tool on him.

Hours passed, and when she left the room, she was drenched. The prison she had been held in for several years was now painted over so much that one would have a hard time telling that the room was meant to be brown.

Without thinking, she drew up a hot bath using the fire her father had made and washed for the first time in years. Soon after, Alicia walked out of his room wearing baggy clothes meant for a man. All of her clothes were filthy and had less than desirable memories attached. She opened the front door of their hut and was met by the elements.

A winter storm surged on, but she did not care. Staying in that house was the last thing she desired. Feeling that she had no other choice but to leave, Alicia set out into the blizzard.

She had no idea how long she wandered. Was it minutes? Hours? She couldn't tell, but her body had begun to burn, and she had long since lost the sensation in both her ears and hands. A smile formed with her lips. She would die on her terms in her way. Her end had come, and she was content.

"How do you do?"

A single voice cut through the wind and snow. It was lulling and relaxed but somehow had an edge to it. Alicia desperately tried to find where the voice was coming from before turning and seeing a hooded figure. Danger pricked her skin just from looking at them.

Her smile grew wider.

"Did you perhaps not hear me? Oh, is it because of this storm?" With a wave of their hand, the storm ceased.

"h-hello..." Her voice could barely carry any force behind it. But that's what you'd expect from someone who hadn't spoken in a few years.

"Hello!"

The person didn't seem to mind, or at the very least, care. They waved before walking closer to her. She instinctively backed away. The action caused the person to stop as well before taking off their hood.

"Don't need that on if the storm is over!"

The stranger was a man, but what worried her was the mask he bore. She was told stories when she was younger about demons and their signature masks they wore.

"...are you a demon?"

The man stared at her through the mask for a moment before responding. "I suppose, but arent we both?" Confusion spread across her face. "I mean, what else but a demon would do that to her father?" The tone he gave no longer carried the fake cordiality it once did. Now it was full of sarcasm but still had the light air of friendliness somehow. "Nothing to say?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"How did you know?"

"I saw."

He replied instantly as if what he was saying made perfect sense and was reasonable.

"What do you want?"

Alicia asked bluntly. She was sure that if the man didn't have a mask on, she would see him smiling.

"I have come to make an offer to you. You... are perfect! You are the very personification of an idea!" His emotions overtook him, and his arms trembled as he gripped himself in a hug. Very soon after, he calmed back down. "You are the one I've been waiting for, and for this reason, I have come here in my own flesh to make an offer."

Alicia's eyes narrowed, and she went to scratch her cheek, but her arm wouldn't move. Looking down at it, she saw the signs of severe frostbite. She imagined that if she could see her ears, they would look much the same. Noticing her gaze, the stranger waved his hand. A wave of black something washed over her, and the frostbite was gone.

"...!" Her eyes widened as she looked at her wrists. The marks that had adorned them for years were now gone without a trace. "What kind of offer?"

Alicia absent-mindedly rubbed her wrists while the man clasped his hand together. "I want you to become pride. Become my pride and fulfill your dream!"

"Pride?" She paused, thinking before continuing. "What dream?"

"Can I ask you something? Are you... angry?"

"Yes."

"Who are you angry at? It can't be your father; he's already long dead, so who are you currently angry at?"

Alicia stood there for a while, contemplating her answer before firmly responding. "The world."

"And why is that?"

"This world allowed that man to torture me for years. A world that lets people like him go unpunished for their crimes, a world that forces the victim to save themself, a world like that doesn't deserve to exist. We would all be better off not living at all rather than in a world such as this."

A clap resonated through the air in the mountain. "Exactly!" He pointed at her while exclaiming excitedly. His hand rumbled around inside his cloak before pulling out two things; A book and a finger. The book was large and full of thick pages. Meanwhile, the finger was blackened and mummified. Its appearance would make someone think that just touching it might turn it into dust.

"What are those?"

"These, my disciple, are the tools you will use on your very long journey! This book will be your law, your guiding light, your hope, your purpose."

He pointed the book at her and waited for her to take it. Gingerly she grasped the end of the book and pulled it towards herself.

"And this is your future! With this, you will become pride!"

"How am I pride?"

He stopped and just looked at her. "Are you stupid? For years you put up with that suffering! All the while, you didn't cry, you didn't moan, you didn't speak! You kept to yourself and waited, waited for the perfect chance to strike back. You chose to cling to life just to have your revenge against that bastard. Then what do you do when you have it? You immediately leave into a blizzard without any sort of plan just because you can't stomach the idea of staying in that cabin anymore! If that isn't the definition of pride, then I don't know what is!"

She was speechless but yet she didn't move to take the finger.

"Do you want to never again suffer?" His words were quiet and alluring as if he was peeking into her inner thoughts. "If you take this, I promise you that no one will ever touch you again."

Her hand quietly reached out and took the finger.

"From now on, you will be known as Hybris!"

"..Alicia Hybris. I will never forget who I was."

The man chuckled and shrugged. Without warning, he turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait! Who are you?"

"Me? I am known as Nachash though most people call me Sin."

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

She remembered everything in the moments that she flew through the air. Her head bounced off the ground as the man in front of her breathed heavily, smoke and steam billowing off his body as if he were on fire.

Her neck was undoubtedly in pieces, but she still breathed. Her thoughts did not end, and her life carried on. Inside, an uncontrollable rage churned.

'Again! It's been a thousand years! Why? Why is he still ingrained into me?'

Her mangled body slowly rose from the ground. A broken neck would at the very least paralyze someone, but Alicia was Pride itself; she would not go so quietly. Fueled by the same animosity she had been holding onto for a thousand years, Hybris, the sinner of pride, stood once again.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rory walked towards the city, clutching his chest. His chest burned, and he felt his heart squeezing. "Is this what I get for drinking all the time? Do one bit of exercise, and I start having a heart attack."

........................

Rory stopped as a body rose off the ground behind him. 'That's bullshit!' As Rory turned around, he once again prepared to face the incarnation of pride.

Her body seemed to move just fine, but there was no mistaking the bits of bone sticking out. Nor could you ignore her head being forever off tilt. Blood dripped out of her mouth, and Rory found himself staring into her eyes. In them, he saw anger that made his blood turn cold.

"How the fuck are you still moving?"

Rory talked just to hear the sound of his own voice. He didn't think she would respond.

"My authority, Untouchable, allows me to move as I want no matter what. Even if it betrays the laws of this world, I can move without consequence. A broken neck makes no difference. You should have smashed my brain in." Hybris spoke ordinarily, but her demeanor still screamed that danger would soon be upon Rory.

"Then your price must be that you can't use magic. And since you can't use magic, you have zero defense, just insanely high evasion. That's overly convenient; your low defense doesn't mean anything if no one can hit you in the first place." The skill he used had definitely been powerful but not enough to turn a neck into dust. Using this fact, Rory speculated her weakness.

"Of course it's convenient. I chose it myself, after all. Although all things considered, I could ask you a similar question. How were you able to use that skill when you hit your mana limit?"

Rory answered without faltering. He was never one to hide things and figured her knowing about it wouldn't change anything. "My blessing overheat allows me to burn my own body as fuel for my mana so even a magician like me can keep going once I run out of the traditional stuff."

"That's all? Thank goodness, I was worried it would be something troublesome."

A gruesome smile that radiated malice smeared itself across her corpse-like figure. Her hand drew the dagger she had put away at the start, and she began slowly making her way over to Rory.

"You know, I'm already dead."

Rory blinked twice, not knowing how to process the information. Basking in his confusion Hybris continued speaking.

"My neck is destroyed. Even if I can still move, that doesn't change the fact that the wound you inflicted will end my life. I believe it will end in about a few minutes." Hybris stopped moving and brandished her blade. Her voice shook as she started yelling. "First I'll kill you, then I'll work through every single person in that city! Starting with the ones you love! I'll do it all before I die! Rest in hell knowing that you killed everyone!"

Pride no longer stood in the same spot. She was now flashing her dagger through the air, and Rory no longer had two arms.

"Cahannam." Hell surrounded them once more, and once again, Rory reached out with his hand. His body was covered in heat as more pieces of skin fell off into ash.

Hybris paid no mind to Rory's hand as she slashed away. Rory's left eye was victim next, then his stomach. A cold piece of steel entered his leg before stabbing his lung. Still, his hand moved, and as it touched her arm, Hybris cut it off.

"So long!" Tired of prolonging it, Alicia's dagger made its way into his heart. The hell around them disappeared. A wild smile stuck itself on her face as she watched Rory fall to the ground.

"Have you realized yet? That you're fucked." Rory's words were garbled and hard to understand as he barely had enough energy to say them, but all it took was Hybris noticing some strange light. She took one look at the sky to understand the sentiment behind his statement.

In the sky, over the entirety of the field they were in, was a magic circle. Runes lining it were being slowly filled in, and only a tiny sliver remained. Once those runes were present, the spell would activate.

"HOW LONG!?"

Internally Hybris cursed herself for in the entirety of their struggle to not just simply look up. Her leg kicked off the ground, and with speed closer to light, she raced toward the city, carrying her hope outstretched in her hand.

Meanwhile, Rory lay on the ground, dying. His thoughts were oddly tranquil as the spell above him neared its completion.

'Meridith.'

His loving wife. She was always there to keep him on the straight and narrow. He couldn't count how many times she saved him just by being there and how many times she had saved him in the literal sense. His life had gotten so much harder when she passed. His drinking became more frequent, and his job became much duller.

'Rosey...'

The little delinquent he had spent so much time raising into a proper young lady popped into his mind. He thought of her as crass, impolite, and downright infuriating most of the time. But despite all that, he could not deny how his heart warmed when he saw her. Every day she looked more and more similar to her mother.

'Jong...'

A quiet boy, with an exceptionally big heart. Rory had found him clinging to Rosey the day he came to take her away. He had refused to let go and spouted how he wanted to go where she went. Much like Rosey, he was an orphan without a proper home. Rory had simply just adopted the both of them at the same time.

The spell above carved the last letters into itself. Rory looked up at it and incanted, despite not needing to at all. "E.N.D."

'Meredith, Tulia, I'm coming...'

The hand of god crashed into the earth below the circle. A light that could erase anything pierced the ground and shook the area to its very core. On the very edge of the attack, Hyrbis chucked her book. It flew into the city as Pride disappeared into the light. Her body turned into particles even baser than dust, and Alicia Hybris was no more.