Refer back to the previous post for how demons work.
So, stereotypical story, Man goes out for some errand for his lord/king/war and is successful and lauded for his efforts. He comes home happy to his castle after being away for months or years, some long span of time. But he finds his lands laid to waste, his castle on fire, his people dead, his wife and family dead, and a demon sitting pretty at the head of the table, in his spot.
Enraged he attempts to attack the demon but he is not a Hero. And the demon pretty much laughs at him. Poor lowly mortal. You have such valor though, such pride. I see those medals you are wearing. You have slain many men, haven't you? Not quite sinful though as it was your duty to do so. How boring. But your anger is appealing. I want to see what you can do with it. Here, I'll give you a Gift. And the demon does and explains that a sacrifice must be made to unlock it but if he chooses a good sacrifice he might even have enough power to destroy the demon and take his revenge. Of course the demon didn't give him that much power for the gift. Just enough to get a small boost for when he returns as a new demon. And the demon leaves in a flash of flames, showy exit.
The man leaves his ruined lands and gives up his title, selling his medals for the gold to use for travel. He wanders, the Gift burning in his palm. But the man is a good man. He doesn't want to sacrifice anyone. Those he would feel the least about, like outlaws or criminals, wouldn't give him enough power. But he can't raise his sword against the virtuous or an innocent. So he just travels, unsure what to do, lost, without a home.
It's on these travels that he finds an inn at the far shores of the land. There he meets a woman who reminds him of his late wife. He's not going to ruin the memory of his wife, but he can't help but to keep talking to her. He stays at the inn for months with this woman, doing nothing more than talking but he finally doesn't feel empty. He learns her life story, almost as sad as him. Terrible plagues ravaged her lands and killed most of her people and family (probably the work of another demon) and left her with the fatal disease. She doesn't seem to be contagious and she's lived longer than she should have for one reason or another (she's a Hero and very virtuous, the demon's sickness has a hard time taking her down). But recently it has gotten worse, she doesn't have long to live.
He tells her of his story, of the demon and his lands, his wife and children, of the revenge he seeks and the dilemma he faces with the sacrifice for the Gift. She pities him, understands his pain, understands he need for revenge for the heinous acts done on his family and people, understands his dilemma, but offers a suggestion. Let me be your sacrifice. He denies it.
She lets it go and together they stay at the inn, slowly falling in love, a love born from pity but one that is a salve to their hurts. But her condition gets progressively worse. She lives in pain and it is breaking his heart to see someone else suffer like this.
Let me be your sacrifice.
He accepts. He uses her as his sacrifice, killing her with mercy as a virtuous, Heroic, volunteer sacrifice.
Now usually a Gift is activated with sin. But this wasn't really a sin. Instead of giving him dark power from the evil of the demon and the sin, he becomes angelic. The Gift is multiplied a hundredfold. He basically has the equivalent power to the demon, instantly. But it's good holy power for the most part, still tainted slightly from his war exploits, his anger and thirst for revenge, and the original evil of the Gift, but the woman's sacrifice is the strong majority for the rest of it.
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