The shadow beast let out another shriek, as it started slowly circling around Thoren. The man twirled the silver sword in his hand, and matched the pace of the creature.

- I know you feel really powerful right now, but what you see is a second generation demon. - Said the voice. Thoren could feel that the voice was hesitating, as if not certain whether he should force the youth to run or not.

'Second generation? What does that mean?' Asked Thoren in his head, trying to read the moves of the creature, but the ever-changing shadow was constantly throwing his eyes into disarray. Sometimes the demon seemed to have four legs, then six, then three. Sometimes it's jaw was here, then there, then nowhere. The longer he looked, the more disoriented he became.

- They each have abilities. - As if knowing that Thoren didn't understand, the voice continued it's explanation. - Think of it this way. That werewolf you just fought. It relied only on it's physical traits... Now, picture that same werewolf, but able to control the same power that flows through your veins. That's what standing before you.

Thoren froze. He barely won against the werewolf, and he pulled all his stops then... Young man still vividly remembered the feeling of being ripped apart by the shadow beast at the first hell. Roots of fear started to dig into his mind, slowing his moves and throwing his thoughts into disarray.

- FOCUS! - Screamed the voice, and Thoren quickly refocused his attention back to the monster, but it was already too late. All he could see was shadow, enveloping him from all sides. Soon, black claws emerged from before him, and tried to swipe at his head. Thoren's eyes narrowed, as he noticed the speed. They were almost too fast for him to react!

'I thought you were enhancing my senses!' Screamed Thoren internally, throwing himself back to avoid the claws. But behind him, another appendage emerged. Thoren threw himself on the ground to avoid it, only to realize another set of claws was slashing at him from above.

- I am. - Replied the voice, making Thoren's heart skip a beat. - This speed is the most you can handle right now. Any more, and you'll end up braindead.

- I'll end up regular dead if you don't do something! - Screamed Thoren out loud.

Thoren put power into his arms, and swung the sword at the claws. His arms grew numb from the strike, and even though he was using the power to enhance his arms, he almost failed in deflecting them. He quickly put power into his legs and threw himself at the shadow, slashing with his sword to try and break out of this encirclement, but as he stood back up, the shadow was still there, seemingly never ending. Thoren felt tingling at his eyes, and heard the voice again.

- There, that should be marginally better.

Suddenly, Thoren's eyes lit up, and started glowing with cold red flame. His vision changed, penetrating through the shadow in an instant. He could clearly see the beast's limbs all around him. After a quick count, he could see seven limbs. Six were ending with claws, while one was equipped with the horrendous maw he saw earlier.

As the voice said, this was marginally better, as it gave Thoren more time to react, but it didn't help much. He dodged another swipe, and tried hacking at the limb itself, but when the sword connected, it felt as if he had hit a rock. He received his first wound, when a claw tore off a chunk of his leg, slowing him down. Each claw he couldn't dodge, he tried to meet head on with his sword, and each strike would leave him weaker. The shadow seemed to drain warmth from his body, it tried to go into his eyes, stinging them. After deflecting a few more swipes, his hands started trembling involuntarily, his grip on the sword waning as time went on.

Then, as he dropped to the floor to dodge a claw swipe, he finally noticed a spot where all the limbs converged. He saw a pitch black globe with a bright orange circle inside. He was looking at the huge eye of the monster.

- STRIKE! - Screamed the voice, but Thoren was already in the air, having put all of his remaining strength into upwards momentum. Nobody would let such an obvious weak point go after they saw it. The creature's pupil shrunk, as it felt danger for the first time. It sent it's appendages to hack at the body of the human, but all it managed to do was knock the sword a little off course, as it pierced through the side of its eye.

Thoren suddenly found himself flying through the air, as several appendages slammed into him at once. He fell out of the smoke shroud, and tumbled on the ground several times, before stopping at a body of the ogre Goat slain earlier. The fire at his eyes flickered in and out, and finally gave out, making his vision normal again. In the distance he could see the monster thrashing about in it's shadow. Once the ringing in his ears subsided, it was immediately replaced with an earsplitting shriek of the beast. He tried to get up, but his body refused to move.

- You have a very minor case of spine damage. Don't worry, I'm working on it. - Said the voice, and when Thoren focused, he could feel the strands of power reconnecting the neuron connections, as well as mending his other wounds and bending his entire skeleton back to the way it was supposed to be. Thoren looked around, but couldn't see any of his companions. Once he focused however, he could make out faint war cries of the approaching army, getting closer and closer with each breath.

Finally, with healing complete, Thoren stood up, albeit weakly, and picked up his sword. Somehow, the silver thing was glued to his hand when he was set flying, only detaching itself when he stopped at the ogres body.

His opponent also seemed to have recovered. It's shadow, however, was completely dispersed, showing off it's hideous body in all it's glory. The eye of the beast was slightly deflated on one side, and bright orange liquid was slowly oozing out of the wound, making it look like the creature was crying.

Slowly, one leg after another, it moved forward. No longer intending to give the human any chance at retaliation, it marched with one goal. It wanted to kill. To crush. To tear the human that hurt it limb from limb. If anything, it seemed that the wound made the creature even more dangerous, as it no longer underestimated it's opponent.

Thoren tried to steady his grip on the sword, but he no longer had the strength to. His body felt like it weighed a tonne, and no amount of healing could fix his tiredness in such a short amount of time.

'So this is how I die... Again.' Chuckled Thoren. He wouldn't just let the monster kill him, but he no longer had the strength to defend himself. The beast was just toying with him earlier, it's last attack conveyed that well enough.

- You are not going to die... Ah, screw it... I suppose we don't have much choice now. - Said the voice in a serious tone. - You are going to do as I say. I am going to briefly take over your body, and you are going to let me. Listen closely.

The voice conveyed to Thoren a short list of instructions on how to perform something he called a "Hijack". It basically made Thoren's consciousness briefly pause, being able only to observe the action, but not interfere. Then, the voice would take over Thoren's body.

- Be careful. I am not in the best condition right now. If I get knocked out, you'll have to finish it yourself. - The voice warned him.

Thoren nodded, and fixed his grip on the sword. He made a few steps forward towards the beast, and he clutched his chest with the other hand. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, and then he searched deep within him, until he found again the two crystals at the core of his being. The amount of red power swirling within him decreased substantially, allowing him to see the white crystal clearly. He connected his heart and the white, cracked crystal at his core. And then he recited the words the voice told him to recite, as he slowly felt himself losing touch with reality.

<Soul of the Gatekeeper, Hijack>

***

Grim felt his being stretch out to fill a physical body once again. He inhaled the energy-rich air of hell wave, and exhaled slowly, opening his eyes. In front of him was a lowly second generation demon, methodically marching with it's eye fixed upon the human that harmed it. Grim sneered. To think that this small fry would be his equal. How low had he fallen?

Grim opened every pore in the human's body, trying to get as much energy into himself as he could. His arsenal was not really designed with power efficiency as a priority, and most of his regular tricks were out of commission. His soul was still barely holding together after all.

But it was okay. Grim weighed the sword in his hand. He put his other hand on the red crystal, and then sucked out the remaining magic power inside the weapon, tossing it aside afterwards. He had no need for such trinkets.

The beast, seeing it's opponent seemingly give up, suddenly charged, and within a second was by the human. Grim raised his head, and stared into the bleeding eye of the demon. Suddenly the demon lunged at him, four limbs ending with sharp claws reaching his body in a split-second, but when they arrived, they hit nothing but air.

The monster stopped, disoriented, and then felt a power fluctuation on it's right. It turned, only to see the young human throwing one of it's torn off limbs on the ground. At the same moment it understood what just happened, a wave of pain finally made it's way to the demon's core. It opened it's jaws to scream, but found itself unable to. Another wave of pain hit it, as it found only a clean cut where it's maw was supposed to be. The beast saw red.

Grim shook his hand, forcing the few drops of orange blood that stuck to his palm to drop to the ground. He sensed an incoming attack, so he once again tried to use a short range teleport, called blink, but was unable to. Quickly checking his magic power stores, he found them nearly depleted with just these few moves. Grim sighed, and bent his body to avoid the swiping claws, but soon found himself dodging another, and then another one. Grim bent, twisted and turned his body to avoid the blows. Even though he was faster, he found himself drawn into the monsters pace.

As he found his resources shrinking even more, he steadily started to move closer to the eye. He had to deal the killing blow before something gave out. If he lost his grip on Thoren's body, it would be cut into shreds instantly. If he were to find himself out of magic power, his speed would drop substantially, leading to the same outcome. And finally, the young man's body was not in the best condition right now. If it gave out at a crucial moment... You guessed it. Human confetti.

Grim steadily advanced, getting closer and closer to the eye, but as he did so, he put himself in a position that made him unable to avoid every attack. Three claws were flying at his body. He jumped, turning his body to dodge two of three limbs. he covered his hand in magic power and caught the third one with his bare hand.

- Irritating. - He mused under his nose, spreading his power to cover the entire appendage, and he pulled on it, tearing the limb clean off. The creature squirmed in pain, wanting to scream but not being able to. This moment however was all it took for Grim to seize initiative, and punch his hand into the creatures eye. He felt the claws haphazardly tearing at his back and legs, but he couldn't give up now. He was at the brink anyways.

His arm went in deeper, and he grasped his hand around a small solid object inside the eye, and then yanked it out. As soon as he did however, he felt something crack inside him, and his consciousness shut down.

***

Thoren opened his eyes, just to see an enormous eyeball centimeters from his face. He threw himself back in fright, and fell on his back, screaming in pain. Every cell of his body screamed in protest, his mind feeling like it was split into a million pieces. But he was alive. And the thing before him was, without a doubt, dead.

'We did it! Grim, we did it!' Thoren thought to himself, having learned the voice's name in the short while when Grim was in control of his body. However, he was only met with silence. - Grim? - He asked, but still without answer. Then, he heard a voice near him.

- He will be fine. He's just asleep. - Noid was standing above Thoren, looking at the dead demon.

- Goat never should've let this thing near you. Even with my brother's help, you're lucky to still be in one piece. Well... - Noid paused, looking at pieces of Thoren's back and legs mixed with the blood of the beast on the ground. - ...mostly in one piece. - He turned his face back to Thoren.

- Sleep now. The battle is already over. - The gatekeeper waved his hand, and the youth's eyes immediately closed, as he was sent into a deep sleep. With a snap of his fingers, Noid conjured a green, leafy cocoon that enveloped Thoren. The cocoon immediately began repairing the damage Thoren sustained during the wave. It flew through the air behind Noid, as he started walking towards Goat and his men. The army of warriors spent the entire battle killing monsters to get through to the five of them, and were cleaning up the remaining demons, now that they knew Goat was safe.