Gusion's ears were ringing as he felt the weight of rocks on him.

He remembered talking to Lesley and Tigreal about something-Lancelot was there too-and then he remembered the loud boom.

He staggered to his feet, dislodging bricks and saw that the front door, along with half the living room, had been obliterated, and a figure in purple was walking through.

Gusion's head snapped up as he saw Dyrroth storming through the front door that had been blasted open.

"Does this guy never give up?" he snapped, flashing his dagger out.

Lesley staggered to her feet and Dyrroth's foot snaked out, catching her perfectly between her ribs, knocking the wind out of her.

Gusion roared and went at Dyrroth, who sidestepped and shot a leg out, tripping Gusion before hitting him in the back with the razor.

Lancelot stood up and saw the wave of monsters that Dyrroth had brought with him, and went to work, slashing and cutting at them with his blade.

Tigreal shot out from beneath the rubble, pushing through monsters and slamming into Dyrroth, taking him back until Dyrroth ducked and Tigreal staggered back, dropping his shield and drawing his sword, before a Fire Golem yanked him back, and Tigreal was hurled out of view.

Dyrroth stalked over towards the staircase, and Gusion hurled a light spike at Dyrroth, who grabbed it and shattered it.

A crosshair symbol appeared over him and Gusion let his magic fill him, sprinting towards Dyrroth at near light speed.

Dyrroth headbutted him and kicked him back but Gusion lunged again, hurling out five magic daggers that pierced Dyrroth's chest.

Dyrroth roared and Gusion saw the razor before he registered the feeling of weightlessness beneath him and his back hit the staircase as he saw stars.

Dazed, he lifted his head just as Dyrroth pounced, his feet landing perfectly on Gusion's ribs.

"Any last words?" Dyrroth smiled.

"You won't be around to hear them," a voice said, then a sound like thunder came and Dyrroth shrieked, leaping off Gusion and he lifted his head to see Lesley standing there, as determined as he had ever seen her, reloading her rifle.

Dyrroth looked up at her, the hole in his head rapidly closing, malice alive in his eyes.

He jumped and Gusion lifted himself off his position, tackling Dyrroth off course in midair and slamming him into the wall.

Dyrroth hurled him away and Lesley fired another shot that took Dyrroth's ring finger clean off.

A howl of pure agony came from somewhere deep inside Dyrroth's throat and for a second, Gusion beheld a glimpse of the terrifyingly twisted monster before him and Dyrroth moved faster than anything Gusion had ever seen.

Gusion teleported, trying to intercept him but before he could try anything, Dyrroth leapt over him, hurtling through the air like a cannonball aimed for Lesley.

"NO!" Gusion screamed, but Lesley proved to be more capable than he expected. She hurled herself to the ground, spinning so that when Dyrroth landed, she was on the ground in front of him, her rifle aimed straight for his forehead.

She fired and Dyrroth grasped the bullet in midair, crushing it and let go, and Gusion saw the ruined metal fall to the floor, smoking.

Before Lesley got another shot off, Dyrroth reached over and clamped his hand around the barrel of Lesley's rifle and tightened his grip.

A horrible metallic screech sounded as Dyrroth wrenched the rifle to one side, and Lesley yelped as her prized weapon, now broken beyond all purpose, was ripped from her hands and thrown aside.

"Your turn," Dyrroth spoke in a voice as soft as the guillotine's whisper, and he closed his fingers around Lesley's neck and she choked as she was lifted off the floor.

Tigreal and Lancelot were surrounded but still fighting fiercely, Lancelot moving like water and Tigreal standing his ground, spinning and slashing, smashing monsters with his shield as they fended off horde after horde.

Dyrroth's eyes locked with Gusion's gaze as his hands tightened ever so slightly, and blood spurted from Lesley's lips and her eyes widened and her feet flailed uselessly as she wheezed for breath.

And something deep inside Gusion wrenched, and he let his magic rip.


Gusion sat up, gasping for breath and blinking madly as his eyes burned and adjusted to his surroundings.

His vision was in different shades of blue as he looked around, other colours slowly seeping into view.

He pushed himself to his feet and collapsed almost immediately, groaning in pain.

A groaning sound came from his left and he got up, seeing a humanoid thing laying against the wall.

His attire was weird-he had no top, exposing his bare torso while some strange teeth-like armour hung around the edges of his shoulders.

The thing's mouth opened again, and Gusion saw a row of sharp shark-like teeth.

Its eyes opened, and one was a bright pink while the other pupil was smaller, with a black outline.

Its tail flicked, and Gusion was hit by a feeling that told him to get as far away from this thing as possible.

It looked at him. "That was something-" it coughed-"else. How did you do that?"

Gusion scrambled back, irrationally terrified of the inhuman being that was swaying in front of him. The orange gem on its chest reflected Gusion's scared expression back at him.

"It's no matter," the humanoid said. "I will-"

But Gusion would never know what it would do, because something hurtled and crashed into the humanoid, which snarled as it struggled to fight.

"You-" the humanoid started, but a purple claw whistled across its throat and he gargled.

Gusion looked back and saw a discarded knife and picked it up. It fit instinctively in his palm, and he realised that there were some symbols etched into the handle of the blade.

Runes, a voice in the back of his head spoke.

A crash sounded behind him and the quadruped that had attacked was hurled past Gusion. It hissed angrily and dissolved into thin black air.

Gusion blinked. What now?

He turned around and saw the humanoid storm towards him, and Gusion noticed for the first time the bronze razors with sharp edges encircling the fingers of it.

He let instinct take over and parried the first punch with his knife before dropping it into his other hand and cutting open the abdomen of the creature, right before his dagger was knocked right out of his palm and a dull pain came from his side, and he stared down to where the razor had buried itself in his side.

It was like a dam had been broken, and his fuzzy thoughts sharpened and became clearer as his vision exploded into full colour, and the pain roared as Dyrroth withdrew his razor and blood dampened his white cloth.

Gusion snapped out a kick to Dyrroth's shin and shoved his fist into the cut from his dagger that was sealing itself.

Dyrroth roared and the flesh ripped back to the cut's full length.

Gusion pulled his fist out and black murky darkness covered his fist, and Gusion felt an unholy power as his mind flashed back to Helcurt's words: They killed him, and filled him up with the essence of the Abyss.

Dyrroth shrieked as more of the black essence began pushing its way out of his abdomen, and Gusion ripped the substance off his fist as it joined the rest of Dyrroth's dark 'blood'.

Gusion heard boots step around and saw Lesley stagger forward, and Dyrroth turned around to receive a solid punch from Lesley, and he fell onto the ground, and the black substance enveloped his waist, moving back into the healing wound.

He simply snarled and pressed the gem, and fell as a hole came from underground and swallowed him.

"What was that?" Lesley asked, and Gusion realised that whatever monsters had attacked the house were now gone, and the result of Dyrroth's attack was nonexistent, save the broken TV set.

Lancelot pushed himself up along with Tigreal, and they looked around.

"Wasn't the house blown up?" Lancelot asked.

Gusion tried to answer but then his tongue felt like lead and he suddenly keeled forward as his eyes rolled up and the last thing he felt before lapsing into unconsciousness was a pair of strong arms gripping him as he fell.