Krogar fell to one knee after yet another failed spell.

Cursed humans! This time, they have got me good.

Breathing heavily, with the blood from a sacrifice still in his mouth, he stood up again, thinking of another way to escape.

He had been too reckless and answered the summons of a weak girl, she should have been a great plaything, but he had fallen into a trap of demon hunters instead.

Were they mercenaries working their butts off for the reward one of his victims was offering? Or were they under the emperor!s military?

It does not matter, I have to get away somehow.

Whatever he tried to do, they were too well prepared for him, it seemed like he met his end at last. Their binding spell was getting tighter with every passing second and Krogar began to lose his cool act.

"I will return and eat every single one of you! Torture you to your deaths one by one!" He roared, red foam appearing at his mouth.

It was useless, all the hunters had nerves of steel and did not respond to empty threats of the cornered demon.

Krogar was afraid.

Suddenly a spell appeared in his mind and he clinged to it, like to the last lifeline. He had never dared to use it, because the one who taught it to him was Archon, a demon notorious for not only his power, but also his evil pranks and schemes. His explanation of the spell was that it summons a helper form outside to receive the fate of the caster and enables the caster to escape to another dimension.

I have no choice, I have to use it!

Full of determination, Krogar performed a set of simple gestures, ending it by slicing his wrists open.

"Your soul to my blood, my soul to your blood. . . I call to a soul with hate for its blood, take mine instead and reverse our fates!"

He knew that the spell lacked any proper way of targeting, or any sort of a lure. That way only a soul that refuses its material form could be attracted at random

Finishing the incantations he began to feel something pulling him away and a smile appeared on his face.

"Bye, bye witch hunters, Krogar wins again."

* * * *

"AAAAGGGGGH! Not Again!" He burned in the blue flames again and the one and only thing he had managed to remember was that the ones that kept frying him were demon hunters. Still , the memories he had managed to dig out of his brain were hazy and incomplete, like memories of another person.

He opened his eyes and the same man in a blue outfid with golden hem stood there.

"This crap again, it seems this is not going to end." His heart began to race faster, he knew that there would be intense pain in another thirty seconds.

"How to get out of this?" He had tried to break free many times, but it was not possible, some invisible force was constraining him in place. "Is there a way to at least prolong it?"

He managed to cool down his head a bit to think. Aside from the pain, he knew that he would be all right returning to this point in another thirty seconds, he tried to calm down his mind using that fact.

"That is right, I have to keep my cool. To solve a problem one needs. . . Information? Resources? Competence? I can certainly start with information." He muttered for himself and set himself a goal to prolong the time before his incinerations to more then thirty seconds using the information he could gather.

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"Yes, that is the plan, that is it."

Krogar, that was his name now, the only one he could remember, looked around and knew that he had only ten seconds left.

"All of them have the same clothes, only small details vary. Five of them are performing the ritual, four people just standing by, staring at me. To interrupt the ritual, I need one of the five to hesitate, I will ignore the others for now.

One woman, four men. Her clothes is the same, dark blue hair, eyes of the same color. Three are indifferent, women hesitant, man angry? Mabye afraid? No .. "

His observation speed kept increasing as he began to panic, he knew there was his death waiting only a few seconds away.

"I am going to be incinerated in three, two, . ." Krogar noticed the angry man's clothes looked less tidy when compared to the other four.

"You did not wash yourself agan?" He blurted out and gave the man a piercing look. He felt that the man trembled a little under his gaze and the spell wavered, but it was far from enough and Krogar felt his body burning to ash.

Damnation! He should have failed!

* * * *

Opening his eyes .. .

"This idiotic face again!" Krogar sighed. "Bur he hesitated, I hit close to his weak spot."

This time he had full thirty seconds for observing the situation.

The room they were in was no ordinary room, it was a big round hall with high ceiling, it was definitely not someone's appartment or house, it was too big and flashy.

"This place has to be owned by some large organization, these people are either its members or rented it. No, it should be too expensive to rent, it is too flashy with all that golden motives on the walls."

"No one will like you in that filthy clothes of yours." Krogar suddenly turned and said to the man from before.

The man ignored him, but his face seemed to turn slightly red and he glanced quickly to the right. It was just a slight movement of his pupils, but Krogar noticed. It was exactly the direction of the women.

"Ho! Progress!" Krogar was happy with his scheme. At the same time, he noticed that the women had an inclination to sneer instead of blushing, which was a good lead as well.

"Unrequired love? Maybe it is not that intense, but I can certainly try to use it. Let's say that the man with disheveled hair, I will call him One, has feelings for the women. She knows and is irritated by it and apparently he knows that it irritates her and tries to hide it." At the same time, Krogar noticed that one of the three men aside from the two, he decided to mark him as Two, began to stare at him, hatred overflowing from his gaze. Three and Four seemed indifferent and just looked left and right before focusing on Krogar again.

"Two is irritated, might be reckless later, but Three and Four will be a problem, they are too composed." Krogar kept observing them.

"Do not look at me like that, I can still save them." Krogar grinned at Two mockingly.

"Bullcrap! Do not try to distract me, I know what you did to him is irreversible and you will suffer for it now." Two answered and his gaze hardened as he regained his concentration.

Damn, seems like I hit a jackpot, but he is not as reckless as I have hoped. Huh, out of time ..

* * * *

Opening his eyes .. .

Krogar had regained some basic memories of the original Krogar, but most of it was related to motorics, speech, reflexes, basic spells. He was still oblivious to what had led to this situation. There were also memories that were totally inconsistent with the rest and he had no idea what to think about it. Not that he had the time to brood over it.

Well, let's try it again.

"You piece of trash, she will never acknowledge you, you are a filthy failure, you have doubts you can even finish me off, just . .. "

Krogar was forced to stop, his voice silenced by a mysterious force. He glanced to the side and saw Four performing some gestures with his hand.

"No distractions, let us continue!" Four barked and the faces of the five froze with concentration agan.

SHIT! Why? Why he has to interfere?!

Krogar wanted to scream, but he could not, it took only a while and his flesh was evaporated again.

* * * *

Meanwhile, the original Krogar felt decimated, his pride was hurt.

"I need to kill Archon, I curse you!" He clenched his small fist and resisted the urge to cry.

What? Him, a mighty demon general to cry? Impossible!

It was too late, he had realized that a part of the spell was switching with someone who desperately wanted to, but he had not expected it to be a tiny, frail human who was apparently intensely and craftily bullied by his mates, in a world where there was no magic to speak of!

His bare feet clapping against the cold floor, he was on his way to a classroom.

With his superior body and magic gone, he felt like a weak insect, too shocked to think of anything that could help him, his mind filled with despair.

The only thing that came to him was what he always did to humans.

"Humans should be impaled!" He looked around for suitable tools. His life might be ruined, but he was still Krogar the Impaler!

"It is a pity they are boys, I like impaling girls more." He said under his breath and licked his lips, while constructing a scheme in his twisted mind.

* * * *

Opening his eyes .. .

Ok, Four is a bitch, he will not let me do too much, I have to act more stealthily.

The difficulty of getting out of the situation was ridiculous.

"I have planted a curse on you. You wil die in thirty seconds if you continue with the ritual." Krogar faced the woman and spoke hastily.

"Lies, you are afraid, you know that these are your last moments." The woman answered unshaken by his threat. Krogar smiled and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Do I look like someone who will die? Twenty seconds." He smiled.

"Silence fiend, you will not distract us no matter what you try." Four said and silenced him with a spell again.

Still, it did not ruin Krogar's plan, he simply lifted his hands with ten fingers and started the countdown at ten. He deliberately planned it two seconds after the usual thirty seconds, his aim was to postpone the thirty seconds by pressing One.

Show me, how much you care for her!

He kept counting on his fingers in a way it seemed that the target of his threats was the woman, but he was careful to let One see it as well, his back facing four to block his view. Four kept frowning at him, constantly checking the woman's mental condition.

Five fingers, four fingers, three fingers, two fingers. . .one finger.

"Ross, you idiot!" Two yelled at One, whose name was apparently Ross. "Focus!"

The spell began to stabilize and Krogar felt the well-known pain of the blue flames dancing on his skin, but he kept his smile.

He did it! He managed to break through the thirty seconds, all hope was still not lost. He could do it, he had to.