CHAPTER 91: THE GIRL WHO REFUSED TO STAY DEAD

Power erupted through the clearing so violently that the Hallow surged as roots exploded upward, branches cracking. The ground itself rippled like liquid beneath her control.

Zeke barely had time to brace.

A whip of thorned vine slashed across his flank, drawing blood and spinning him sideways through the dirt. The impact rattled him to his bones, but he recovered and halted in a skid, his claws carving trenches into the soil.

His wolf eyes burned bright gold, but the fear there was no longer subtle. It was primal.

The demon moved without moving.

One blink, she was ten feet away, and the next, she was in front of him. Her hand ~ Theo’s hand...snapped forward faster than instinct itself.

Zeke only felt the hit after he was already airborne.

He crashed again into a tree thick enough to break an ox. Bark shattered under his weight, and splinters got embedded in his ribs. His vision blurred at the edges, but he still forced himself up, chest heaving with defiance even as pain clawed at him.

Sylas was already in motion.

Shadows surged like black flame around his body, gravitational and alive. They launched forward in twisting spears, lancing toward the demon’s torso, throat, and heart.

She didn’t dodge.

She caught the shadows mid-air.

Her fingers curled around them like they were solid matter, and they dissolved, shrieking like something dying.

Sylas froze, not in fear, but in realisation.

She had learned him. And she didn’t just learn him now.

Her lips curved into a feral, triumphant smile, "I have to say, Erebos. You’ve lost your touch, a lot. Do you really expect an attack like that to strike me?"

She laughed and the whole forest answered.

Dark roots erupted around Sylas, spiralling up like cages about to trap him in.

His shadows surged defensively and slammed against them. Some broke, but they kept coming, endless, regenerating and unstoppable. The ground cracked under his feet as pressure built, trying to swallow him into the soil.

Sylas’s jaw tightened. He raised one hand to control them again, but instead, the shadows bent backwards under her will.

His own power fought him.

The demon laughed, sweet and venomous, "Are you even sure you’re Erebos? Maybe I was actually wrong the whole time. You seriously have no idea how those powers work, do you?"

Zeke’s growl ripped through the clearing, and he shot forward in a burst of primal force, his muscles screaming but refusing to give way.

He leapt into the air, his claws drawn to tear her down.

Vines lashed upward to intercept him, but he was faster this time. He had also been learning and observing

He ripped through the first, second and third. His teeth snapped through the fourth, and he tasted something like a mixture of sap and darkness.

Then, he hit her chest with full weight, slamming her into the ground. The earth cratered beneath the impact, and dust exploded around them.

She didn’t flinch. Her hand suddenly snapped up and closed around his throat.

Zeke’s growl broke into a choke as she lifted him off the ground with one arm, with his wolf claws scraping frantically at her grip.

His legs kicked, but his strength was not enough to break her hold. She leaned close enough that he felt the cold of her breath against his teeth, "If you really want to defeat me, little cub," she whispered in a deadly voice, "Then you have to start focusing on actually hurting this body, or else... it’ll all be for nothing,"

Her grip tightened, and his bones began to cave in. Zeke’s vision blurred as the world narrowed down to pain and agony, but he still refused to break. His jaws snapped toward her face, spit and blood mixing on his fangs

He would not hurt Hellcat.

He would die before he did.

Sylas broke free in that moment, his shadows snapping as he launched forward with a blade of condensed void in his hand.

He struck with everything he had, the blow aimed to sever her hold and rip Zeke free.

Steel met flesh, and Zeke fell back on his feet.

Sylas glanced at Zeke and noticed his veins were beginning to change colour. Something dark was trying to surface, and Zeke’s wolf snarled and wriggled against it.

The Demon’s Darkness had somehow tapped into his.

"You can’t let it control you!" Sylas snapped.

Zeke growled back at him, the dark veins surging. It looked like the exact ones that usually climb up his neck whenever he was having nightmares.

He growled again, and this time his eyes fell back and the gold in his eyes started to flicker.

"Zeke, breathe!!" Sylas yelled again, this time a little softer.

The demon watched him observantly, "Oh?" She smirked in understanding, and then turned back to Sylas, "Two Wolves with Demonic energy. I wonder how long you can hold out before it consumes you,"

She stepped forward and the forest moved with her again, "But then, I’ll still have to make sure you don’t live long enough to find out about that,"

She was about to strike again, and Zeke wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind to fight. He was going to become unpredictable.

And then it happened.

A tremor ran through Theo’s chest, subtle at first. Zeke and Sylas froze, sensing it.

The void-black eyes that had been so empty and cold flickered slightly, and a soft groan that sounded familiar escaped the demon’s lips.

"Hellcat...," Zeke’s growl cracked, and more hope surged through his chest. The dark cracks in his veins retracted till they vanished.

Sylas’s eyes narrowed, shadows tightening into spikes around them, "Don’t move yet, just watch," he murmured.

A faint pulse, almost imperceptible, beat against the control the demon held. Her hands twitched involuntarily, and her body wavered, as if she was being tugged by invisible chains. Then, her head jerked, and her eyes closed in struggle.

Theo was resisting.

The demon hissed, also jerking back, "Stop... it...!" she spat, her voice jagged and fractured.

"Now...," Sylas gave the order, "We pin her down!!"

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