CHAPTER 90: OVERWHELMING POWER

The demon merely tilted Hellcat’s head, watching with amusement as both men stood, ready for action.

The tear behind her sizzled with more dark energy, and the forest answered.

Vines whipped out of the dirt and caught Zeke across the ribs, flinging him sideways with bruising force. He smashed into a trunk, snarling, then rebounded fast, faster than before Sylas’s blood.

Sylas stepped forward slowly, and shadows crawled up his arms like cold smoke responding to breath. The Hallow pressed against him immediately. The mist thickened and the soil shifted under his boots, like the ground itself wanted to swallow him.

He stood anyway, and the demon smirked.

"Your shadows don’t rule here, Erebos. You are trespassing here,"

Zeke lunged again, this time from her blind side. He didn’t want to hurt Hellcat’s body, and his jaws aimed not to tear but to hold. The demon stepped back before he could touch her, her reflex quicker than his, and the vines moved with her like muscles under skin.

Sylas moved at the same time and attacked her too with his wolf’s strength. He and Zeke’s rhythm was frightening, like they had practised a thousand times and knew each other in and out. Zeke would drag her attention one way and Sylas would strike from the other.

They didn’t speak or plan their moves. They just moved perfectly together.

She blocked Zeke’s bite with a shield of vines, twisting them around his muzzle.

Sylas’s shadow whipped and sliced through the vines an instant later.

Zeke instantly broke free and slammed into her, tackling her into the dirt. His paws pinned her shoulder, placing his weight on her as his claws dug into the soil instead of her flesh.

"Oh, wolf pup," She laughed with genuine amusement, "It’s kind of sweet how you’ve been holding back from actually striking me. You and her must be such close friends...mates?"

Zeke snarled at her face.

Then, vines explode upward, and wrap Zeke’s torso, tightening like bone. His ribs strained, and a pained growl rumbled deep in his throat.

The vines yanked him off her in a heartbeat, and then slammed his body into the ground. They raised him again, and the shadows interfered and cut through the vines before another hit could make it.

Zeke landed on his paws, ignoring the pain that came with it. His body still felt very alive, and there was so much fight left in him.

But he had to admit - the Demon was overwhelmingly Powerful. Despite everything, he could still feel like she was holding back, like he wasn’t even worth her time.

And the fact that she hadn’t raised a hand all this while, as though she was controlling the forest with her mind, had chills rolling down his spine.

What the hell were they supposed to do when she became serious?

But then again, Sylas was also taking his time. The man was still way too calm for everything that was happening.

Sylas dropped into the fight like descending winter and shadows condensed into blades around his hands. He struck for her wrists, not her throat, slicing vines and pinning one arm to the earth.

Her void eyes lifted to meet his, like she couldn’t believe he had actually hit her.

"Erebos..." She whispered softly,

Sylas doesn’t react like before, but the shadows around him do. They tighten as though they recognise the way she spoke the name this time.

Sylas didn’t care. Or at least that was what it looked like from the inside. He slammed his palm to the ground, and the shadows spread from him like frost across glass, slicing through roots and forcing a perimeter around the three of them. The Hallow hissed and the mist recoiled away like burnt skin.

Zeke saw an opening at that moment, but before he could move, the demon’s lips curled into that predatory smile again, and the forest itself obeyed with a speed that stole Zeke’s breath.

Vines erupted from the soil like blackened serpents, twisting toward him quickly. They lashed around his legs, wrists, and jaw, and snapped tight enough to break him. Zeke’s muscles strained against them, the raw power coursing through him amplified by Sylas’s blood, yet still not enough.

He gritted his teeth, his claws scraping the dirt as the first real taste of panic rolled through him. This wasn’t just control of plants, the forest bent to her will.

"Do you feel it, wolf pup?" Her voice came low, echoing from all directions, and then she laughed, "Of course you do,"

Zeke growled, snapping at the nearest vine as it tried to coil around his muzzle again. Pain shot through his ribs, reminding him just how fragile his body could feel against this level of force.

He landed on all fours, barely holding himself upright. The blood of Sylas still pumped in him, still igniting his body with strength, but it wasn’t enough to overcome this. Not yet.

Sylas moved like a shadow incarnate, flowing around Zeke, but even he felt the Hallow’s teeth. The mist recoiled at his presence, yes, but it hissed like acid against his skin, curling into whips that lashed at his cloak and sleeves.

Every strike he threw was precise and calculated, but the demon wasn’t just reacting, she anticipated every attack and predicted how his shadows would move.

She remained untouched by any of their attacks.

A sudden eruption of power slammed through the clearing. The demon stomped, and the earth beneath them exploded like before. But this time, a dozen tendrils of darkness snaked from the ground, faster than Zeke could react.

One wrapped around his shoulders, and the other around his midsection, while the rest shot past him, narrowly missing Sylas as he swung shadows like blades to cut them down.

Zeke’s chest heaved, the adrenaline of Sylas’s blood clashing with fear and awe. His legs shook from exertion and he looked down at her.

Every vine, and every whispering tendril was like an extension of her will, and it hit like it had a mind of its own.

He met her gaze, eyes glowing molten gold, and saw the undeniable truth: this was no mere opponent. She didn’t just fight; she commanded, and every strike they’d made so far was a fraction of her capability. Zeke’s jaw tightened as a vine wrapped his legs again, jerking him backwards. He fell on his side hard, and pain flared in his ribs again.

Sylas’s calm still remained, but even his shadows quivered slightly under the oppressive, living darkness.

Zeke’s claws dug into the soil as he growled, shaken but unwilling to relent. If they were going to stop her and protect Hellcat’s body, then they had to hold their ground, no matter how impossible it felt.

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