"—What—?!"
Her words were cut short as both she and Dickson were hurled backward with crushing force.
Lilith’s back slamd against the very ice wall she had conjured outside. The wall shattered instantly under the combined weight, shards exploding outward. She hit the stone steps hard, her body rolling back down.
Dickson wasn’t so lucky. Still gripped in her hand when the impact began, her hold slipped mid-flight. He flew sideways, crashing against the crumpled bumper of the SUV.
"Ughhh—fuck!" he groaned, sliding down to the ground. His ribs scread in pain, his arms twitching weakly.
Lilith rolled twice down the stone steps before finally catching herself. She slamd her hand against the ground, ice spreading in jagged lines to stop her montum. Her knees dug into the pavent, her chest rising and falling with sharp breaths.
The impact had rattled her bones, but her eyes burned with fury as she slowly lifted her head.
Sothing—or soone—had just pushed her back like she was a child.
Lilith pushed herself off the cracked stone, her body stiff but steady. Before she could regain full balance, the sound of heavy boots echoed across the courtyard.
Shadows moved around her.
One after another, gunn stepped into view from the mansion’s entrance, from the corners of the walls, and from behind the garden hedges. In less than a minute, she was surrounded. A full circle of rifles and shotguns aid directly at her chest.
The air grew tense. Every finger rested firmly on a trigger. But not one man fired.
They were waiting.
The silence broke when a deep, commanding voice echoed from inside the mansion.
"Kill her!!!"
It was the old man’s voice.
The hesitation vanished.
Ratatatatatatatatatatatata—!
The circle erupted in gunfire all at once. Flas burst from muzzles, brass casings rained against the stone, and the courtyard filled with thunder. Dozens of rounds cut through the air, a deadly hailstorm converging on Lilith.
But Lilith was no fool.
From the second they had surrounded her, she had been gathering her energy in silence. Every heartbeat pulled in more of the cold. Every breath thickened the frost in the air. She was patient, waiting for the exact mont.
And when the order ca, she was ready.
Both of her hands shot up, and the ground beneath her feet cracked with a deafening roar.
KRSHHHHHHH!
A massive pillar of jagged ice erupted upward like a geyser, pushing her off the ground. It rose ten feet in a split second, shielding her from the storm of bullets. Frost sprayed in all directions, the sudden chill biting at exposed skin.
Lilith’s eyes glowed with cold fury.
Her lips parted softly, and a single word escaped.
"Explode."
BOOOOOOM!
The pillar shattered in a violent blast.
Chunks of razor-sharp ice exploded outward like shrapnel from a grenade. The shards tore through the air with blinding speed, slicing and stabbing into the circle of gunn who were already mid-fire.
The man closest to the pillar had no ti to scream. His body was riddled instantly—ice spikes punched through his chest, shoulders, stomach, and throat. Dozens of holes pierced him in less than a second. Blood sprayed in every direction as his body crumpled like a rag doll.
Another man staggered back, screaming as a shard ripped through his eye and out the back of his skull. He dropped his rifle, clawing at his own face before collapsing lifelessly.
One after another, they fell. Arms torn, legs shattered, torsos split open. The courtyard beca a massacre. The gunfire grew frantic, then broke into cries of agony as Lilith’s ice storm carved through their ranks.
Under the wrecked SUV, Dickson lay flat on his stomach, pressed against the dirt. His eyes widened in shock as he watched shards of ice rip through n like paper. Blood poured onto the courtyard stones, bodies collapsing in heaps.
He whispered to himself, his voice trembling. "Is her power... improving?"
Then—
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
His thought was cut short. Multiple shards slamd into the SUV, piercing tal with terrifying ease. The entire fra of the car shook violently, punctures opening in the bodywork like holes in cheese.
One shard stabbed through the rear seat just inches above his head.
"WHAT THE FUCK!!!" Dickson scread, his voice breaking as he covered his skull. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND?!"
But Lilith wasn’t listening. She was in her own world now. Her breathing was heavy, her aura thick with frost. Every heartbeat fueled her destruction. She wasn’t holding back anymore.
The few n who had escaped the initial ice explosion knew they had no chance with guns alone. In panic, they dropped their rifles and reached for sothing strapped to their belts.
Vials. Small glass containers filled with a thick, black liquid.
Each man popped the cork off without hesitation and swallowed the contents in one gulp.
"Ughhh—ahhhh!"
Their groans filled the courtyard, mixing with the stench of blood and gunpowder. The liquid hit their veins instantly. Their bodies convulsed as if struck by lightning. Muscles tore and reford beneath their skin. Veins bulged, throbbing black like poison.
Dickson peeked from under the SUV, his face twisting in horror as he watched the changes unfold.
One of them—already tall—began to grow even larger. His arms ballooned outward, swelling with grotesque muscle. His chest ripped his vest apart, buttons flying. His thighs expanded like tree trunks, shredding his pants into scraps. His skin darkened rapidly, deepening from pale to gray, then to an unnatural midnight black.
"Holy shit..." Dickson whispered, his eyes wide.
The man kept growing, his shoulders broadening, his height shooting past seven feet, then eight. His skin turned completely black, thick and rough like stone. His face distorted into sothing monstrous—jaw wide, eyes glowing faintly red, teeth sharpened into jagged fangs.
He let out a guttural roar, so loud the ground trembled.
Dickson’s mouth hung open as he muttered the only words that ca to mind.
"...Is that a black Hulk?"
The creature slamd its fists into the ground, cracking the stone under its weight.
But before Dickson could catch his breath, movent to his left caught his eye. Another guard who had swallowed the vial was changing too.
His body stretched taller, his spine arching unnaturally as bones snapped and realigned. Fur sprouted from his skin in patches, spreading fast until it covered his body head to toe in thick, dark gray. His fingers elongated, nails stretching into sharp, deadly claws. His face contorted, bones pushing outward until his jaw jutted into a snout lined with fangs.
His growl rumbled low, deep, and animalistic.
Dickson’s jaw dropped even lower.
"No way..." he muttered. "That’s... that’s a fucking werewolf."
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