Power Thief's Revenge [BL]-Chapter 156: Golden Cage

Chapter 156: Golden Cage
The shadows lunged!
Hermes shoot them with his sunbeam eyes, and for a split second, Ymir and Magni were able to see them.
Dozens of tendrils writhed out of the walls, dripping with black mist, pulling themselves into shapes that barely resembled anything human. Some looked like wolves with too many legs. Others were hunched, twisted masses of claws and eyes.
All of them made that same low hiss, like the sound of teeth scraping glass.
Ymir’s daggers of ice formed in each hand with a crackle of frost. "This day took a turn for the worst."
He dashed forward, slashing through the first two that leapt from the wall. The daggers cut clean, yet the shadow-beasts only hissed louder, bodies reforming around the ice as though it had sliced smoke.
"Oh, that’s just fantastic," Ymir spat, twisting to throw a blade through another that lunged at Hermes. "They don’t stay down!"
Magni was next, flames roaring to life around his arms. With a guttural cry, he swung his fire-axe in a wide arc, scattering three of the creatures into clouds of shadow. He grinned savagely.
"See? Fire burns all!"
The grin died a moment later as the creatures simply knitted back together and surged toward him again.
"They’re not burning!" Hermes shouted.
"They should burn!" Magni yelled back, swinging harder, cleaving another apart. "Why do they not burn!?"
"Because they’re not normal," Hermes muttered. His mind was racing.
He remembered the Night Cyclops—the black hide, the petrifying spit, the way only light had harmed it. His gut twisted. This was the same.
"Move!" Hermes barked. His eyes flared gold.
Twin beams of brilliant sunfire lanced from his gaze, cutting through three shadows in front of Magni. This time, the creatures screeched and burst apart, dissolving like ash in the wind.
Both Ymir and Magni froze for a beat.
"Did you just smite them—" Ymir started.
"Run first, questions later!" Hermes snapped.
They sprinted down the catacomb. But the shadows multiplied behind them, crawling from the walls, the ceiling, the floor itself. Tendrils whipped forward, slamming into the ground where they’d been standing a moment before.
Ymir sliced through them just to buy time, his daggers flashing silver in the faint glow of Hermes’ beams. Magni roared, swinging wide arcs of his axe, covering Hermes’ back.
But every strike only slowed the things down. More kept coming.
Hermes burned another cluster with his beams, but for each one destroyed, three more crawled from the stone. His head ached with the effort. His heart hammered.
"This isn’t working!" Ymir shouted.
One tendril wrapped around his leg, yanking him to the ground. He snarled, stabbing down with both daggers until it released him. But another lashed his arm a second later, leaving a line of blackened burn across his skin.
Magni wasn’t faring much better. His swings grew slower, shoulders bleeding from gashes that wouldn’t close. His red flame flickered weak.
Hermes cut through another swarm with his beams, chest heaving. "We can’t fight them all. We need cover!"
"Cover where?" Ymir snarled. "It’s nothing but bones and—"
Then he saw it.
At the far end of the tunnel, tucked between two crumbling stone walls, was a door-shaped outline glowing faint gold.
Hermes didn’t think. He grabbed Ymir by the wrist, shoved Magni forward, and barreled straight for it.
The shadows clawed at their backs. Tendrils snapped past Hermes’ ears, whispering against his skin like knives.
He hit the door.
Light flared—and the shadows stopped short.
They screeched, but they could not cross the golden threshold. Their tendrils curled away, hissing like oil dropped into water.
Hermes stumbled inside, dragging Ymir and Magni with him. The glow sealed behind them like a veil, shutting out the dark.
***
The room wasn’t large. Maybe ten feet across. But it was... strange.
The walls pulsed faintly, humming with warmth. In the corner sat a cot with a thin mattress. A small shelf beside it held board games and children’s books, the covers worn but intact. A faint skylight above revealed a shaft of sun filtering down, striking a small panel set into the wall.
Solar power. That was the glow.
Hermes stared, chest rising and falling. "What... the hell is this place?"
Ymir collapsed against the wall, clutching his bleeding arm. His voice was sharp even through his ragged breaths.
"Looks like a cell. Or a... a nursery? What kind of twisted farm keeps
this
under their barn?"
Magni dropped to his knees, leaning against his axe for support. His shirt was torn and his side was a mess of blood. Still, his eyes darted around with childlike awe.
"This light... it protects us from the shadows."
Hermes knelt beside him, pressing a hand against the wound. "Stay still."
"I’m ticklish there—" Magni hissed as Hermes’ palm glowed.
"Rewind."
The bleeding slowed, the wound knitting back. The fire in Magni’s veins calmed.
Hermes turned quickly to Ymir, who looked away.
"Don’t. I’m ok." Ymir muttered.
"Shut up." Hermes pressed a hand to his arm anyway.
The glow of Rewind surged, the burn fading back until the skin was only faintly marked.
Ymir exhaled sharply, refusing to look him in the eyes. "...Thanks."
"Don’t mention it."
Silence fell for a moment. The shadows screeched faintly beyond the golden barrier, pacing, waiting.
Magni finally broke it, his voice low. "We cannot leave here without a plan. The creatures wait. They know we are trapped."
"They’re not going to stop," Hermes said. His mind spun, calculating. "And the only thing that worked on them was light."
Ymir pushed off the wall, glaring at him. "So do that again. Whatever the hell you just pulled with your eyes."
Hermes hesitated. "...I can’t keep that up forever. There’s not much sunlight here. And there’s too many of them."
"Then what’s the alternative?" Ymir asked sharply.
"Raphael and I fought the Night Cyclops together.... We should do the same."
Ymir’s eyes narrowed. "What, you just... want us to drink your blood now?"
Hermes’ gaze flicked to their wounds. The Rewind had helped, but not fully. They were still weak. Pale.
"...You’ve both lost too much," Hermes said quietly. "Even with Rewind, you’re not strong enough to give any more blood."
"So what, that’s it?" Ymir demanded. "We just die down here?"
Hermes hesitated. His throat tightened. He hated the words even before they left his mouth.
"...You know the way."
Both Ymir and Magni looked at him.
Ymir’s mouth opened, closed, then opened again. "You—you have got to be kidding me! We’re going to do that HERE!? While being chased by some shadow creatures?"
Magni tilted his head, dead serious. "I have no qualms with it. But Brother Modi... You have never shared your powers with me before. Are you sure you want me to..."
Hermes nodded.
"It’s the only way."