162 Chapter 162: Success or Failure
Even though the Vines were strong, they also started failing in being able to pull Lancaster back. It was as if the stronger the Vines became, the stronger Lancaster’s resistance became.
More and more vines came out, holding Lancaster. Furious, Lancaster turned around and sliced all the vines with his claws, destroying everything that was holding him back. The vines healed after being sliced, but by that time, Lancaster had already gotten away.
Lancaster leaped on Atlan as soon as he was free. Since Atlas didn’t want Lancaster to be hurt, he didn’t seriously attack even now. He didn’t use the spell of Lightning that was taught to him by Castiel. Instead, he kept his attacks slightly on the passive side, only to hold Lancaster back to give him more time for him to regain his senses.
Unfortunately, up to this point, it didn’t look as if Lancaster was succeeding. In fact, he couldn’t even sense any resistance coming from Lancaster before attacking him. It was as if the real Lancaster actually went to sleep as soon as the wild self took over.
Moreover, as the night progressed, the wild urges of Atlas only became stronger, especially when a Vampire stood before him. It was as if he was starting with the hardest difficulty level right at the start.
Atlas kept avoiding Lancaster instead of properly fighting him. Ever since the battle began, Atlas had never been within two metres of Lancaster at any point. Not only did he do it to keep Lancaster safe, but more importantly, it was to reserve his soul energy.
Unfortunately, with each passing moment, it was proving difficult for him to avoid Lancaster. Lancaster was slowly getting faster and faster. The difference in speed between the two had decreased by a lot. Instead, Lancaster appeared to be a tiny bit faster..
“I don’t think he will succeed tonight. It’s too much for him,” Lilith commented, shaking her head in disappointment. Even though it was as she expected, it was still disappointing to see Lancaster fail. If Lancaster could actually fight back, he could’ve shown at least some resistance. But there was nothing. Instead, only the bloodthirst was increasing.
Finally, Atlas couldn’t avoid Lancaster anymore. He knew if he continued playing passive, he was only going to get hurt since he was going to lose all his advantages. If Lancaster couldn’t defeat his wild self at the peak of the urges, he was going to weaken him instead.
Atlas finally fought back. Instead of jumping back, he held his ground and attacked back.
If it was really a battle, he was willing to give it his all, even if that meant tasting the poison of a werewolf.
****
“Ah, my head hurts so bad…”
A man came to his senses, lying on the soft grass under the shade of the tree which was keeping him protected from the sunlight.
“Wait! The battle!” Lancaster abruptly stood up, remembering what happened before he lost his senses.
He looked around, noticing Atlas sitting nearby, topless. There were some scratch marks on his chest and some around his neck, but overall he looked to be fine.
“I failed?”
“I doubt that even classifies as failing,” Lilith rolled her eyes as she placed some medicine on Atlas’ chest. A wound given by a wolf couldn’t be healed that easily. Even the natural healing of Atlas couldn’t heal the wounds right away, so Lilith was using the medicine made by her to help him fight back the poison faster.
“To fail, you needed to at least attempt. After you turned, it was as if you lost right then. You didn’t fight back, and if you did, we couldn’t see it. There was no resistance even when the battle raged on. That was a disaster,” she further stated.
“I was right. You aren’t ready yet. Your urge to become stronger doesn’t help you fight back against your wild self. Instead, it made your wild self stronger.”
It wasn’t as if Lancaster wasn’t hurt either. His body was also wounded, and it was aching all over. But more than the pain, he was concerned about failing. He made Atlas go through this battle, hurt him, and all for nothing. At least it would’ve been worth it if he had succeeded after all that, but no.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” he asked, remembering Lilith’s statement that she was going to kill him if he couldn’t control himself.
“Why would she kill you?” Atlas smiled wryly. Just what nonsense was this guy talking about? They weren’t going to kill him just because he failed.
“Don’t worry about failing once. There are more full moons. You will succeed sooner or later,” he consoled Lancaster. He knew what failing felt like. Moreover, he also knew how hard it could be to regain control over oneself.
He still hadn’t forgotten his Bloodlust Phase, where he had almost died. He believed the Full Moon Transformation was something akin to that, at least for a new wolf.
“After bringing Misella back, if I still have time left in this world, we would continue our battle under the same Blood Moon…”
“Thank you. And I am Sorry for hurting you.”
“Well, my wounds were nothing. You should’ve seen the other guy,” Atlas laughed. “It was a good battle. And I did get to see where I need to work and what my strengths are. So it wasn’t a loss in the long run. So don’t feel bad about this.”
“As for the wounds, they would heal in no time.”
Lilith finished placing the medicine on Atlas’ wounds, and she brought a new pair of clothes for him.
Atlas stood up and started wearing the clothes. For some reason, he seemed a bit slow. All his movements were slower. At least not like before.
“I must say, your poison is certainly something,” Atlas let out as he finished wearing the clothes.
Lancaster also stood up and wore his clothes.
“I see what you meant by another guy’s condition,” Lancaster smiled, looking down. It was only when he stood up that he realized his legs were badly hurt.
He was limping as he had to walk.
“I wish I had remembered the battle.” He could only see uprooted trees and craters on the ground all around him. There was some blood that could also be seen in the surroundings.
He regretted not remembering the battle. If it was a night-long battle, it could’ve taught him a lot of things about his weakness and his strength.
“Don’t worry about your wounds. Your natural healing will work much faster. You should be fine by evening,” Lilith informed Lancaster, who was lost in thoughts about the battle.