"I do not wish to win because my enemy was careless or made a mistake. I will win because I was better. That is my honour as a Greyfang."
Rhydan announced proudly.
"Is that so...?"
Lucian did not say anything else.
He didn’t want to think about it.
He attacked again, only this time, he did not rush blindly. He slowed his breathing, spread his senses throughout the corridor.
Still Pulse.
The next instant, the sound of Naomi’s worried heartbeat, Sabine’s breathing, Isolde’s moving flask, and the quiet growls of Rhydan’s companions, it all faded into the background.
Lucian’s focus remained entirely on the Werewolf.
Rhydan’s heartbeat, his breath, the movement of air around his body, the faintest tension inside his muscles—
Lucian began reading it all as he moved forward.
Rhydan’s right shoulder tightened.
Lucian instantly realised a punch was coming, so he moved before the attack began, dodging Rhydan’s fist for the first time since their battle began.
Rhydan’s face showed mild surprise. Lucian’s palm moved towards his chest. Rhydan blocked it with his forearm, but it was already too late.
Lucian was already only an inch away.
One-Inch Dominion.
He used his strongest move. Energy exploded from his palm but—
The only damage Lucian’s strongest attack did was tear Rhydan’s sleeve and push his giant body back half a step.
But even then—
Lucian’s eyes widened with excitement.
It worked.
He finally managed to move past Rhydan’s defences.
His joy, however, was very short-lived because the next instant, Rhydan punched his face with his other fist.
Lucian’s body spun through the air and crashed against the ground.
His jaw dislocated, his mouth filled with blood, his eyes, however, remained on the red mark on Rhydan’s forearm.
Soon, however, his expression changed as the wound disappeared the next instant.
"You can’t be serious."
He spoke in a flat tone.
"What’s with that ridiculous regeneration speed?"
"I’ve trained my regeneration to be stronger than a normal Werewolf."
Rhydan answered calmly.
"Fuck you."
Lucian cursed out loud as he stood up and spat out all the blood inside his mouth. His body hadn’t even healed the wounds that had formed minutes ago, and the Wolf’s wound had already disappeared.
’Fuck this.’
Lucian cursed again. He activated Still Pulse again and moved. This time, he attacked from the left. Rhydan turned and blocked. Lucian lowered his body and tried to sweep his legs. Rhydan jumped. Lucian raised his hand and suddenly, a small knife flew from his belt and entered his hand.
Slice
He sliced through Rhydan’s neck, or at least he tried. Rhydan reacted at the last second, dodged his attack and grabbed his wrist.
Lucian immediately released the knife. The Energy of Desire moved the knife into his other hand and this time, he tried to stab the Wolf’s stomach. The Wolf caught his other wrist as well.
Now, he was holding both his hands and he—
He drove his forehead into Lucian’s face.
CRACK
Lucian’s nose shattered.
Rhydan released him and he staggered backwards with blood flowing down his face.
Once again, Rhydan waited for Lucian to recover. Lucian did and moved again. He could see that Rhydan was about to step forward, so Lucian retreated before the Werewolf moved. However, this time, Rhydan expected that.
He instantly changed his attack. This time, he swept low. Lucian jumped and as if he was waiting for it, Rhydan moved scarily quickly and grabbed Lucian’s throat midair. Then, he slammed him into the wall.
"Kharrkkk!!"
Lucian coughed up blood again.
Rhydan held him there with one hand, as if saying that if he wanted, he truly could end it here, just like he could have done countless times before.
Lucian watched him.
In his mind, he noted how Still Pulse still warned him of his sudden movement, he was just too slow to react in time.
That made Lucian’s eyes burn even more brightly.
He could do it.
He could win.
Lucian grabbed the wrist holding his throat. He tried to overpower it, he failed spectacularly, but it did not matter, his Energy of Desire had already moved and lifted a nearby stone.
The stone flew to the back of Rhydan’s head. The Wolf, however, simply tilted his head, dodging the attack. Lucian used the distraction to drive his knee into Rhydan’s ribs, but the Wolf blocked it again.
Looking at Lucian as if saying no matter what he did, he was powerless.
Lucian only grinned. He released One-Inch Dominion through his knee.
BOOOM
The burst pushed Rhydan’s arm back, his grip loosened. Lucian dropped to the floor and attacked that very instant, trying to grab Rhydan’s throat.
Rhydan moved aside.
But at that point, Lucian pulled the stone back, striking Rhydan’s shoulder.
The stone shattered, barely scratching Rhydan. The Wolf didn’t even acknowledge the stone. He caught Lucian’s fist and drove his knee into his stomach.
"Khaarrrkkkkkk!!!"
Lucian collapsed to the ground.
Rhydan grabbed the back of his shirt and threw him away. Now, Lucian crashed into the wall before falling to the ground again.
"Uggghhhh..."
He groaned in pain as he lay on the floor on his back.
At this point, even breathing hurt. His regeneration was working, but there were simply too many injuries on his body for it to focus on only one.
Rhydan, on the other hand, barely had a scratch on him. His heartbeat was still steady, his breathing was the same, it was clear that he could continue this for a long, long while. As for Lucian—
He was barely hanging on.
His eyes, however, were different.
This was nowhere near enough. In fact, his current injuries were child’s play compared to what Vivienne had put him through.
He could still go on.
Lucian’s energy moved again, his knife flew towards him and Lucian stood up once more.
The battle continued. Lucian used Still Pulse to read Rhydan’s movements, Telekinesis to move the knife around while he attacked, and One-Inch Dominion whenever he was close.
Rhydan, however, countered it all.
Rhydan’s senses and instincts were stronger than his. A floating knife was nowhere near enough to disrupt him. Knowing where the Wolf was going to move didn’t affect much either since the Wolf was much faster. As for One-Inch Dominion, while that worked to some level, because most of Lucian’s energy was being used to control the knife, deploy barriers to soften Rhydan’s blows, and heal his body, his attacks were only powerful enough to push the Wolf back and leave a bruise, a bruise that healed the very next second.
It was... truly a one-sided battle.