Chapter 68
Thrian's POV
I fought brilliantly against him despite the ittle setback before. I felt a little weaker, a little disadvantaged now fighting against him after those couple of blows actually landed on me, but I decided to continue. Against him, in a fight of our level, that could pretty much mean my defeat, but nothing was set in stone yet. I was confident that I would be able to teach him a lesson. All I needed was to do to him what he did to me, and it wasn't that difficult, was it? It wouldn't take me too long to turn the tide around if only I was careful. He wasn't that powerful after all. I knew that I had good chances of succeeding, so I was encouraged.
On his part, he seemed to notice, and he nodded, keeping pace with me and moving steadily. To my surprise, all my efforts of taking the initiative and simply being the one to win were falling flat. I couldn't control the fight anymore. I tried my best, but I just couldn't. It seemed like something was obscure from me. I was looking back, and that thing was the killing blow of the fight. I couldn't seem to take control, couldn't seem to grasp—I didn't know, I couldn't be sure. What I did know was that things were not going to end well if I couldn't at least take control of the battle.
I started thinking quickly about which technique I should use. I needed to use one of my own special fighting techniques in order to get him down—one of the techniques from the alpha family. But was it worth it? I didn't want to go that far for just a friendly fight. I knew what the effect would be if I was not able to restrain myself in the end when I used this technique.
I took a deep breath before deciding that I had no choice. Since I was losing against him and I wouldn't be able to win easily the way I thought, then I would need to do something a little drastic. I needed to win after all because there were stakes. Maybe I could have closed my eyes and let him win if it was someone else, if it was another situation. But this time around, I just couldn't ignore anything. I needed to win now because it was so necessary.
"Forgive me," I said, my voice slow as I took a step back and closed my eyes. He didn't rush in to attack me with the opportunity because he knew that would be the mistake that cost him the battle. I could see him through the cracks in my eyelashes, starting to make his move—something defensive already. He was so preemptive that I was impressed. He didn't even try to invite me anymore; instead, he simply focused on defense, knowing that something was coming.
He might have been able to create an illusion by manipulating the energy in the air, but his control over such energy was limited. Simply put, our control over such energy was terribly limited as werewolves. But that didn't mean that I didn't have something more than he did. I was the alpha werewolf of my pack and not just an alpha. The pack had its energy imbued in me. I was the strength of the entire pack put together. By such reason, no one should be able to beat me, but some people were exceptionally strong. Anyhow, though, nothing. I wasn't going to allow it.
I looked at him, my eyes resolute and flashing as wave after wave of energy crashed down on him. He was holding his ground as much as possible, trying to punch through the attack of pure energy, but there was hardly any way he could defend. Now, if he had some magic of his own, it would have been easier for him, but he had nothing at all—no way of countering my attacks. So I continued without restraint, without anything to hold me back.
I knew clearly from the look in his eyes that he was getting tired. He didn't want to continue anymore, but he had no choice. I wasn't done yet. I wouldn't be done in the next two minutes if I didn't want to be. I felt as if everything in my territory was giving me the strength to continue pushing him to the brink. His eyes were filled with shock and terror, and I smiled a little to myself.
Soon he was pressed down against the ground, his skin bruised with injuries of all sorts. I frowned. Okay, maybe it was enough. "Hey, we will stop now and try another technique later on." After all, it was just a friendly match, and I didn't want any lasting damage to be done.
And so I did. He looked relieved, but he was up on his feet before I could do to him exactly what he had done to me by kicking me the moment he got me down. I would really have loved to teach him a lesson that way, to show him that I could do exactly what he did, but I didn't get the opportunity.
It was frustrating that he was so preemptive, so fast. "He's like the younger one at once," I thought to myself, despondently, as I noticed him and observed his mannerism. That was honestly the only thing I could think of. I was supposed to be the younger one. I was supposed to have all these strengths, and he was supposed to be the tactical genius, but somehow we had switched. I was the tactical genius while he was the fast one with energy brimming through him like a fountain of life. It was strange, but it was what it was. Somehow we had switched positions, but I wasn't about to let that phase me at all.
I wouldn't let it determine anything as I looked at him and made up my mind to make sure he got a taste of his own medicine. He continued against me steadily and bravely, but now the damage had been done. If not for the attack that he had landed on me that actually worked, he would have stood absolutely no chance anymore. Well, now he did stand a chance, however small, because I was also weak. What's more, after using that powerful technique to bring him down to my level of weakness, I was even weaker than before.
I hadn't thought about the price I would pay—he was also going to pay double fold—but now I could see it in me. I could see it in our actions, not just me but also him. His previously light-as-a-feather movements were a little slower now, and his shining eyes were a bit dim. He wasn't all that fast anymore, wasn't all that light, and I couldn't blame him. The attack had taken double the toll on him but only one on me—a good trade. But with his previous attack, it was double on me now and double on him.
I frowned, thinking about it. Could it be that that pattern he had landed on me didn't actually take a single toll on him? If that was the case, then I really needed to learn it. It seemed very, very important, like something that could help me in a long way. If it didn't take a toll on him, then why wasn't he doing it again now? I thought to myself, suddenly feeling a strange sense of fear. If he tried to use it again and I wasn't able to dodge rightly, if one of the moves was him, wouldn't I instantly lose if he managed to land it on me successfully?
These thoughts got me thinking, got my head spinning, but I decided that he just wouldn't try it again. I didn't know what the reason was—maybe he had limits just like me, and it actually took a toll on him, even if not visible to me or sensible for me at this moment. But most likely it was like that; if not, he could just keep on doing it throughout the entire fight.
He smiled at me. "You have improved," he told me. I found myself laughing at his words—sounding like a true elder, but he somehow made it seem as if he usually beats me when that was clearly not the case.
"You too," I told him, taking a step back and looking at him. He smiled in return, and I put my fist in front of my face. I was having a bad feeling about it. It's supposed to have ended a long time ago with either of us winning, not continue to drag out like this. I somehow wished that it would end and knew that because it hadn't ended, it was going to be even more difficult to end later on.