Inside the Carlisle Castle, Lia searched for the book, unaware of what chaos was happening outside with the appearance of a Werewolf.

The fight had just shifted directions, and both the Clan Heads were involved in the battles. Severis fought with Atlas while Carlisle faced off against Lancaster.

Lancaster had a Royal Bloodline of Werewolves which gave him speed, strength, and ferocity. Unfortunately, he had just awakened, so he wasn’t on the same level as Carlisle or Severis. In fact, he was weaker than them.

He soon realized the difference between the strength of those two after a head-on clash. Lancaster’s fist clashed with Carlisle’s fist.

Carlisle stood on his spot, but it was Lancaster who was who took the brunt of the attack. His body shot back uncontrollably, falling in the distance.

“You’re strong but not strong enough,” Carlisle sighed. “I don’t think the Werewolves would’ve sent someone so weak to mess with us. You must be a stray. That makes it even better.”

Lancaster rubbed his wrist as he stood up. He had realized that he had overestimated himself. He might have awakened with the Royal Bloodline, but he was still weak.

He could’ve taken care of ordinary Vampires that worked for Carlisle but defeating the man himself was troublesome.

Still, he was too deep in everything now. He couldn’t step back. He had to fight!

In another place, Atlas had entered the building where Severis had fallen.

By the time he entered the building, he had realized that Severis wasn’t there. He appeared to be missing.

Severis appeared behind Atlas, stabbing his hand inside the back of Atlas, making him roar in pain.

Atlas’ figure flickered as he dashed ahead to get the hand out before turning around to face Severis.

“You might be very strong, but you have lost your mind right now. You’re nothing more than a wild beast, and that’s your biggest weakness. I wanted you to be sane so you could see the consequences of messing with me, but this will have to do, no matter how disappointing.”

****

The consciousness of Atlas kept drowning. His eyes remained closed as he felt that he was disappearing when he heard a man’s voice.

The calm yet arrogant voice was something he could never forget. It was the same voice that had given away Misella to her death like she was nothing more than a commodity… It was the voice of Severis.

The voice contained so many triggering memories for Atlas that it revitalized his consciousness.

Atlas slowly opened his eyes, still in the depths of the sea. He could see what appeared like a screen before him, which showed Severis with an arrogant smirk on his face. Seeing that face, Atlas couldn’t control himself.

His hands were weak, and he didn’t even think he could move them anymore. Despite all that, just his sheer motivation was overwhelming as she reached out his hand toward the screen before him.

With each passing second, the screen appeared to be getting distant from him, but he didn’t stop the effort.

In the real world, Atlas was heavily wounded. There was a hole in his back that was bleeding, but he didn’t seem to care. He still flew back without thinking and attacked Severis, who simply dodged the attack.

Instead, Severis grabbed the wrist of Atlas and shattered them before kicking the knees of the young man, making Atlas fall to the ground.

“And that’s why I don’t enjoy fighting people in Blood Lust. It’s just too easy to kill them since they don’t know what they’re doing. You see, the brain is a really important thing which you lack now.” Severis declared before smashing the other foot of Atlas as well before he could move.

Atlas’ both legs were broken, and so was his right wrist. As for his healing, even it wasn’t fast enough to keep up.

“This is for my Castle.” Severis raised his foot and thrust it toward the face of the young man, only to realize that he just couldn’t.

A semi-transparent screen appeared before young Atlas, which was strong enough to stop the foot of a Vampire.

At the same time, Atlas’ consciousness also finally touched the screen before him.

His emotionless eyes disappeared and returned to normal.

As he returned, he felt a terrifying pain on his feet and his right wrist, but that pain was nothing before the man who stood before him.

He had managed to defeat the Bloodlust somehow… His consciousness was safe. Unfortunately, in the process, he had lost most of the protection on his soul that he had received.

He gazed at the barrier before him in surprise. He was sure he didn’t cast it. Then who could it be?

“You really have a death wish if you think you can place your foot on the face of my master’s body.” A voice that sounded even more arrogant filled the hall.

Both Atlas and Severis looked in the direction of that voice. Atlas remembered the voice. He had heard that annoying voice many times before.

On the other hand, Severis had no idea who it was. All he saw was a young lady standing in the distance.

The young lady was dressed in a beautiful red dress that matched her flaming red hair. Her hazel eyes appeared to be filled with anger for the disrespect she was seeing.

The young lady stood bare-handed, yet there was something about her which said that no one should dare get close to her if they didn’t wish to die.

“A witch?!” Severis exclaimed.

He believed only a witch could cast a spell like this, and his suspicions were correct.

****

Boom~

A figure shot out of the building.

Carlisle was about to attack Lancaster when he noticed the figure which landed right at his feet.

He couldn’t help but be surprised. The person on his feet was none other than Severis.

Severis stood up, angered at being disrespected by a Witch.

“What is happening here? A Vampire from another lineage, a werewolf, and now a Witch taking part in the battle?” he asked Carlisle.

“Another Witch?” Carlisle was really confused now. There was a Witch who could blast Severis away?

Fortunately, Severis wasn’t hurt. All his wounds healed.

While Carlisle was distracted, Lancaster ran to the building where he had seen Atlas last time. The two Vampires had reunited, and he needed to meet up as well to find a way out of this situation. He knew fighting wasn’t an option. They couldn’t come out of the battle safely. They needed to look for an escape instead.

A Vampire Guard appeared before Lancaster to stop him, only to be hurt instead as Lancaster slashed with his claws as he continued running.

He also entered the building through the hole. Carlisle didn’t try to stop him. He just stood back, lost in some thought.

****

Inside the hall that was filled with rubble, Atlas sat up, gazing at Lilith.

“Lilith, is that you?” he asked in surprise. “You have a real form now?”

“Hmm? You’re out of Bloodlust so soon? How?” Even Lilith was surprised to see that Atlas was back.

She ran to him. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, this healing is pretty good. Also, it feels good to be back. I didn’t believe I could survive this… It was a scary experience, but I managed to get out. I don’t know how myself,” Atlas answered.

As he walked, he felt something sticky on his lips.

He rubbed his lips, only to have his hand covered in blood. “So I did it… I became what I hated…”

“It’s not that big a deal,” Lilith reminded Atlas as she helped him up. “It was inevitable. Moreover, you only drank the blood of Vampires, not of humans. Also, with this act, you’ve safeguarded yourself from future Bloodlust incidents, but it’s not the time to talk about that. We are still in the midst of battle.”

“So, what do you want to do? Do you want to avoid battle and run? I can help us escape?” Lilith asked.

Atlas shook his head. “The only reason I avoided battles was because I was scared of this Bloodlust. But that’s not a concern anymore. I also don’t care about blood. Since I’ve always fallen by drinking it, I don’t care about anything else at this point.”

“You can die if you choose to fight,” Lilith reminded Atlas.

Atlas smiled in response. “I’m already dead, Lilith. I died the day Misella died. Since then, I’ve only been living on borrowed time. This body doesn’t belong to me. This world doesn’t belong to me. If death is what it takes, I’m willing to embrace it.”

“Moreover, won’t my death just mean your Master’s return? If he comes, he can do what I couldn’t. He can give Misella the burial she reserved.”

“I’ve had enough of being scared. The two people who killed her are before me. If I run at this point, I’ll never be able to face myself! I will fight… I will fight till death: either mine or theirs!”