Losing Self

Tristan opened his mouth, revealing his two sharp fangs as he ran toward Atlas.

Instead of being shocked or scared, Atlas smiled in response. The timing of the smile was just right as it happened right when Tristan was about to attack him.

"What?" Tristan grew confused. Was this guy crazy? He was happy when he was about to be killed?

Despite his confusion, he didn't stop closing in on Atlas.

Unfortunately, this was just the start of the shock train he was about to ride on. His shock only increased as he noticed the two sharp fangs of Atlas that looked like the fangs of a Vampire. That was when he truly grew stunned.

In his daze, he even forgot to attack Atlas as he stopped just a meter away from him. Unfortunately for him, that was exactly what Atlas wanted.

Unlike Tristan, who stopped suddenly, it was Atlas who actually moved finally. Within a blink of an eye, he closed in on whatever distance they had, stabbing his hands into the chest of Tristan.

With a blank look on his face, Tristan lowered his head, looking at his chest. Right before his eyes, Atlas pulled out his blood-covered hand, leaving a big hole in the chest of Tristan. His hand wasn't empty though. There was a heart in his hand which was still beating.

"I didn't want to do this, but you forced my hand," Atlas commented, crushing the heart right before Tristan's eyes. "But if it weren't you, it would've been me."

Black nerves spread all across the body of Tristan as his body became rigid. It dropped to the ground, lifeless. Even until his last moment, Tristan couldn't believe what had happened. The person who was supposed to be a human turned out to be a Vampire? How?

If he knew that Atlas was a Vampire before, he could've been more alert and not as defenseless. However, it was the surprise element that helped Atlas kill him so easily, without much of a fight. If people hadn't thought of him as a Human, things could've been much different.

Atlas tossed the crushed heart on the ground near Tristan, only to notice the blood in his hand. He couldn't help but gulp at the sight of the blood as he started feeling really thirsty. His eyes became a darker shade of green as he felt the urge to drink blood.

His head became dizzy as everything around him became blurry, except the blood-covered hand.

He tried to turn his head away from the blood as he hastily went down on his knees to wipe all the blood on the clothes of Tristan. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't wipe his hand completely.

The thirst in his eyes kept increasing with time as Atlas tried his hardest to resist.

Lilith watched Atlas from a distance. She understood what Atlas was going through. She had seen that look many times before. It was the look of resistance.

Ordinary Vampires couldn't drink the blood of other Vampires to replenish themselves, but Progenitors were different. They could do this. They could even drink the blood of other Vampires, which made it so hard for Atlas.

The Bloodlust inside Atlas was so bad that he didn't know how to control himself. No matter what he tried, he couldn't distract himself from the blood. His fangs became bigger as his hand subconsciously moved closer to his lips.

Generally, Lilith would've tried to convince Atlas to try tasting the blood, luring him, but it was different this time. Even though Vampire Blood could strengthen the Progenitors, it couldn't help against Blood Urge. Only human blood could delay the Blood Urge phase, so she saw no benefit in Atlas drinking this blood.

Instead, she had reasons to stop Atlas from drinking this blood. Her first reason was that she was impressed by Atlas' resolve and his reasoning. She didn't want to see him fail after coming so far. She didn't want him to feel disgusted with himself while burying his sister.

Her other reason was more important though. Vampire Blood was stronger than Human Blood. For his first time, drinking Vampire Blood could take more toll on the mind of Atlas, especially since his mind was already so chaotic.

"Atlas, stop looking at that blood. Wipe your hand right now!" Lilith commanded Atlas, who was in a daze as if he was looking at the most delicious dish in the world.

"I-i can't! My body is moving on its own!" Atlas roared, trying his best to resist.

He couldn't even stop looking at the blood. It was as if there was a beast inside him that was trying to control his body, and the beast was mostly succeeding so far.

Atlas couldn't even cry at his weakness. The more time passed, the stronger his urge became. It was much harder to resist the blood now than it was back at the castle.

"Control yourself! You are better than this! Just a few more days, and you can drink all the blood you want! You can resist it!" Lilith shouted to attract the attention of Atlas; however, she only failed.

The blood-covered hand was just a few inches away from Atlas's lips. He was just about to touch his tongue.

His nerves were clearly visible through his neck as if they were under immense strength because of this resistance.

Atlas felt like he was drowning in a dark abyss that he couldn't resist. He couldn't climb out of it to control his own body.

His consciousness started floating away, weakening the control of his body.

'Maybe this wasn't meant to be? Maybe I wasn't supposed to wield this power. It's too much for me. Maybe it's better to just... Go and disappear into the abyss. I am too weak to do anything, even with all this strength. I better disappear from this world...'

Hundreds of negative thoughts filled his head as Atlas kept losing himself in the darkness.

Put~

As Atlas lost himself more and more, he felt a slap landing on his cheeks. The slap didn't have too much strength behind it, but it was enough to wake up the consciousness of Atlas.

He came to his senses, finding him attacking Lilith. As he was lost, his subconscious was controlling his body, mainly his dark urges.

He was about to drink blood when Lilith slapped him to bring him to his senses. The subconscious dark self of Atlas attacked Lilith in response to the slap.

Fortunately, Lilith was a shadow, so she wasn't hurt. She was able to last until Atlas regained control of his body, facing the dark urges.

He looked towards the sky as he roared. "Yaaaa!"

He scratched his own neck with his hands, leaving a deep gash behind. The pain not only distracted him to wake him up even more, but it also gave him another advantage. The hand which was covered in blood of Tristan now had his own blood as well.

Atlas grabbed the body of Tristan with the collar. Without explaining anything, he started running as fast as he could with Tristan still grabbed.