Consequences
Mike's body was strong, no doubt about it.
Despite his fairly small size, he had no problem exerting force that made no practical sense due to his stature. Not only that, but he was weirdly durable.
Ever since becoming a Lupine, Mike hadn't ever taken any reasonable damage. Whether it was in his first and consequent fights against Theresa, to the battle he had against the Hologram. Everything he got was just some bruises and external burns. That was about it.
To summarize, Mike's body was incredibly durable, and the Crimson Ladder style wasn't wasted on him in the least.
The same couldn't be said for his energy Pathways.
To be clear, those were unnaturally durable as well, however, unlike his body which had been naturally adapting to the strain Crimson Ladder brought by gradually removing the lid on his true abilities, his Energy Pathways didn't have the same luxury.
Okay, they did, but Mike more or less screwed himself over.
