Chapter 504: A really nervous mother

Everything seemed to have gone silent, as if even the dunes had stopped to witness what was to come next.

Raphaeline clutched Ada tighter to her chest, as if to protect her not only from the creature, but from the world itself. Her daughter’s heart was still pounding, panting, and blood was seeping from open wounds. She carefully placed her on the ground, kneeling before her.

Raphaeline’s eyes, red and glittering, dropped to Ada’s legs. Tears, bruises, torn flesh. Her mother sighed, placing her hand over the wounds.

Blood stirred beneath the young woman’s skin, responding to the command of her absolute master. Veins aligned, muscles closed, bones vibrated in harmony. In seconds, what seemed irreparable was being reassembled. It wasn’t just healing: it was total mastery over the life pulsing through her daughter’s body.

Ada gasped, feeling the pain dissipate like smoke. Her golden eyes widened, but before she could speak, Raphaeline’s hand slid into her hair. With a delicate gesture, she stroked her daughter’s head, as if nothing but the two of them existed there.

“You still can’t fight while keeping that technique activated…” she said, her voice filled with tenderness and firmness. A faint smile curved her lips. “Don’t try too hard to impress a man.”

Ada blushed furiously, her mouth opening in protest, but before any words could come out, Raphaeline leaned in and kissed her forehead.

“You are enough, my daughter. Always will be.”

Ada trembled. For an instant, all that remained was the warmth of the gesture.

But then, the monstrous roar split the sky. The turtle, enraged at being ignored, prepared another attack.

Raphaeline slowly rose.

She didn’t even look at the creature. She just sighed, as if bored. But her words fell like a sentence:

“While I appreciate the moment you gave me… I will obliterate you in the worst way possible for touching my baby.”

A second. That’s all it took.

Raphaeline’s form vanished, as if the air had swallowed her. The next instant, she was standing before the creature. Her fist, delicate and slender, collided with the turtle’s armor.

The impact was devastating.

The sound exploded like thunder. The creature was thrown for miles, its immense body streaking the sand like a meteor. Dunes were flattened, rocks shattered. A colossal furrow was carved in the desert, as if a god had dragged his hand across the earth.

Ada, still lying down, widened her eyes. She had never seen her mother truly fight. This wasn’t just power. It was something that transcended comprehension.

Raphaeline remained standing, motionless, but her entire body trembled with suppressed fury. Her eyes burned a pure red, flames of blood dancing around her.

“You dared touch my daughter…” she murmured, the words laden with venom. “I will destroy every ounce of your being.”

The turtle reared up in the distance, roaring in defiance. Its paws dug into the earth, and more spines emerged from its armor, pointing skyward like spears. A black glow began to form in its mouth again.

Raphaeline snapped her fingers.

The blood that still stained the desert—Ada’s, from previous battles, even from the corpses scattered throughout the war—responded immediately. Crimson veins rose like serpents, converging toward her. Within seconds, the air was heavy, saturated. The iron smell permeated the air.

The mother opened her arms.

The blood took shape. Swords, spears, chains, whips—every weapon conceived by the mind of the sovereign of crimson floated around her. The storm pulsed, alive, fueled by rage.

The turtle fired its black beam.

Raphaeline advanced.

The streams of blood intertwined, forming a living shield. The impact of the beam was colossal, but the shield absorbed it all, deflecting the energy in arcs that exploded across the sky. The flash illuminated the night as if it were day.

Amidst the light, Raphaeline emerged.

Her feet touched the creature’s armor. The crimson weapons fell like rain, piercing the black spines, tearing them apart. Each impact tore off shards that exploded all around.

The mother laughed. Not with joy, but with pure contempt.

“Is that all? You dared to hurt my daughter… and you present this to me as resistance?”

Her fist descended again.

The armor, indestructible to Ada, cracked under the impact. Agonized screams echoed from the creature.

Raphaeline didn’t stop.

The blood gushing from the cracks was taken under her control, turning into sharp blades within the monster’s very flesh. It was as if its body were a rebellious prison turning against itself.

The turtle struggled, howling, but Raphaeline only increased the pressure.

“Feel the pain,” her voice echoed, low, firm. “The pain you dared bring to my daughter.”

She reached out, and the blood began to constrict. The monster screamed, and its front leg exploded in a crimson mass, ripped off by force.

Ada watched, unable to look away. There was something divine and terrifying about it. Her mother wasn’t just fighting. She was punishing.

Raphaeline grabbed another section of the armor and, with a simple twist of her wrist, ripped off entire plates, exposing raw flesh.

Blood boiled, turning into sharp spikes that pierced the monster’s body from within. Her every movement was accompanied by crimson explosions. Every gesture, a mutilation.

The turtle tried to fight back, firing more crystal projectiles, but Raphaeline simply raised her hand, and the spears themselves turned against their owner, inverted in midair, piercing the creature’s eyes.

The roar of pain was deafening.

“Cry,” Raphaeline murmured, her eyes shining. “Wail. Because there is no hell worse than the one I will show you.”

The entire desert seemed to tremble under her wrath. Dunes rose and crumbled. The clouds above tinged red, as if the sky responded to the massacre.

Raphaeline raised both hands, and from every corpse on the battlefield, from every forgotten drop on the sand, blood was summoned. A crimson ocean formed, swirling around her.

With a sudden movement, she brought the sea crashing down on the turtle.

The monster was swallowed.

Within the ocean of blood, spikes appeared from all directions, piercing, tearing, crushing. Each impact was accompanied by a muffled roar. The armor cracked, the spikes shattered.

And Raphaeline just watched, erect, merciless.

“You dared…” she repeated, her voice echoing across the battlefield. “To touch my baby.”

With a final gesture, she closed her hand into a fist.

The ocean compressed into an immense sphere, trapping the turtle within. The screams were muffled. Blood boiled, crushing and tearing at the same time.

As the sphere shattered, the monster fell back to the ground. Its body was a mass of shattered flesh, its armor in tatters, blood flowing in rivers.

It was still breathing, but barely. The desert was silent, broken only by the creature’s panting sound.

Raphaeline stared at it as if contemplating an insect.

Its body still trembled with fury. Its gaze held no mercy, only promise.

“This is just the beginning,” he said, his voice icy. “I’m not finished with you yet.”