Mitchelle stood amidst the quiet expanse of the Null Estate's ethereal gardens, her expression calm yet her mind a tempest of unrelenting fury.
Despite her composed exterior, her thoughts lingered on the insolence Alala, the vampire matron, had dared display her killing intent toward her son.
Anthony had emerged victorious in the bloodbath, his triumph untainted by sacrifice or compromise.
Yet Alala, blinded by grief and hubris, had dared release her killing intent against him, flouting all notions of restraint and honor.
Mitchelle closed her eyes, taking a measured breath.
Her innate affinity for magic rippled through the air as she invoked a subtle spell of clairvoyance.
The magic wrapped around her like an unseen mist, tethering itself to the faint remnants of Alala's aura from the bloodbath.
The threads of power wove through the ether, pulling Mitchelle's awareness toward a distant stronghold veiled in shadow.
It was there that Alala brooded, the weight of her daughter's death fanning the flames of her anger into a roaring inferno.
Mitchelle's lips curved into a grim smile.
"So you thought your malice would go unanswered?"
She murmured, her voice carrying a steel edge.
Without hesitation, she lifted her hand and conjured a shimmering portal of iridescent light.
The air hummed with energy as she stepped through, vanishing from the gardens in an instant.
Mitchelle emerged in the heart of the Crimson Bastion, the ancestral home of Alala and her kin.
The towering, bloodstone spires of the fortress reached skyward, their surfaces glistening under the moonlight like fresh wounds.
The air reeked of copper and decay, a testament to the blood magic that permeated every corner of the stronghold.
Mitchelle's arrival did not go unnoticed.
The instant her presence materialized, the oppressive aura of Alala flared to life.
The vampire matron appeared in a flash, her scarlet eyes burning with wrath.
"So, the human decides to face me on my own grounds"
Alala sneered, her voice a venomous whisper that echoed through the chamber.
"Have you come to apologize for your wretched son's crime, or are you here to meet the same end as your kind deserve?"
Mitchelle's gaze was unflinching.
"Your arrogance is as tiresome as your grief"
She replied, her tone laced with icy disdain.
"You dared to bare your fangs at my son, despite the contract binding you. I am here to ensure you never repeat that mistake"
She abandoned subtlety, channeling every ounce of her power into a single attack.
The blood in her veins surged unnaturally, her body glowing with a sinister crimson light as she prepared to unleash a devastating spell.
Mitchelle, however, was unfazed.
She raised her hand, and the room was filled with a blinding light as her elemental magic reached its peak.
A vortex of fire and lightning swirled around her, its intensity overwhelming.
Alala hesitated for a fraction of a second, her instincts screaming at her to retreat.
But her pride and rage refused to allow her to yield.
The two forces clashed, but it was over in an instant.
Mitchelle's magic obliterated Alala's attack with contemptuous ease, the sheer power of the spell sending the vampire matron crashing to the ground.
Mitchelle stepped forward, her gaze cold and unyielding as she looked down at Alala's battered form.
The vampire struggled to rise, her body trembling with pain and disbelief.
"How... how can you possess such power?"
Alala rasped, her voice barely above a whisper.
Mitchelle's expression softened into something resembling pity, though it was laced with disdain.
"You underestimated me, as you have always underestimated my kind. That was your first mistake"
Without another word, Mitchelle raised her hand, and a sphere of pure energy formed above her palm.
She released it, and Alala's form was engulfed in a blinding light.
When the brilliance faded, there was nothing left of the vampire matron.
Mitchelle turned away, her expression unreadable.
"A shame"
She murmured to herself.
"She could have lived had she only known her place"
As Mitchelle departed from the Crimson Bastion, the fortress trembled and groaned, its very foundations weakened by the battle.
But she paid it no mind, her thoughts already returning to Anthony.
She had protected her son, as she always would.
And she had delivered a message to all who would dare threaten him: there were consequences for challenging the might of Mitchelle Null.
Although a mana contract bound Alala, restraining her from meddling in Anthony's life, it did not imply that Mitchelle would idly stand by, allowing the affront to her son to go unchallenged.