Chapter 425: A Mother's Love

Chapter 425: A Mother's Love

Rakna entered the small hospital set up by the Sun Dwellers, and they stepped away from him in fear. He recognized many of them to be part of the group he had hit with Varunastra. They might not have been very injured by it, but they had received quite a shock; both mental and physical.

He ignored them for the most part, merely walking toward where Ramsa's presence was. He didn't need anyone to give him directions when his senses alone could survey the whole moon. When he opened the door to her room, he found the Sun Goddess lying in bed, a crimson robe wrapping her body while her abdomen was exposed, revealing taut bandages inlaid with runes.VịSit no(v)3lb/!n(.)com for new novels

"You survived. Good job," Rakna uttered dryly, approaching her.

She trembled a bit and turned her head toward him. Before she could even say anything, he swiped the air in front of him and caught something illusionary between two fingers. He then twirled his wrist and the object revealed itself to be an immaculate playing card.

"What are you doing...?" Ramsa straightened her back.

"Seven? That's more than I expected for something I did myself..." The werewolf muttered, eyeing the card. "I suppose I shouldn't underestimate my own spell," he snorted and tossed it. "[Seven of Hearts.]"

As soon as he called its name, the card burst into reddish light and enveloped Ramsa whose eyes widened in shock. The poisonous force attacking her Divinity was ejected out of her body and she began to regain strength at an unimaginable rate. In just a minute, all her injuries were gone and she felt like her reserves were up by about five percent.

"I could have replenished your energy, but that would have at least taken a Queen," the werewolf abruptly said and she snapped her eyes toward him. "How are you feeling?"

"...good," she said quietly, undoing the bandages carefully. "...thank you."

"You're welcome."

She pursed her lips and refused to look at him. "Is there... something I can help you with?"

"Yes, in fact, there is. I'd like you to overcharge the area around the Earth with Solar Energy. The more the better, but you don't have to strain yourself too hard if it's too inconvenient."

Ramsa blinked in confusion at that, looking at him strangely. "Solar..." Her eyes widened. "He gave it to you, didn't he? The Flame."

"You don't sound happy," Rakna crossed his arms.

She clenched the bed sheets and looked away bitterly. "This should not--" She stopped herself and looked down sullenly. She sighed and visibly debated what to say for a while.

"...when Soma suggested the idea to create you... a part of me was rejoiced," she admitted. "I had always wanted to be a mother... but a mistake I made when ascending to godhood barred every possibility of me giving birth."

"So, I was happy... I would have a child..." She smiled, but it quickly turned into a grimace. "But the first thing we did was train you and make you fight a war without even awakening the one power we intended you to have."

"..."

"When we learned that, I didn't feel disappointed in the slightest. Rather, I was scared; what if you died? What kind of mother would let her child risk his life?" She scoffed. "You were so hot-blooded back then; you'd jump into a fight at any given moment. For a while, I seriously considered sealing you. But over time, I was forced to see the one truth; we couldn't win without you."

Once again, Rakna didn't know what to say. This Simulation was pulling at his heartstrings a bit too many times. How deep did the 'scenario' go? At this rate, if he were to stay in this world for too long, combined with the history he unearthed with Clairvoyance, he would genuinely start to think of this woman as his mother...

'The things you've never had... those are always hard to reject,' he thought cynically.

Ramsa raised her head to look at him and tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. "So, I just fought too... I would make sure you survive. But then, Soma sacrificed himself to stop everything. He didn't even warn me. It was both a miserable end as well as a relief to me. But..." Her expression was shadowed as solar magic rippled around her, raising the temperature drastically.

Rage wafted off of her in tides. "You 'died'...! They dared to lie to my face; deny the one hope I had to become a proper mother!" Fire began to spread and some thinner objects were already melting, but Rakna didn't even flinch.

"I shouldn't have believed them!" She shouted. "I should have overturned the moon and killed them all! They stabbed my child in the back and I--!" She bit her lip and her aura helplessly died out, the rage turning into endless sorrow. "And I... failed as a mother for the second time."

Her tears began to fall for good as all the emotions she had held back when seeing him a few days prior erupted at once. "I... am... so sorry..." She sobbed.

'Aw, damn it...' Rakna grumbled internally.

"{Don't be mean,}" Fray scolded.

'That's not my intention,' he retorted and sighed. "Ramsa," he spoke up and she shuddered, wiping her tears away as if she had just noticed them for the first time. But even as she panicked, Rakna didn't stop, "Thank you."

"Eh...?" She froze in place, incapable of apprehending what she had just heard.

"A mother's worth is not determined by her failures, but by her love," Rakna stated with eyes locked onto the ceiling, reminiscing something Arimane had once told him. "Some know how to express it, others regret their inability, but in the end, whatever their limit is, if the love for their children remains strong through thick and skin, then they're great parents regardless."

She clutched her arm. "I don't—"

"Come on," the werewolf rolled his eyes. "In these cases, the child gets to decide. You say you failed as a mother? I say you didn't. Only the scum trample on a parent's love, and I refuse to be anything close to that."

Ramsa fell silent as several emotions ran through her. She fiddled with her hands and opened her mouth shakily. "Then, if..." She swallowed her worry. "If possible... can I ask you a favor?"

"What?"

"I won't... ask you to call me 'mother' if you don't want to. I myself had been calling you 'Sentinel' due to my shame. But..." She looked away nervously. "Would a hug... be possible?" She asked and Rakna audibly snorted in amusement.

For a moment, Ramsa was almost about to take back her words out of anxiety but stopped when she heard a peculiar noise. She looked up and gasped when she saw a young man standing where the werewolf had been.

He looked to be in his twenties, with long hair, purple eyes, and of course, a pair of lupine ears plus nine tails. He wore a black, red, and blue outfit that she had never seen before.

"I'm here to plead," Mino smiled helplessly. "Would you please... save us?"

"It takes guts to be so blunt..." Rakna chortled. "Or plain desperation."

Mino could only look down. He hadn't forgotten the dynamics set in place. The Sentinel had spared them; nothing more, nothing less. It's not because he had been kind to them and that they now had a common enemy that it erased the truth of them attacking the Lunar Kingdom first.

"Oh, well," the therian cracked his neck. "I'm bored anyway," he uttered and Ramsa's eyes twitched a little, an urge to slap the back of his head almost overcoming her. Here she had been crying her eyes out because she feared her child dying, and now he was joking about risking his life.

"...Rakna," she muttered with squinted eyes.

"I know, I know," he smiled and walked directly to the door, past a confused Mino. He opened it and stepped back right as Lilith stumbled into the room with a yelp. Her face reddened terribly fast as she realized eavesdropping on someone like the Sentinel was a nonsensical idea.

However, her blush worsened when she saw his human form. She nearly couldn't stop herself from ogling. At the same time though, as he looked down, she had a déjà vu about a very similar situation just earlier today. And before she could say anything, he patted her, silencing whatever word was stuck in her throat.

"No need to plead, either of you," he said. "After all, I can't really ignore a situation I'm partially at fault for," he added and Lilith's eyes widened slightly before she beamed gratefully.

"Thank you..." She whispered. "And... I'm sorry about earlier. I was too impulsive."

"It's nothing," Rakna shrugged and glanced out the window. "Let's not waste any more time. You were going to leave in around fifty minutes, right?"

"Ah, yes," the demoness nodded.

"We don't need to wait that long," the therian declared and she blinked in surprise. Rakna turned toward Ramsa right after. "You and Soma do what I asked at my signal."

"What signal?" The goddess raised an eyebrow.

"You won't miss it."

"..." She deadpanned.

"...okay, okay, sorry. I've always wanted to say that," Rakna rolled his eyes. "But I wasn't kidding. I will be summoning something you literally can't miss. The moment it happens, I want as much solar and lunar energy as possible."

Ramsa sighed. "Understood. And..." She pursed her lips as if the words she was thinking of were a completely new form of communication. "Take... care of yourself... Don't get hurt."

Rakna's lips twitched upward. "You drive a hard bargain," he said and stepped over the doorstep right as he remembered something, "Oh, right. Before I go, I have something to ask you. I have been trying to store Solar Energy like Lunar Energy, but it doesn't seem to work. Any advice?"

The Sun Goddess scowled and crossed her arms. "You mean with your tails?"

"Yes."

"...that won't work, silly," she made a small smile, surprising Lilith with the softness she could hear in it. "Think about it. Don't you have other catalysts that are much more compatible?"

Rakna blinked at her dumbly and then face-palmed. "I'm an idiot..." Those were the last words he said before walking off and Ramsa sent him off with a chuckle.

* * *

Rakna landed on a rooftop, back as a werewolf. In this Simulation, he honestly felt better this way than otherwise. It was as if his 'default' transformation had been swapped.

He looked up at the Earth and deployed his three pairs of wings. He promptly began to manipulate the solar energy around him and redirected it to his back.

❮ ◈ ❯

You have learned a new Path Skill; Solaris Cosmos!

---

Solaris Cosmos

For each wing grown, a bank of 3 000 Solar Points will be created. It can be used as a substitute for mana, a boost in statistics, solar skills, raw application... The stocks can be recharged at any place with solar energy present. Cooldown: None.

Note: 1 MP is worth 2 SP.

❮ ◈ ❯

"As simple as that," he laughed lightly and began to warm up. Several colors sparkled around him like electricity as he stirred all of his energy types into activity.

"{So? What is the plan?}" Fray asked casually.

"Well, of course. The strategy my old man loves the most."

"{...which is?}"

The werewolf smirked, "Blow it up."