An Owl's Rise

Sending out a small pulse of magical energy, Evelyn activated the attachments on the ends of both of her wings and the blades hidden within popped out.

This gave her opponent pause for a moment and at that time Evelyn struck.

With reckless abandon she charged forward at her full speed.

Naturally her physical abilities were top notch just as her magic was and her opponent was unable to react fast enough to keep up.

At the last moment they just managed to use the rain around them to launch a ball of water at Evelyn, but she forced through it by spinning her body around like a top.

With little resistance the blades on the end of her wings carved into her opponent as she moved past them like a deadly pinwheel.

However, the wounds, while substantial were not quite enough to defeat her opponent and fueled by the rage of the pain they were in, fired off a powerful spray of water to try and knock Evelyn to the ground.

Doing her best, she tried to evade the attack but was unable to get the last half of her left wing out of the way and felt the crushing force of the water hit her.

This caused her to begin spinning again, but this time it was not of her own choice.

'Damn it!'

After getting hit by that last attack Evelyn was knocked off course, and the continuous shower of rain and the water magic attacks she had taken made her entire body soaked with water.

It was now very difficult for her to maintain her altitude and fly fast and she could tell she was going to move out of range to keep her wind enchantments up on Rehni and Bylur.

'Hopefully they can do the rest on their own. I need my magic back now.' Evelyn thought of seeing her opponent pursuing her.

She had a plan, but to make it a success she needed her wind magic and had to cancel the support she was giving to Rehni and Bylur.

With the ability to use her magic back Evelyn allowed herself to continue falling and made it seem as if her left wing was more damaged than it was.

If her plan was to work, she needed her opponent to follow her, and luckily, they fell for her trap.

Naturally they would want to finish her off now while she was injured instead of giving her time to drink a healing potion and come back at full strength.

'Now.' Evelyn thought as she released a bottle from her storage cuff and sent it flying upwards with a gust of wind.

Yet the owl chasing after her had been expecting some sort of retaliation and used their water magic to knock the battle away.

It then saw out of the corner of its eyes a number of pills being scattered everywhere.

The bottle Evelyn had launched at it simply contained her magical energy replenishment pills and was a feint.

Her real attack came a moment later and her opponent did not catch it in time because of the blind spot they had created knocking the first bottle away.

This second one on the other hand contained a viscous black liquid and when it was within around five feet of Evelyn's opponent it shattered and released its contents.

Unable to fully block the substance the mid-tier awakened rank owl with a water affinity found that they were now covered in a sticky substance that would not come off.

It had set fast despite the wet conditions and even with water magic Evelyn's opponent was not able to get it off fast enough.

Their movements were now sealed, they could not fly with their wings stuck to their body by the tar Evelyn had covered them in.

With her opponent basically unable to move Evelyn flew around them and created a whirlwind that launched them towards the ground like a meteor.

She then used her momentum to fly upwards while her opponent crashed into the ground with a heavy thud.

Bylur and Rehni were still in the middle of their own battles, and she was worried that without her help they would not be able to win.

Except when she arrived to help, she found that the two fights were nearly over.

Bylur's opponent was covered in frost and barely able to fly. Clearly reeling from the added weight and extreme cold.

The potion that Evelyn had given him allowed him to worry less about defense, and even though the environment was not the best for him, the added moisture in the air did increase the power of his ice magic.

Rehni's opponent on the other hand had found themselves struck by lightning from the storm thanks to a clever trap by Rehni.

Instead of fearing to use her metal magic she had created wire and wrapped it around her opponent and allowed it to be struck.

She had taken a bit of damage from the lightning as well, but since she had kept her opponent above her, they had taken the brunt of it.

It was now only a matter of time before Rehni and Bylur finished up, and with Evelyn's assistance the match soon ended with the high tier water affinity owl holding out the longest.

'They were quite a bit tougher than I anticipated and showed us the difference between those that fight often and those that do not. Even the mid-tier was stronger than some of the high tiers that I have fought. It just goes to show me once again that rank is not everything.'

As their last opponent fell and was clearly unable to continue the match was called in Evelyn's team favor.

An instant later the world of rain and wind they had been fighting in vanished and they were warped back to the room that they had been in before the match started.

"We finally did it! We managed to get into the top Five Thousand!" Bylur said excitedly the moment they were back.

"Yes, we have now reached our first milestone." Rehni said with a proud expression on her face.

The three of them had worked hard to get this far and while their last battle had been grueling and difficult, they had managed to come out on top.

"I agree we have much to be excited about. We will now be able to collect a hundred thousand credits every month. Plus were got three hundred thousand as a prize for being the victors." Evelyn said while holding up her identification cuff.

The numbers on their team account had just jumped up and she showed it off to Bylur and Rehni

The two of them looked at the much higher number with amazement and glee.

Unlike Evelyn, who could make a large sum of money from alchemy, the two of them did not have such a lucrative talent.

Bylur was able to make a steady income using his life magic, but he was not near good enough to make close to what Evelyn's shop did.

Rehni on the other hand earned her credits through completing missions and participating in the ranking hall. It was a major source of income for her.

"Stilt this battle has shown us that the top five thousand is no joke. We were barely able to win, and this is one of the lower ranking teams. Before our next match. I believe it would be best for us to train and raise our levels as high as possible. We are going to lose if we recklessly keep trying to charge up the ranks." Rehni said after they had all calmed down a bit.

They were now contending with high tier awakened rank owls and next time they could be up against a full team of them or even have to face an individual that was at the peak of the awakened rank.

IF they kept up their current momentum it was only a matter of time before they hit a hard wall they could not currently get over.

"I agree. Our opponents are not only getting stronger in terms of their levels but also their control and coordination. I believe as we are now this is about as high as we can go." Evelyn said.

Bylur on the other hand had seemed ready to keep challenging stronger and stronger teams and deflated when Evelyn and Rehni suggested that they slow down now that they had reached the top five thousand.

"Wait, we are not going to fight anymore? Are we just going to go back to focusing advancing instead then?" Bylur asked.

"Yes, that is what we are going to do. You two need to reach the mid-tier of the awakened rank before we try and go any higher. To that end, I have something special that I want to show you both. It is how I was able to get where I am so quickly. And it will be a show of my trust in both of you."

Curious, Bylur and Rehni turned towards Evelyn. Their attention fully on her.

Of course, they wanted to know what sort of miraculous situation had allowed her to jump up from a low tier to a mid-tier so quickly.

Her speed was practically breaking records, and it was honestly astounding. Especially since she needed a lot more magical energy than any other beast at the same level as her thanks to the Aethersphere and her human magic core.

"Well, since you both seem to want to know so badly, I will tell you. I happen to know the location of a stable magic spring."