An Owl's Rise

With Melisandre taking control of the last trial, Aldana could see that things were going off of the rails.

"Wait this is not what we planned-"

"Be quiet Aldana. I can make changes to the trial if I so choose. I was put in charge of administering these trials and now I am going to do what I deem correct. To join us they need to be strong, and what better way to prove it than to have them fight amongst each other."

Melisandre after having taken control looked towards the owls that had passed the second trial, all of whom had curious expressions on their faces.

"You, the one who passed the second trial first. Step forward."

Tentatively doing as he was told, an owl with brown and black plumage moved towards Melisandre.

"Now you are going to fight my future personal disciple and if you win you can take her spot. If you lose then you will not ever be able to enter the Owls Roost, I will make sure of that. Otherwise, you can challenge any of the other owls here, and if you win you will be accepted to enter our sanctuary, just not as my disciple."

Her mouth gaping open, Evelyn was stunned to hear this.

This hardly seemed like an equal shot, especially if she was going to have to fight every other owl here in one-on-one duels.

'Maybe he will just pick one of the other owls. He can simply choose the weakest one and pass easily. That is the best opportunity you could ask for.' Evelyn thought.

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed quickly as this owl who was one of the strongest and most capable participants in this trial looked confidently at Evelyn and agreed to fight her.

Internally groaning she had hoped to avoid this kind of conflict.

"Very well, then it is decided. You two can battle it out right here. Everyone else move back into the trees and let them have the clearing."

At Melisandre's command all of the other owls moved away, and left Evelyn alone with her opponent.

'I guess there is no choice. I just have to win this fight.'

Sizing up her opponent Evelyn could tell that he was pretty strong.

He was by far the biggest owl she had seen at the fiend beast rank, as he stood just a bit over thirteen feet tall and was more than twice her size.

'Still in comparison to that queen spider he does not feel like much of a threat. I just need to fight smart and use my agility to keep out of his range.'

Aiming for caution, Evelyn reared herself back ready to jump into the air and create some distance between them.

"Begin." Melisandre said.

Taking off into the air Evelyn did not even thinking of fighting head on, and her strategy paid off almost immediately.

The much larger owl suddenly lunged forward and slammed hard into the ground where she had been but moments before.

The ground below him began to crack and shatter and pointed upwards as it turned into spikes.

Had she not moved out of the way the instant the battle began, even if she had dodged the other owl's body slam, she certainly would have been caught by the spikes made of earth rising up out of the ground around him.

'Whew that is definitely dangerous. But I should be able to avoid anything like that as long as I stay in the air.'

Flying from above, Evelyn had the aerial advantage, and before her opponent could fly after her, she made her move.

With a heavy flap of her wings, she sent down a strong gust of wind, wanting to see how this owl with black and brown feathers might react.

To her surprise he just stood there not moving out of the way and glanced up at the gust of wind as if it was not even worth dodging.

As the gust of wind connected, he simply flexed upwards with his head and dispelled Evelyn's attack.

'What the hell?!'

Watching his happen Evelyn had no idea how her attack had managed to do nothing when she had just sent a very heavy blow out.

However, her attack that normally would have at least knocked down even an owl at the peak of the fiend beast rank, had failed to do anything against her current opponent.

Looking up at Evelyn with a smug expression, the owl with black and brown feathers took off after her, not afraid of her attacks in the least having easily taken her first one.

'What a fool.' Evelyn thought seeing the brazen charge.

This owl was coming at her incredibly recklessly, thinking his victory was already secured when he had only dealt with one attack that was only meant to see how he would respond.

Spinning her body around Evelyn built up a whirlwind around herself, and began fueling her heavenly flames.

Quickly her entire body was engulfed in the crimson fire, and she let loose the same attack she had against the queen spider.

It was the perfect chance to deliver a powerful blow against an opponent that had underestimated her, and she held nothing back as she fired off all she had.

Her opponent tried creating a shield out of earth in front of him to tank the attack, but when the fire being further empowered by her wind magic hit the earth shield, it blasted right through.

A fiery explosion then rocked the area as Evelyn's heavenly flames connected with her adversary.

An instant later the charred corpse of the other owl fell out of the sky while still smoking.

Seeing this all of the other owls looked out in surprise as they witnessed a show of power that none of them could have contended with.

Evelyn's attack had just packed too much power behind it for any fiend beast to take.

"Well, I believe that as her opponent is dead, the winner is my future disciple. Now did anyone else want to take her on. Oh, and do know she will be given time to rest and be brought up back to her peak before the battle."

Looking over at the other owls Melisandre waited to see if any of them would be willing to take Evelyn on now.

Yet while the rewards were good, not a single one of the remaining owls that had passed the second trial moved forward to challenge Evelyn.

After seeing that overwhelming display of power, there was no doubt that in a fair head on fight that none of them had a chance to win. There was simply no way for them to deal with her heavenly flame.

Also, there was no reason for them to lose their lives in an unlikely to win battle, when they could take their chances fighting someone else

"I see, then she has passed and will become my disciple. As for the rest of you, Aldana will organize you into pairs and you can go at it amongst each other, and the winner of each battle shall be accepted into our ranks at the Owls Roost." Melisandre said before flying over to Evelyn.

She now had very little interest in the remaining trial and was going to leave it all to Aldana. That way she could direct her attention towards her new disciple.

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