An Owl's Rise

They had still not managed to defeat either Katrina or Anneli, but the three of them could last much longer than before and managed to get their own hits in fairly often.

Even when fighting both Katrina and Anneli together, Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni could hold out for nearly a dozen minutes using the right stall tactics.

"You three really have gotten quite a bit stronger. You really managed to hurt me this time." Katrina said to Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni who were collapsed on the ground.

They had just finished their final training bout, before the big match against the Devurg Faction's leadership that was only a day away.

Yet while it was still a lose for Evelyn and her teammates, Katrina had not gotten out unscathed.

Her right arm was encased in a block of ice and looked to have red patterns in it from her frozen blood.

Along with that there was a deep gash in her stomach where Evelyn had hit here with a wind blade, and several spikes made out of metal imbedded deep into her left leg caused by Rehni's magic.

Overall, it was a lot of damage even for a tyrant rank beast to sustain, and Katrina was having to struggle to maintain her stalwart façade.

"Here Katrina, one of Melisandre's specially made healing potions. Drink up and get better." Anneli said, tossing a bottle over to her fellow attendant.

Deftly Katrina caught it and swiftly drank the potion while Anneli administered some to Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni as well.

Immediately her injures began mend themselves and with a burst of flames she melted the ice that covered her arm.

Within around five minutes Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni who had suffered injuries themselves were back up and receiving a review for their performance in their final training battle against Katrina.

"You all really have come a long way. I could tell that you really wanted to beat me this time and truthfully you were close enough to give me a bit of a scare. If I had not sacrificed my arm and leg, I would have been in big trouble. Bylur and Rehni, you two have become quite capable now that you have made it to the high tier of the awakened rank." Katrina said, a proud glint in her eyes.

After extensively absorbing magical energy from advancement chambers using the crystal they were obtaining from the deposit they had secured int eh desert, and bathing in the magic spring every months, Bylur and Rehni had managed to accelerate their growth tremendously and reach the high tier of the awakened rank.

This was something that normally took the average beast several years to accomplish, but with access to incredible resources and immense determination, Rehni and Bylur had managed to reach the next tier just a few days before the match against the Devurg Faction's leaders.

Unfortunately, despite putting in the same amount of effort, Evelyn had not managed to advance to the next tier.

She simply needed too much magical energy thanks to the staggering quality she had due to the Aethersphere rearranging her body and the human magic core she had.

Even with having taken in the greatest possible quantity of magical energy her body could handle, she was still at least a few months away from reaching the next tier.

Nevertheless, she was still the strongest member of her team despite being at a lower tier now.

Quickly Katrina finished giving feedback on what Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni had done right, and what they had done wrong during the battle.

"Your coordination was pretty good, but after around ten minutes I could tell that you were all getting desperate to finish the match. Instead of worrying about your magical energy running out from using it extensively you should have backed off and drank potions to recovery your magical energy and continued to wear me down. In the end you all opted for desperate all or nothing attacks, and while you managed to do some good damage to me I took it and countered. You did need to make sure that when you unleash attacks that leave a glaring open that you take out your opponent or have an ally to assist you. The three of you unleashed your attacks in rapid succession and none of you were able to cover the other immediately afterwards."

Their heads hung, Evelyn and her teammates took Katrina's lecture about tehri failings.

Though Katrina also had plenty of good points to point out which raised their spirits.

"Now that should be everything. Anneli, do you have anything else to add as an observer?"

"Yeah, are you sure they do not have time for one more match against me?" Anneli responded excitedly.

She had not had the chance to spar with Evelyn, Bylur, and Rehni since their return from the desert three days ago.

It was during this trip that Bylur and Rheni had reached the high teir fo the awkened rank and Anneli was looking forward to fighting with them now that they were stronger.

However, she was not as skilled at holding back as Katrina and sometimes it took, Evelyn and her teammates a while to recover from a training session with her. Hence why they were avoiding fighting her due to the upcoming match with the Devurg Faction that was only a day away.

Sighing Katina explained again why Anneli was not getting to participate.

"Anyway, there is something else you need to do right now. Their battle is tomorrow so we need to make them some food to both encourage and enhance their abilities." Katrina said, pushing Anneli out of the training room.

Following along behind them, Evelyn, Bylur and Rehni made their way to the kitchen and waited for the food to be prepared.

When it was finally finished their began eating to not only restore their energy but also absorb the magic properties imbued into eh food by alchemy.

By the time they had finished the three of them felt revitalized and much stronger than before.

"Those effects should last you all until the end of the match tomorrow, but to be on the safe side we made some more that you can eat right before the bout." Katrina said, handing a larger contain that had  more food in it.

In an instant Evelyn stored it away and thanked both Katrina and Anneli for their support.

After that she saw Rehni and Bylur off before heading to her room.

'I am still on the fence between which ones we should bring.' Evelyn thought, looking over the shelves in her room that were filled with alchemical items she had made.

They were only allowed a limited number of disposable items and she needed to be careful in her decision on what they would be bringing.

Eventually she settled on the items each of them would be bringing after having gone over a number of scenarios and picking out which ones would be best in the majority of situations.

With her preparations for the coming match complete Evelyn flew up to her nest and closed her eyes. She needed her rest in order to be in the best position, since tomorrow's battle would determine her standing in the Roost going forward.