An Owl's Rise

This battle had been her first time utilizing the three new gravity spells the Aethersphere had granted her, and she was certain that her control over them had room to grow.

Now was not the time to practice, though. She wanted to meet back up with her companions as soon as possible. She honestly missed them and wanted to catch up with what they had been up to for the past two years.

'But first things first.'

After coming out victorious, Evelyn was not going to leave without collecting her prize.

With her wind magic she cut open what remained of the great ape she had defeated and removed its beast core. There were any number of uses for a powerful high tier tyrant beast's core after all.

Once she had collected her prize, Evelyn cleaned herself off with magic. She had gotten all manner of dust and blood on herself and could not stand the feeling of it on her body.

Yet, as she was blowing every foreign substance off of herself, the wind magic she almost always kept up for detection picked up something approaching at an extraordinary speed.

By the time she turned around to face the individual coming for her, they had already arrived and were standing on a large tree branch above Evelyn.

Nevertheless, she did not tense up and prepare for battle, but instead relaxed.

A bright smile she could not help forming on her face when she saw who had arrived.

"I'm glad to see you again and in good health Lucia. It took a while longer than everyone else, but as you can see, I've returned as a tyrant beast." Evelyn said proudly.

"Yes, I can see that. I came over here to investigate because I sensed two powerful beasts duking it out, but I see that it was just you. Though, it seems that you really did a number of on this area." Lucia said, gazing at the destroyed landscape that went on for as far as the eye could see.

"In my defense, it was my opponent that did most of the damage. He used some form of earth magic that allowed him to manipulate the land like it was water. I personally barely did any damage to the forest."

Lucia did not seem to particularly believe Evelyn did not contribute to the area's destruction, but she made no further comment. She did not care much about the condition of the forest so long as the entrance to the Verdant Warlord's Doman was not damaged.

Now that she had confirmed what had occurred, Lucia jumped down from the tree she had been observing things from and landed next to Evelyn.

"It's good to see you safe. Every one of us was worried that something bad had happened to you since you had not sent any communications in quite some time. Bylur, Rehni, and Aralee nearly dropped everything to search for you. I had to tell them to calm down and believe in you to prevent them from doing something reckless." Lucia said, placing her hand on Evelyn's shoulder.

Through this gesture, Evelyn could sense that she was concerned for her just the same as Aralee, Bylur, and Rehni.

Still there was one person missing from Lucia's report that she wanted to know about.

"And what about Verrader? How did he react to my disappearance."

In response Lucia just sighed and shook her head. Making it clear that she did not know anything about what Evelyn's brother was up to.

"Sorry, he hasn't kept in contact at all for the last few months. Even before you stopped sending messages. Of course, we knew that he was going to go on his own way. I don't think he even knows that you were missing."

"I guess that's to be expected. He's got his own path to walk. I'm sure we will see him again."

Evelyn was a bit saddened to hear that Verrader was already gone and had no intention of coming back anytime soon. He wanted to clear his conscious on his own though, and she felt that accepting his decision was for the best. Trying to force him to stay would only have built up his guilt and grief until he could not take it anymore.

"What about the others then? Have they been up to anything interesting?"

"Nothing too exciting, but they have each been working hard on the first two layers of the Verdant Warlord's Domain. Honestly, their progress has been unbelievable. It took me over a century to reach my current level, yet each of them will likely achieve the same thing in just another half decade or so.

Really, it's almost unfair how fast you're all growing." Lucia said, shrugging her shoulders and letting out an exasperated sigh.

However, Evelyn had to point out that she likewise had access to the domain which was one of the secrets to their accelerated progress. Once she obtained every catalyst she needed to evolve, she would see explosive growth as well.

"Speaking of evolution catalyst, what did you end up needing? While you were out of touch for a while, it's pretty impressive that you gathered them all in just a few months."

"I just happened to get a little lucky, that's all. I already had two in my possession, plus the evolution potion to act as a substitute. Then I was able to get the last two I needed in the same place."

Evelyn went on to regale Lucia with her journey into the Inferno Field, her dealings with the Rangers, and the fierce battle she had against the grand fire elemental.

"You certainly live a colorful life. I'm almost surprised how much trouble you can get yourselves into with relative ease. And unfortunately, it looks like you have attracted even more problems."

Casting her gaze out into the forest, Lucia could sense several powerful beasts closing in on their location. Just like her, they had been attracted by Evelyn's battle with one of the forest's apex beasts.

"Oh, come on, this barely counts as trouble. We can easily deal with the beasts coming our way without any difficulty." Evelyn said confidently.

"Yes, yes." Lucia replied dismissively. "Lets just get this over with quickly. The others will undoubtedly want to see you. And I'm certain the longer I stay out her alone with you, the more I'm going to end up having to deal with."