The Other Side/Rise Of The Crow

All of Mine's party is surrounding me as I take a good look at all of them next to the light of their campfire. There's the Bracadier boy who almost smashed my head in earlier, there's the Mardian boy who's wielding dual staffs, there's a Scavian girl with a Katana-like sword. And right next to Mine there is a Windian boy who looks eerily similar to her in facial structure.

"Oh! I recognize him now! Isn't that the boy who stood up to King with you earlier Mine?" The Windian boy asks.​​

"That's right Marco, the very one! That girl we captured is also the half-blood I defeated earlier in the target game!" Mine reminds them.

"What do you think Scarla? Is he faster than you? I did catch him pretty easily!" The Bracadier boy asks as he smirks at me.

"It would be best if you didn't underestimate our opponents so much, this boy is also a Chosen Child meaning he is blessed by Adora, Idiot Ikbar!" Scarla replies her voice full of anger.

"Yikes, she's really still throwing insults this late in the night. If she's ticked off I guess victory is already ours!" The Mardian boy remarks confidently.

"Nero, keep a good eye on him! I can tell by his stance that he's had some really intense training!" Marco commands the Mardian boy.

"Don't worry, he won't get anywhere without me knowing!" Nero replies as readies both of his staff.

Crap, without my team I'll admit I feel a little underpowered. My Flight of The Crow spell won't be enough to stop an organized team like this one! I have no choice, I can't pull any punches if I want to save Sachi!

"RAHHH! Scavian Art: Embrace of The Crow Mode 1!" I yell as I transform.

My hands turn into sharp talons, my vision becomes sharper, my arms and body become covered in fur, and my wings become even longer!

"What the hell is this?" Ikbar yells his voice full of fear.

"Don't lose heart! With all of us fighting together he doesn't stand a chance!" Mine shouts as they all lunge at me.

I pass by the rest of Mine's team with my blinding speed and go straight for her. I swing at her furiously with my talons but she manages to dodge all of my attacks with ease.

"Fast little bird!" Ikbar yells as he swings his club at me.

I fly above his attack and attack him from behind with two quick slashes from my talons.

"Crap!" Ikbar yells as he falls to the ground in pain.

"Gotta be faster than that!" I shout as I continue to fly around Mine's team.

"RAH!" Scarla yells as she swings her katana at me at staggering speeds.

I block her attacks with my talons and wings as the amount of speed and pressure she's putting on me almost reminds me of Layla's attacks. We keep attacking each other until finally I get a solid hit on her blade and break it in half.

"You're done!" I yell as I prepare to strike her with my talons.

"Now guys!" Scarla yells as she smirks at me.

I look behind me and see Marco, Mine, and Nero all unleashing their Taqa.

"FIRE!" Mine yells as all of them fire off super potent spells at me.

What? They should've said their incantation first! I won't be able to dodge in time!

"Scavian Art: Winged Shield!" I shout as I protect myself at the very last second.

All the attacks hit me causing devastating damage and burning my wings in the process. My body slowly starts to transform back to normal as the only thing I've managed to keep going is my Flight of The Crow technique. I slowly get up and grip my dagger as my enemies start slowly walking to me.

"Ugh, that really hurt… " I say as I'm in agonizing pain from the attacks.

"Unbelievable, he's quite durable for a Scavian!" Nero points out as both of his staff are smoking from his spell.

"The fact he was able to withstand our triple-threat attack, not even the colossi could handle that!" Marco adds his voice full of astonishment.

"It's too bad the rest of the Chosen Children couldn't be here, that would've been a great battle indeed! That reminds me, Marco go check on that trap with the girl!" Mine commands as the rest of them aim their weapons at me.

"Got it!" Marco replies as he jumps up one of the tall trees.

"Sachi! Be careful!" I shout as unleash my Taqa.

"Give it up, we've got you outnumbered and your friend is captured! However, I've grown to actually like you and your spirit so I'll give you an offer. Lead us back to your base, give us your flag, and give us your supplies and we can guarantee your safety! So what do you say Chosen Child?" Mine offers as she looks sincere.

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to do that! My friends will come for me one way or another and I'll go down fighting if that means betting on them!" I reply confidently as I prepare for another all-out battle.

"What an idiot! Well, whatever happens to your little friend is your fault! You should've just–" Mine shakes her head in disappointment.

"Mine! The girl got out!" Marco yells from the top of the tree.

"What? What do you mean she got out? That trap had a Taqa absorption spell on it! She shouldn't have been able to move without me knowing about it!" Mine shouts back her voice full of confusion.

"I don't know!" Marco replies as he jumps back down to the ground.

"I don't sense any Taqa either! She's hiding somewhere!" Nero notes as he looks around in a panic.

"Everyone keep it together! Marco and I will look for the girl while the rest of you take care of bird-brain over here!" Mine commands as she and Marco are about to jump.

Suddenly, five arrows fly down from the sky aiming at Mine's team.

"Watch out!" Scarla warns as all of them dodge the arrows.

"I should've figured! She's hiding at the top of the trees somewhere!" Mine calls out.

"Damn, ranged fighters are my only weakness!" Ikbar yells in frustration.

"Hahaha!" Sachi laughs psychotically as her voice rings loudly throughout the forest.

"What the hell do you think you're laughing at?" Mine yells as she and Marco start darting up the trees.

"You really thought that weak little trap would be able to lock me down? You really underestimate us!" Sachi replies as she's clearly stalling time for me to recover my Taqa.

"We'll see how long you're laughing when we shoot you down!" Marco replies his voice full of anger.

"Oh yeah? How about I warm it up for you guys? It seems a little cold tonight! Windian Art: Rain of Infinite Flaming Arrows!" Sachi yells as I see her finally jump off of a branch.

Sachi shoots down an endless amount of red magic flaming arrows that start raining down across the forest lighting the trees on fire!

"Crow!" Sachi yells as our eyes meet.

"Coming!" I yell back as I fly towards Sachi with all the speed I got.

"Nero stop them!" Ikbar commands as he and Scarla can't reach me.

"Mardian Art: Binding Prison!" Nero shouts as she shoots a blue magic attack at me.

I dodge the attack with ease and fly straight towards Sachi catching her in the process.

"Sorry, you gotta be quicker than that!" I smirk as I look at all of Mine's party.

"We can't let them get away! Marco, it's time!" Mine shouts as she powers up her Taqa with Marco.

"They can't stop us both! Let's do it!" Marco replies as the both of them cock their bows back simultaneously.

"Windian Art: Twin Flame Arrows!" They both shout as they fire off two enormous magic arrows at us.

"Crow do something!" Sachi yells as the arrows are gaining on us.

"Scavian Art: Avian Boost!" I yell as I increase my speed tenfold and barely dodge away from the vicious attack.

"Impossible! Come on let's keep going after them!" Mine yells her eyes full of anger.

"Enough, they outsmarted us! We need to save our energy for tomorrow, we'll worry about them later!" Marco reasons as he grabs his sister's shoulder trying to calm her down.

"It's time to dip, we gotta go check on Jack and the rest of them!" I remind Sachi as we fly away from Mine's team.

Two minutes later, I feel my Taqa take an intense dip and I know it's from the use of my wings.

"Just stop, I know this technique puts a lot of strain on your body! Let's just walk the rest of the way, I brought stamina potions just in case so take a sip!" Sachi says as I fly back to the ground and she hands me a potion.

"Thanks." I reply as we both try to catch our breaths.

"I didn't think things would get that bad. Thankfully Kira taught us how to get out of traps. Otherwise, we might've been screwed." Sachi sighs as we slowly walk down the forest.

"Got that right, hopefully nothing bad has happened since we've left there." I reply.

Suddenly, a big magic explosion happens just north of us near our camp!

"Dammit! We gotta go! That's definitely near where we were staying!" Sachi commands as we both sprint towards the explosion.

One thing after another, we can't catch a break…