An Owl's Rise

Evelyn now seeing the entirety of the burrowing owls' forces was less than impressed.

Their strongest member was at the high tier of the awakened rank and was the only one at that level.

The ospreys who were their enemy apparently had two peak awakened rank beasts and greater numbers.

As strong as she was thanks to the heavenly flame and Aethersphere she doubted that just her inclusion alone would make up the difference in power between the two groups.

And while she was analyzing the capabilities of the burrowing owls their current leader, who was the strongest among them, came forward and fixed her with a disheartened look.

Of course, with him being less than a foot tall Evelyn did not find the gesture intimidating but rather had to stifle a laugh.

"Po you say that you have found an outsider owl that will aid us but all you brought was a low tier. From how you said she killed the rulers of the cliffs of the western desert I assumed she was at the peak of the awakened rank. There is simply no way that she will be able to provide any real assistance." The leader of the burrowing owls said.

He then turned towards Evelyn and said, "I thank you for your intentions and that you would offer your help, but you are not enough. Head back to where you came from and go about your own business."

With the current leader of the burrowing owls telling her to leave, Evelyn shrugged her shoulders and prepared to go.

If they did not want her help, she was not going to push the issue.

In the end she had only come here at the prospect of getting a valuable reward, but she did not lose anything by not helping them.

However, before she took off Po leapt forward and used the maneuver he was almost too good at executing and slammed his head into the ground.

He begged Evelyn not to go and began extoling her power to everyone else.

"I know she may only be at the low tier of the awakened rank, but her power is greater than any of ours and rivals our leaders before he was killed by the osprey while undergoing his evolution to the tyrant rank. If we just give her a chance, I know that she can help us reclaim our home."

After Po's impassioned speech the other burrowing owls got reckless and some of them looked towards Evelyn hopefully.

Unable to simply brush off Po's show, the leader of the burrowing owls turned towards Evelyn once more and asked her if she would give a demonstration of her power.

For nearly a minute Evelyn contemplated whether it would be worthwhile to continue and show what she was capable of or simply be on her way.

'There is possible merit in helping them but is it greater than the risk.'

Eventually after much consideration Evelyn decided to at least try to win back the burrowing owls' home.

If at any point the situation became too dangerous, or she felt it was not worth it, she could simply leave. And if she was successful the possibility of having access to the stable magical spring was quite tantalizing.

"Fine allow me to show you a bit of my power."

Focusing on her magical energy she poured it out and molded it into the shape she wanted before imbuing it with her magical affinities.

First, she brought out her heavenly flame and formed it into a dozen spears and then wrapped it up with her wind to increase its speed and power.

'Jet Javelins.'

When she was ready se unleashed one of her stapple attacks and fired it into eh desert.

Twelve large explosions rocked the desert here her attacks hit, and plumes of sand shot up into the sky.

All of the burrowing owls were left stunned not only by the power behind Evelyn's attack but also by her control.

Only their former leader, who was now dead, had been able to weave magic so quickly and with as much complexity.

"Was that enough of did you need to see some of my stronger attacks." Evelyn said confidently.

She wanted to give off an air of superiority in order to make these burrowing owls more willing to follow her even if it was not really her style.

"No that was more than enough. I can now see why Po believes you can help us. Your power is so far beyond the norm for a low tier awakened rank that it is baffling." The leader of the burring owls said.

Then once he had shaken off his shock, he looked towards Evelyn and bowed his head.

"Please allow me to apologize for my rude behavior earlier. You truly are as powerful as Po told us. And allow me to now formally introduce myself. I am Otis. The son of the former leader of our flock and our current leader. Though by default."

After saying this, he explained to Evelyn that before the osprey attack, he had three older siblings who were all at the peak of the awakened rank and in line to be the next leader of the burrowing owls well before him.

Unfortunately, they had died in the battle even if they fought valiantly. Leaving him to lead when he never thought he would have to.

"But with your gracious help we will have a chance to take back our lost home that the invading osprey from afar took. We will make preparation to attack and with you leading us we will strike back against those hateful ospreys." Otis said with a murderous glint in his eyes.

But Evelyn held up one of her feet and stopped him.

"No, we will not start an attack on them yet. First, we need accurate information on their forces and to bring victory into our favor. It would be suicidal to simply charge in headlong"

Once she had brought the burrowing owls' fervor down, she began explaining what it was that they needed to do.

In terms of knowledge of tactics, while she was no master of war she might as well have been compared to these burrowing owls.

Their idea of an attack was simply to barge in and start throwing around magic.

Of course, Evelyn was able to find out that they did use ambush tactics when hunting but the burrowing owls did not seem to have the common sense to put this into practice while fighting larger organized groups like the ospreys.

"First, we need a more accurate count of their numbers. To that end we should assign some scouts to sit outside the entrance to your home and count the ospreys that come and go. Your small size should do excellently for a mission like this.

Then once we have that information, we can start strategically whittling them down as they go out to hunt. If we do this well, we should be able to bring their forces down to around the same level as yours." Evelyn explained.

All the burrowing owls nodded along at her ideas, and they looked at her like she was some sort of genius.

'I suppose just being intelligent does not make you knowledgeable.' Evelyn thought while continuing to give out her plans and ideas.