An Owl's Rise

"Aralee, are you doing alright?"

After breaking free from the frozen venom that had surrounded him, Bylur rushed over towards his companion.

She had collapsed on the ground from the venom that Osvaldo had injected her with.

"I'm… Fine." Aralee chocked out.
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Her body had been flooded with a potent paralytic toxin that was making it difficult to move. Even the huge quantity of antidote pills she had taken were only slightly mitigating the effects.

Fortunately, Bylur was capable of restorative magic and a gentle light shimmered around him and spread towards Aralee.

Within only a couple of seconds, she was able to stand again, though any quick movements would be beyond her for a while.

"Thanks. Now let's remove his belongings and scattered the dust. The more doubt of what truly happened here, the better."

Nodding his head, Bylur moved over to where what remained of Osvaldo lay on the ground.

Yet, as he approached a large ring that sat atop the pile of dust that had become the Deamhain sect executive began to glow.

Bylur swiftly jumped back towards Aralee and put up a protective barrier around the two of them. He was afraid that a powerful retribution item that activated upon its owner death might have activated.

This turned out to not be the case thankfully. Though the true nature of this ring may have been worse for them.

A sudden holographic image rose up and showed the form of a man that both Bylur and Aralee were familiar with.

"So, you are the two that killed Osvaldo. A man and a woman. The only ones within the Miris Sect that should pose any threat to Osvaldo are Elisson and Vivienne. Your faces may be hidden, but your strength has already given you away." Diomed said, his expression filled with contempt.

Of course, he was far from correct in his assertion. The two that sat at the top of the Miris Sect may have wanted Osvaldo gone, but not enough so that they would resort to murder. The consequences for killing a member of a top-ranking Sect's leadership were obvious.

Without waiting for Diomed to say anything else, Bylur leapt forward and smashed the ring that was projecting the man.

Both he and Aralee had bene caught off guard by his sudden appearance but allowing him to observe them for any longer would increase the chances of their being found out.

"It's a good thing that we opted to wear disguises." Aralee said, a cold seat having formed on her brow.

Right now, Diomed was the last person that they wanted to come after them. He was far stronger than what they could handle and there was no telling how long they could avoid him if he was intent on finding them.

"We need to hurry. He's capable of space magic and could show up here at any moment." Bylur said, panic in his eyes.

Hastily they took all of the items Osvaldo had on his person and placed them within their storge magic tools. Then Aralee used her wind magic to scatter the dust that was all the remained of the man's body.

With their objective completed, the two of them fled from the warehouse and headed towards the meeting point that all of them had designated beforehand.

…

"This should be the place."

Hidden behind a large tree, Evelyn gazed at a large manor that was owned by one of the highest-ranking elders of the Miris Sect.

His name was Gidem and Evelyn had seen him fraternizing with Uriah before when she was observing Uriah at the largest entertainment venue within the Miris Sect.

He seemed to have a close relationship with the Deamhain Sect members and had been hosting them during his stay.

'Found them.'

With her wind magic Evelyn had been searching the large estate's grounds. Thanks to Lucia's intelligence gathering she had found out that the captured owls were all being held somewhere on Gidem's property.

There were patrolling guards all over the place, and several magical defenses set up throughout the property, but none of them could stop Evelyn.

She had come thoroughly prepared and if she wanted to stay hidden guards that ranged from the peak of the acolyte rank to mid-tier of the mage rank were not going to find her.

Soon enough she arrived close to a large stone building that was heavily guarded.

Within she had found that there was a secret basement where the owls that Osvaldo and Uriah had rounded up were being kept.

Naturally the building was being heavily guarded. Every entrance had at least two people standing watch and in buildings further away several individuals with magic tools that acted similar to binoculars were keeping a close eye in case something happened.

'I could bust in easily enough, but not without raising the alarm. How am I going to get in without drawing attention to myself?'

Evelyn considered systematically eliminating the people keeping watch from afar before slaughtering all of the guards around the building, but there was a high likelihood that she would be discovered attempting something so brazen. All it would take was one random person walking by and noticing that someone that should have been at their station was missing.

At this moment Evelyn wished that she was capable of water magic. Then she could create a fog and slowly have it envelope the entire estate.

"Guess I'll have to go with a slightly flashier distraction."

Leaving her current position, Evelyn stealthily located the nearest kitchen.

Inside there were dozens of servants preparing food for the residents of the enormous estate.

Of course, there were several fires being used for cooking, and on occasion accidents were bound to happen.

Conjuring tiny embers of her heavenly flame, Evelyn sent her magic towards the fire within the kitchen.

At first the flames growth was subtle, but eventually they flared up and caught fire to anything flammable in the vicinity.

There were tools within the kitchen to extinguish errant fires, but with Evelyn helping them along, the small kitchen fire soon erupted into a massive blaze.

After that she moved around the estate expanding the fire she had caused until it had become a problem that threatened to burn the entire area to ash.

When she returned to the building where the owls were being held, she found that her distraction had worked well.

Only around two thirds of the guards remained and all those keeping watch from afar had left to deal with the fire.

The windows and front doors were still heavily under guard, but the back of the building that was solid stone had no one keeping watch.

Under most circumstances it would be impossible for someone to break in from this area without making a scene. However, Evelyn had a means to break in silently.

Once she had reached the study stone wall, she created a wind barrier around her that would prevent any sound from leaking.

Then she formed her heavenly flame into a long blade that she used to easily slice through the magically enchanted stone.

Inside there were eight more guards, but all of them were facing towards the entrance or windows.

'Gravity Hammer.'

Without ever knowing what happened the eight people guarding the interior of the building died instantly.

The sudden powerful force crashing down on them crushed them into the ground and crumbled their bodies like aluminum cans.

No longer needing to worry about being found, Evelyn sauntered inside and lifted the stone slab she had cut out back into place to cover her tracks.

Covered by several boxes, Evelyn found a large hatch that would take her down to where the owls were waiting in chains and cages.

"Just wait a bit longer and I'll get you all out of here." Evelyn muttered as she jumped down the long shaft and quickly descended towards the hidden basement.