"Oh, yeah, we 3 know each other. I forgot to say that." Dean said as he looked at Liam and Michael.
"Everyone! Now that you're in your respective groups, it's time to commence the combat capability test! You've all gotten your target so if you fail...don't even think about coming back." Mr Hilbert said, grabbing the students' attention.
Liam took a deep breath, this test decided his future basically. It was many times harder for him and his group also since they had to fight a harder boss monster than the other students.
"Okay...are you guys ready?" Michael said with visible beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. All of them were nervous, well, except for Tempy, she went back to sleep as if she didn't worry about the test at all.
--An hour later--
Liam and the others got out of a helicopter that brought them from the academy to a nearby desert.
"Try your best!" Mr Hilbert said while grinning at the 5 individuals before leaving in the helicopter. They were basically stranded until they completed the test and they were on their own. Michael had a slight hope that maybe a senior student would watch over them but that hope dissolved as he watched the helicopter fly away.
"So were really on our own huh?" Michael said with a nervous and worried tone. His behavior was unlike earlier when he was laughing at Liam. He was completely focused on passing this test as it also decided his future.
"Yep..." Liam said while breathing quickly, a second away from passing out. His anxiousness reached it's peak and he was about to start hyperventilating before he felt a hand touch his shoulder.
"Hey...freaking out isn't go...gonna help..." It turned out to be Tempy, although she still had bags under her eyes and was dozing off.
'How is she still tired right now?' Liam wondered to himself as he looked at her dozing off multiple times while speaking.
"Sigh...w-where do we even start looking?" Just as Lisa said this, the entire group felt a terrifying wind sweep over them and an oppressing aura.
"Formation everyone!" Dean yelled as everyone assumed their respective positions. They were all on edge and didn't care if it was a strong or weak enemy, they remained cautious and got in formation anyway.
When they looked to see what it was, they saw a crow, although drastically different from the picture their teacher gave them.
'This isn't the Sun Crow...It's a Moon Crow isn't it!' Surprisingly it was Tempy who said this in an excited tone. Liam and Michael looked over at her in surprise to see her upbeat attitude. Although she still looked tired, her voice betrayed her appearance.
"Be careful everyone, although it's severely weakened right now due to it being daytime, it's still a very powerful monster." Although it was a Moon Crow, it didn't give off the boss aura that the group was cautious of and Tempy took note of this. The crow also seemed to be injured.
"Although this is strange, the Moon Crow won't show itself in the daytime unless necessary, so there's definitely something wrong." Tempy said as she inspected the Moon Crow. After observing it, she happened to see a drop of blood fall from it's body.
"It's injured. Why?" Tempy was curious so she approached the Moon Crow, although cautiously and slowly in case it was hostile. The crow backed up, it appeared to be wary of the group.
Tempy kept the same pace until she was within arms-length of the crow.
"Why are you injured?" She said as she stared into it's eyes. The crow slowly calmed down.
'Caw...Caw Caw! Caw!' The crow looked calm but it began making noises as if it was angry. Tempy didn't take her eyes from the crows even though it looked as if it was becoming hostile. She could see it's anger through it's eyes.
The crow moved back a few meters and spread it's large wings. The crow was about 200 cm so it's wings were pretty big. Instead of flying away, the crow flapped it's wings as if gesturing for Tempy to climb on it's back.
She looked back at the group for a second.
"Tem don't do it or I won't allow you back in the dorm." Dean said as he glared at her. Liam and Michael were clueless as to what was happening, especially at how Tempy managed to get so close to the crow without it attacking her.
After turned around, Tempy walked up to the crow and got on it's back.
"Get down! Where are you even going?" Lisa exclaimed. Although she sounded angry, there wasn't any worry in her tone.
"Since only a Sun Crow can find a Moon Crow's resting place, then that means the Sun Crow was the one who injured it. So if I ride the Moon Crow back to it's home then I'll most likely find the Sun Crow as well. Try to keep up." Tempy said as the Moon Crow spread it's wings. The Moon Crow magnificently jumped into the air and began flying into the distance.
Well, that's what Tempy thought would happen. The crow let out soft and painful 'caws' as it tried it's best to flap it's wings. In just a few seconds, the crow was coming back down to the ground.
Tempy quickly got off of the Crow with an embarrassed look on her face, although that looked weird because of the bags under her eyes.
She turned to look at the crows back and saw a deep gash that contained traces of solar energy, although seconds away from vanishing. The crow was still letting out painful caws as Tempy inspected it's body.
"I knew it, a Sun Crow definitely did this, there's solar energy in this wound. Since Sun Crows and Moon Crows are the opposites of each other in almost every way, they're each others natural nemesis's." Tempy said while gently caressing the bloodied feathers of the Moon Crow.
Dean had a frustrated look on his face as he looked at Tempy.
Liam was incredibly confused the entire time.
"W-Why don't we just let it lead us to it's home?" Liam suggested. As he said this the crow looked at him with intense anger as if it wanted to kill him.
"Can you do that for us? We're on a mission to hunt a boss Sun Crow too so we'll be of help." Tempy said to the crow. Although it couldn't speak it understood her words anyways and began walking to the left.
Michael's face lit up as he saw this.
'Look's like we won't be out here for too long!' He wanted to finish the test as quick as possible and looking for the Sun Crow would take some time even in the daytime. The group follow the crow with Tempy walking next to it while Michael stayed in the back.
He didn't like it's appearance which was reasonable. It had abyss-like black eyes and midnight black feathers. It's body was also gigantic and the aura it exuded was terrifying. There were also some parts of it's body that were a light purple that could be noticed easily.
--25 minutes later--
As the group followed the crow for a little over a 3rd of an hour, they arrived upon a forest in the middle of the desert that gave off a murky feeling mixed with a dense concentration of lunar energy. They all knew that they had arrived at the crows home.
This was also the perfect spot for it's home as it contained tons of lunar energy for it to absorb and strengthen itself with. When the group came in contact with such a large amount of lunar energy, Michael and surprisingly also Dean felt a shiver run down their spines. Dean's face showed discomfort despite him having a calm demeanor most of the time.
The crow looked trouble as it hesitated on going back into it's own home. But Tempy convinced it and they all entered the forest.
When they entered the forest, the heat coming from the sun vanished completely and was replaced with a bone-chilling cold that required Tempy to use some fire magic to keep the group from freezing. As Liam looked around, he saw bushes with incredibly sharp leaves and were completely black or light purple.
It was also incredibly dark inside of the forest and the only reason the group was capable of seeing was thanks to Tempy's fire magic. The crow naturally could see through the forest so it had no need for any light of sorts.
--5 Minutes--
After walking for some time, the crow came to a sudden halt and started to shiver, though it wasn't due to the coldness of the forest, but the monster up ahead.
The group noticed the crows behavior and instantly felt dense waves of solar energy in front of them. They also heard 'caws' in the near distance and felt an even more terrifying pressure than the Moon Crows.
"The Sun Crow is here, and it's a boss." Dean said solemnly, although he kept a calm demeanor at the beginning of the test, he was incredibly nervous and anxious right now.