Bird is the word! (Raven's Exam)

Time had flown past that was for sure. Last time Marick had been here at Serene Cliff, it had been he had been proctoring an exam too, although he himself was only just up and coming in Sabertooth. The girl whom he was to examine today wasn't even around at that time, and this seemed to feel like only a few months ago. Still, the new Sabertooth Guildmaster wasn't exactly surprised. After all, he himself had shot up the ranks of the guild once he'd found his feet too. Thus when he'd heard that a certain avian-named girl had reached that magical barrier, he could feel his heart well up with excitement for her. He'd left a note on her door asking for her to meet him at the Serene Cliff, stating that he had acknowledged her readiness to take the next step in her magical career.

Now it was simply a case of waiting.

Raven sat on her bed, looking straight at the soft blue painted wall in front of her. Kuroe was beside her, concern for his friend was clearly on his features as he tucked the small girl under his wings. As bas as her mood was, Raven always felt warm when Kuroe did that and with a smile, she closed her eyes, hoping the reality would just break and shatter. She wanted to escape it very badly although nothing would be answered from just that.

And so, she broke away from the warmth and walked away from her bed. A letter caught her eyes when she was just about to reach the glass of water on her table. Picking it up, she ignored the sound of paper crushing under her hold before opening it up. “Oh it’s already that time,” she spoke to herself, putting the letter back on her table, moving towards her dresser afterwards. “Kuroe, get ready”.

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At the serene cliff, Raven pushed her silver hair back. She found her guild master, Marick standing not too far away, obviously waiting for her. She had a black tanktop, black long coat and a black skirt on her. Black stockings covered her legs and black boots were added to match. In short, she looked good. “I’m here, Sir Marick,” her soft voice cut through the stillness wanting to draw Marick’s attention to her.

'Sir' Marick? And there he was thinking that the theme of 'knights' that Zenshin ran was gone. He let out a quiet chuckle to himself before approaching the younger mage, noting that her clothing was all too similar to his own back when he was taking this exam. As he came to a halt about three feet away he bowed his head gently to Raven. "Don't worry about formalities Raven. Being your guildmaster doesn't immediately warrant respect." he spoke calmly before raising his head back up and looking the girl in the eyes. He'd hoped to see a certain drive there, an excitement perhaps shadowed by nervousness. Yet he saw no child-like twinkle in this young woman's eyes. It was unusual to say the least but he wasn't about to dwell on it. There would always be exceptions in life.

As he straightened himself up his tone seemed to change without permission to one of authority, yet with the same warmth as it had held before; comparable to how a teacher would speak with a student or peer. "You've been at the guild long enough now to see it grow, to watch it transform and to see myself take charge. But have you ever been made aware of the virtues that Sabertooth was built upon? I ask because, in order to build yourself up within the guild you need to first understand the foundations upon which you stand."

Raven stared at Marick calmly, her eyes nor her facial expressions wavering under his gaze. She knew completely well about what the three virtues were. As he had mentioned, the silver haired mage had been a part of Sabertooth for a long time now. She had been in the guild long enough to see the guild as well as some of the people in it evolve. Now, she was growing up as well.

When she closed her eyes, she could see the day she came to the guild. She could also see those moments she befriended everyone and that unexplainable warm feeling she received when she thought of Cirven. But...she wondered why all those thoughts suddenly changed to her memories of that night.

She opened her eyes which were glowing red in the darkness of the night. She was looking down at nothing in particular as if deep in thought. “Conviction, Faith and Selflessness,” she muttered, finally raising her eyes to meet Marick’s. The metal bracelets on her wrists made noise as she pushed her hair back. Conviction, faith and selflessness...those were some good virtues to base a guild on. It reminded her why she liked the guild so much. “A single action big or small can make a change. Fate doesn’t control you but it’s the other way around. Faith can build a connection strong or weak depending on the amount of trust you are ready to invest. Selflessness can earn you the respect of many and conviction can secure freedom and happiness,” she finished, letting her hands rest on her sides once again. Somehow, she couldn’t help but think that these virtues were what her kind lacked. In the end, she had to kill them off, didn’t she?

While his expressions showed no sign of it, inside Marick felt a little relief. Raven had the same views of these three virtues as he had. This was great news seeing as how he'd only just taken over the guild as this meant that he likely had a few members with a similar mindset, a good start for the guild's new direction. His expression didn't change as he nodded at the young mage. "Exactly. But Faith isn't just about knowing you can trust others. It is also about knowing in your own heart that your allies can trust you and having the conviction to see through your task." he spoke softly, his eyes scanning hers as that thought still lingered in his head. Does she really want to be here? He shook the thought from his head before taking a few steps back.

"Now...I'd like to gauge your strength if you'd be willing to humour me with a short duel. While we fight I want you to have those virtues firmly in your mind. Let no other thoughts sway you from those virtues and your magic." His expression changed to a smile now as he removed his jacket and threw it to the side. What's playing on your mind so much...

((In this duel you will be allowed to use any spells or spell ideas that you have for B-rank as well as your approved spells. It's also during this point that you can start any plot-related events that you wish to have occur within this exam.))

Of course, she thought as she listened to Marick explain to her. Closing her eyes and taking a few seconds to clear her mind of the bad feelings rushing into her, Raven took slow deep breathes. By the time she opened her eyes, Marick was taking off his jacket, giving her instructions. She was supposed to spar with her own guild master? This guy was older and wiser than her and not to mention he is much more powerful. If she wanted to even keep up with him, she knew she would have to think first. Removing her own coat, Raven tossed it to the side before facing Marick once again.
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What Raven didn't notice or sense, however, was a dark tornado forming about a few meters away from them. The dark bluish light that was forming inside it seemed to be mocking something as it soon shattered. In place of it now stood Ikaros in full strength. The last time Raven fought with Ikaros, he was badly wounded and left to die in her own world. Seasons must have passed way too quickly for Raven because she never expected she would meet Ikaros again. But he was alive and he had finally found out where his dear princess had escaped to. Now, he wanted nothing more than to finish what he started all those years ago. The raven world was now nothing but rubble and broken floating lands. The sky is polluted and darkness covered it. Ikaros had been trapped alone in that world for all these years till he found a portal leading to earthland. All he had to do now was find Raven and kill her, essentially taking away her legendary powers.
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Back to Raven who was now seriously facing Marick, Raven was thinking of the best way to start out. Kuroe was behind her, watching the two of them and ready to interfere anytime things get out of hand. Something glowed near her hand as within a second, a black fan formed on raven's right hand. Raising it to the air, Raven makes a diagonal slash, sending strong black current of wind with sharp feathers in it towards Marick. The metal chains around her waist made clanking noises as her hair flew all over the place along with the strong wind. She knew it wouldn't do much to Marick, but seeing past the black winds were a bit difficult and she could probably use it to her advantage and put some distance between them.

HP: 100%
MP: 95%

Much to Frederick's discomfort, he was the only in the near vicinity of the Guildmaster and Raven, when tragedy struck the guild hall. A raging black tornado had surrounded the entire hall, and it's unholy black gusts of wind disrupted the magical transportation platforms. Resulting that no could get out or into the guild. And to add to the troubles the guild was having, the gust of winds were so harsh and strong that it started to affect the guild hall's exterior as well. Riding away pavements from it's balconies and even small parts of stones from the walls.

The members present at the guild tried calling Marick, but without avail. His side of the communication lacrima remained unanswered. So in attempt to make some sort of communication with him, they tried calling out to the members closest to him. And there was were Frederick showed up, having finished up a job near the Serene Cliff, he got a call from the frightened members. Asking to locate Marick as soon as possible.

Luckily for Frederick, the present members at the guild managed to pinpoint Marick's and Raven's position pretty closely. So finding the two was a rather easy task for the former dark mage.
When he arrived at the scene, Frederick noticed that the exam Marick was about to proctor had only just begun. With a smart move, Raven created a beneficial situation for herself by clouding her opponents vision for a moment. Only so she could back off and create some space between her and the guild master.

'Lowell' Frederick said, obviously refusing to call Marick by his first name, or his title as Guild Master 'There are some troubles back at the guild, that urges you to get back right away.' As he said that, Frederick had approached Marick. Without even acknowledging Raven's presence and close enough so that their conversation was private when spoken low enough.

From Raven's point of view, she could see the two men discussing something. Well at least she could see her guild master doing that, Frederick as per usual had hidden his entire entity under the safety of his cloak.
A few moments passed, and it was obvious that some words were being exchanged, only to see Marick disappear in a flash. Teleporting back to the guild hall as closest as possible, and leaving Frederick with a clear irritated vibe.

'Tch.... it appears that I will be continuing your exam...' he said with a malevolent voice while turning towards Raven.

~~~~~

OOC: Legacy:

OOC: Raven:

Raven was waiting for Marick to make his move. However, before they could actually get into the fight, Raven noticed Fred step in. She only saw him whispering something to Marick and raised an eyebrow as she stared at their lip movements. She was not an expert at reading them and she didn’t get much from it other than the fact that they were talking about the guild. She raised an eyebrow at the exchange, the bad feeling in her gut rising with each moment slipping past them. This feeling….this feeling of something twisting in her gut and a light pain on her chest. She hadn’t felt that since….

Far off from the Sabertooth guild members was Ikaros standing at the highest point of a small rock structure. With the wind blowing his black hair away from his eyes, Ikaros had his nose up in the air. He could remember the young princess’ scent anytime anywhere. He had been obsessed over killing the last thing standing between him and complete power for a long time and if Raven heart hadn’t intervened the last time they fought in a desperate attempt to save its carrier, he growled at the fact that she could have been dead already. Things never went his way though. Not even from the beginning. He thought killing Kaitou would immediately give him the power he desired but no, it didn’t. He made a mistake in his calculations and had let the princess live, having faith in his ability to kill a child. It came back to bite him in the back the night she killed off all of his soldiers and confederates along with some other commoners he didn’t give a damn about.

A gust of wind blew over him and Ikaros opened his eyes with a small gasp. He had found her. He had found the girl that escaped him. The small gust of wind had given off her location to the noble crow demon and the sinister smile that was painted on his features gave off his plans for her. He was going to do what he couldn’t do all those years ago back in their world. He was going to bath in the princess’ blood and take Raven Heart with him. Ultimately, he would rule his world and others with it. Raven Heart could never be used to its full potential with a small girl anyway.

Raven looked incredulously at the cloaked man standing in front of her. He was joking, right? She had expected her exam to be cancelled. But, from the looks of it and from his words itself, Fred was going to take over. She sighed, placing a hand on her forehead as she considered the idea. Fred was not the type of person you would want as a proctor and his anger management issues are infamous. That made her want to laugh at her own thoughts. But before she could do that, a small gust of wind that blew at her brought with it something she would recognize even in her death.

This wasn't the first time that Frederick had to proctor an exam, no in fact when he was still the guild master of Savage Skull. He had to oversee similar situations more then once. Well similar was maybe not the right word for it, the tests and exam Savage Mages wen through were a bit more darker then any legal guild would do. There tests would consists out of acts that would make the mages derail even further from the path of light then they already were. No those weren't exam, the test were nothing more then a means to an end, to solidify their allegiance to the guild.

So what now? What should he do with Raven, he couldn't put her through those kind of lengths not anymore. And that left him with only one thing left, a test of strength. He was going to fight her, and if she managed to get only one deadly blow in that could cripple his movement then she would pass in his eyes.

He planned on doing that by drawing out the girl's rawest instinct, something that resided within all of us. The will to live, survival, to get through a crisis at any cost. And for that he was going to fight her seriously, something that he didn't do very often.
'You can still run girl, after all I am not one to hold back..'

Frederick showed that he meant serious business, by engulfing his fist with a dark mass, which seemed to be his trademark appearance when he was angry. His cloak started to flutter in the slight gusts of wind that had appeared out of nowhere, a strong breeze that made his appearance only more malicious. However unknown to Frederick, he didn't knew that those winds carried something far more sinister with them.

Raven didn’t catch Fred’s words. If she had, she would have turned around to give him a cold glare with a ‘I won’t run away even if you kill me’ look. However, her thoughts had been taken over by someone else; or rather the scent of someone else. If she had feathers, they would be standing up in anticipation now. The scent of burning wood and something strange that the wind carried to her held the image of that one person she wanted to forget and never remember.

Raven had sort of completely ignored Fred as she looked up at the sky as if she was waiting for something to fall out if it in that instant. Her hands formed fists on either side of her while she drew her bottom lip back to bite on it. The black wind that blew towards her afterwards confirmed her suspicions and she jumped back a meter. The place where she was standing at now had a small crater as the black winds disappeared.

Ikaros stood there with a smirk on his face, his red eyes fixed on the silver haired girl he had desperately searched for. She was only a few meters away from him. If he could reach out and just make sure she will never breathe again…

He turned around to look at the other man his princess was with. His smirk never left him as he spoke. “I don’t know who you are, Mr. But, I can tell you have no business here. Please, leave”. He sounded like the noble that he was with his rich voice and accent.

Raven was still pretty much in shock. She never expected to see this man’s face again. he hoped it was just a bad dream and that she would wake up from it soon. But, as much as she wanted to believe that, she was well aware of the fact that everything was very much for real. “Why….why are you here?”

“Isn’t it obvious, my lady?” he said, turning to face her again. “We both have some unfinished business to attend, don’t we?”

Saying that, he charged towards the girl, black wind swirling around his right hand as he aimed it straight for her heart while Raven stood still, unable to move from the shock of the whole situation.


OOC: This post isn't very good but I had to rush with it so yah lol

In that same moment when Ikaros charged for Raven, he'd found himself not clenching her heart in his hand. But instead the left arm of Frederick himself, who had risen it in order to shield Raven from any harm that could've befallen her. The hooded mage had placed himself between the strange man and Raven the moment he went for her heart, however with rather dire consequences. Ikaros was far stronger then Frederick could ever anticipated, and dealt massive damage to Frederick's arm by just colliding with it. Not only that, but from the sheer force his entire left sleeve got eradicated, leaving Frederick with a naked and heavily bruised arm.

'With all do respect, but you might have misjudged my intentions...' Now with his hood fallen back wards, Frederick responded with a neutral tone that conflicted with his face, which had a foul and infuriating gaze on it. 'I'm not one to leave when I can put a scoundrel like you back into his place'

On that note Frederick bursted out into a dark aura, and struck with his other arm towards Ikaros. But without avail, Ikaros who had the power of the winds and darkness alike was fast enough to evade his attack with ease and move simultaneously to Frederick's side to launch an immediate counter attack. In the form of a punch in his guts, it was immediately followed up by the same black winds he had used before. Which moved instantly up along Ikaros arm and send Frederick flying into the nearest rock.

The collision damaged Frederick's intestines severely and left him grasping for air, while he leaned against the rock formation.

Raven flinched seeing Frederick being thrown to the side with a punch of Ikaros. She drew back, the sound of dried leaves crumbling under her feet rising as the silver haired girl took a few steps back from the tall black haired man she had once barely escaped from. In eight years, this was the first time Raven shook like a leaf in fear. As she slipped to the ground, her hands came up to wrap around herself, her head dropping. The sound of Ikaros’ footsteps increased as he closed the distance between them. His smirk grew wider, he leaned in and his hands grew closer to her neck. But just as it got very close, a red magic circle formed around Raven that threw Ikaros back a few feet. As the demon crow crashed back into a boulder, destroying it, a red sphere had developed around Raven, an ancient symbol slowly forming on it.

“Raven Heart,” Ikaros muttered under his breath, watching Raven stand up with her eyes completely blank. The last time he saw that look on her face, she had killed off the entire demon crow race. He stepped back, knowing clearly well that this would turn into the same battle they had a long time ago.

Controlled by the powers of Raven Heart, Raven was already charging at Ikaros, a red aura forming around her fists as she tried to punch him with her right hand first. But he dodged to the right and dodged again when her left fist came up. It continued for a while with Raven throwing punches at him and him avoiding it till her right knee came up to his gut, making him throw his head forward with his mouth wide open. A rather distorted sound of pain escaped him and he found himself on the ground.

Ikaros forced himself to back off before going back to Raven with a black tornado forming around him. Raven too had a black tornado around herself and they began hitting each other with several wind based magic attack. Raven summoned crows to her aid and raven dolls to attack Ikaros while Ikaros summoned his Black Jewel, the sword a high level demon had given him to kill Raven and gain Raven Heart. It dealt more damage to Raven than anything else and as the fight went on, Raven’s body was scarred with many wounds, each wound burning into her skin and making her weaker and weaker by the minute.

She didn’t back away or stop fighting. On that day that she still regrets, Raven had been broken beyond repair when she found herself in the middle of all those corpses. Some of them were her friends, her acquaintances and teachers. But she had killed them all off except for Ikaros who managed to escape her with the help of Black Jewel. They had fought much harder that day while flying above a slowly disappearing world. On that night where the red moon marred the sky, Raven had fought Ikaros till she almost died.

She summoned a big crow in front of her, 10ft tall with heavy armor on him. “Guardian of the kingdom of Crows, rising from the depths of hell, hear my words,” she had chanted as she sent him towards Ikaros. Kuroe who was simply staying to the side transformed to his original form as well to aid his friend in her battle. Though, he did almost nothing to Ikaros and was sent back with heavy damage done to him. Asgroth, the raven guardian engaged in battle with Ikaros, Raven beside him as she too attacked Ikaros with her raven magic. She ignored Ikaros’ comment about how Raven could never draw the true potential of Raven Heart. There was one fact that Ikaros was missing. Raven Heart could never be used by anyone other than her. She was the reincarnation of Kraehe and as her reincarnation, Raven was the only one capable of using Raven Heart. Anyone else attempting to use this power would have their own heart destroyed and the pieces would scatter all across the different worlds.

Ikaros came back up in a few seconds, however, and he was charging up another attack. A black gust of wind came towards her but with inhuman speed, Raven managed to dodge it, throwing her own black gust of wind at him. Ikaros avoided it with ease as well and then closed the gap between them once again, punching Raven back a few feet. However, she too recovered from it quick and was facing Ikaros seriously. In a few minutes, those two had flew off, hitting each other with various attacks as glows of black color were seen coloring the sky.

An hour later, Raven was the first to crash down onto a boulder near Frederick as Ikaros followed, clearly injured and tired from the fight. He was going to finish what he wanted to for a long time. As Raven lied on the ground, her energy almost gone, she remembered something. The spell that she had used that night to kill everyone. In her state, she knew she wouldn’t be able to draw its full power out. But Raven Heart was working on it’s complete power and with a last bit of energy, she knew she could pull it off….just enough to send Ikaros back to their world.

When Ikaros’ hands neared Raven’s heart, something burst forward from the symbol that appeared on her chest. It engulfed Ikaros in darkness and everything around Raven started to crumble. Dark spheres started to form here and there till a dark sphere formed right above Ikaros who was screaming in pain. He disappeared in it while Raven lied still on the ground with her eyes half closed and her lips forming words which no one could understand. Raven Heart had protected her and as it got desperate, had forced Ikaros back into their world. A few minutes after, the symbol on her chest slowly disappeared along with the black marks that had appeared on her body over the course of their fight. She was now heavily wounded and blood stained her clothes and body alike. Everything slowly turned black for the silver haired girl as Kuroe watched the girl, tears running down his black eyes. It could be the last time he saw his friend or that was what he thought till he found himself getting carried away by Asgrowth who had appeared behind him.


OOC: Alright....this is a very summarized post (and not a very good one) xD but uhm I couldn't explain everything and well....Raven wouldn't show the same power she did in this post afterwards because her power actually came from the seal that appeared on her heart. It disappeared on the end of the thread and about Kuroe, well I'll be changing my pet or rather upgrading him soon. So that will be a matter to deal with later o-o Thank you

~A few days later~

Just a couple of days ago Frederick was laying against some boulder in the Serene Cliff, wounded and bleeding while he was watching Raven fight off Ikaros, a man from another realm that smacked Frederick around like he was nothing more then a mere punching bag. The battle itself ended in Raven's victory, however nearly at the cost of her own life. And if it wasn't for Lowell, and some other members to arrive on the scene medical treatment would've probably been to late for her.

So now Frederick was standing here, next to Raven who still hadn't woken up since then. It was an unusual sight, not because Frederick went out of his way to see someone who was about to wake up. But also because it was one of the rare moments he was seen without the safety of his own cloak. Wearing a somewhat formal clothing style instead of it, a dark grey blouse with a black waistcoat over it. And black kaki pants as well. He would've looked a bit refined if it wasn't for the bandages that had covered almost his entire upper body and clearly stuck out around his throat.

'Ah good you are awake' Frederick rather nonchalantly when he noticed that Raven had opened her eyes.


OOC: you are approved for B rank. Congrats xD so now it only takes a post or two to finish up the thread. But besides that you can call yourself a B rank now ^^

The warm sunrays and the gentle breeze that flowed to her through the window carrying the scent of flowers and morning was what got registered into the unconscious girl’s mind first. And then, the darkness slowly lifted and her eyes fluttered open to find the man she never thought will be there to greet her. How rare. The dark lord himself has come to meet her as she woke up. She could already imagine the talk going on around the rest of the guild.

She wanted to giggle at the thought but found that even simply lifting her lips into a smile hurt. She didn’t need to look down to say she was covered in bandages. She could feel it. Her arms and legs felt ten times heavier. However, she managed to slowly sit up, pulling the covers along with her. She was almost dead but she remembered what he had said. She was B rank now.

“Well, that was fun, huh?” she started slowly, reaching for the glass of water that was beside her. “I didn’t think my exam would be this interesting. I knew Ikaros would be looking for me..never thought he would actually get here,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Speaking of her eyes, Raven was startled enough to drop the glass she was holding when she saw the reflection of her appearance on the mirror opposite to her bed. Violet and eyes and soft violet hair….she looked like that woman!