The wound on Jean’s face instantly healed, but Jean’s body remained tense.

Ever since she defeated Amon, the enemies she faced were much weaker than she was. The undead was more of a time killer. Aidan was good, but he was running most of the time after his most powerful attack earned no more than a scream from Jean. These ten crows, on the other hand…

Xel’naga weren’t known for body strength and Jean didn’t have her defenses up when the crows hit, but just the fact that the crows took her by surprise said something. Even when she didn’t mean to, Jean’s xel’naga power granted her control over a several kilometer radii, and the crows got to her in seconds. With their speed and burst damage, the crows might be the most formidable enemy Jean had ever met. Just individually they were slightly below Amon’s caliber, but there were ten of them. If Jean didn’t take it seriously, she might, ironically, be dissected by a few birds and allow them to accomplish what gods and fleets failed to do.

Where did they come from? In the original history there was nothing even close to the crows’ caliber, otherwise even just one of the crows could end the story.

The crows turned around for another charge. Their eyes were set on Jean and Jean alone. Ever since the start of their memories, which was a few minutes ago, they sensed a hostile scent from a distance away. They didn’t know who the scent belonged to, but they did know they hated the owner of the scent with all their heart. As soon as they could move, they flew toward the source and wanted to do everything they could to destroy it.

Jean took her mind off thinking about where the crows came from and toward how to live through their onslaught. She wiped her hand on the watch, and two psionic blade generators appeared in her grip. The last time they shined was when Jean took on the dark god, in which their punching power impressed Jean. Since then they were never needed.

This was about to change.

The crows moved forward with no tactic or formation. Even the upgrades they received weren’t enough to enhance their intelligence. They knew they hated the blonde on the ground and wanted her in pieces, but they didn’t have any cooperation or plan of engagement. They dove down on Jean like normal birds going after a bug.

The golden blades shined through the field. The first crow charged down straight into the celestial energy powered weapon. As soon as the two made contact, Jean pushed. Strength enough to punch a hole through a battlecruiser propelled the celestial blade forward, causing it to crash into the first crow with immense impact.

The first crow was forced back. A wound was opened up down its sharp beak, and yellow blood spilled out. Jean’s eyes twitched at the color of the blood. Her eyes also twitched when the crow stood back up, still alive. An attack enough to rip open the armor of a capital ship did some damage to that tiny animal, but not at a critical amount. Jean added cellular strength to the list of the crow’s powers.

The first crow was down for the time being, but its nine comrades continued its footsteps fearlessly. Jean wielded her weapon expertly, but the first five crows simply smashed into the golden energy, each knocking the weapon further away from where Jean wanted it. When the fifth made contact, the blade was out of position, and Jean was exposed.

The sixth crow dove down on an open Jean, but she was well prepared, and the beast was welcomed with an energy blast to the face. The four others suffered a similar fate as they were pushed back by the golden energy as well. The first round was deflected with relative ease.

However, before Jean could take a breath, the first crow got back up and continued its hunt. It appeared like as long as Jean was alive, they would never rest.

Jean’s mind turned as she felt the crows literally offering themselves onto her weapon, burning more and more of her energy with every contact. During the entire first round, apart from simply holding the assaults, her xel’naga side was already analyzing the crows.

The crows used to be normal, until something completely changed that. Their bodies were transformed by some sort of yellow energy. This energy enhanced their neural reflex and cellular strength, making them super soldiers. Fortunately, they didn’t have anything like her celestial power, celestial blade, and judging from the fact that the first crow’s wound didn’t heal, rapid regeneration. The one thing they had was their numbers. Last time Jean checked, ten was greater than one.

Jean could easily overwhelm the crows if she would unleash her purifier fleet. Thousands of ships could obliterate the puny birds, but Jean knew that would only make things worse.

Jean had a suspicion of where the crows came from. Likely, they were results of her reckless usage of foreign power. There was a reason why the crows arrived just after she used her power to find Aidan. She had expected trouble, but nothing of this caliber.

Whoever turned the crows from bug hunters to xel’naga predators, they were punishing her for using power alien of this world. Using more power alien to this world won’t help. Frankly speaking, Jean wasn’t sure whether or not using more xel’naga power would attract more hostiles, but the fact that she wasn’t overwhelmed by a flock of crows meant she was on the right side of history. An entire fleet of alien robots, on the other hand...Jean wouldn’t use them unless she absolutely needed to.

That being said, Jean had another overwhelming advantage.

She was clever, and when two sides were of a similar caliber, the clever one usually wins.

The first crow hit Jean’s weapon again. The girl keenly noticed the energy within the beast was decreasing. It was as if the crow was a vehicle that was rapidly burning gasoline. Every move meant one step closer to depletion. Once the crow’s energy was drained, its survival was a problem, much less its ability to keep fighting.

At this point Jean could just drag this fight out and see who would collapse first, but another thing changed her mind.

The yellow energy from the crows gave Jean a similar feeling to that of a red crystal. It was...it was as if they held the same energy. Jean’s mind flowed to the introduction the Butler gave her. There were seven types of crystals. Red was the most basic. Every crystal of a superior color held ten times the energy of the lower color. There were yellow crystals, and they were two steps above their red counterparts, which meant 100 times the power. It was likely these yellow energies were what made up the yellow crystals.

This was important to know. If the yellow energy was what Jean thought it was, then she could absorb it. The crows didn’t absorb the energy completely. They were using it more like batteries than currencies. It was possible for her to kill the crows and take the remaining energy they couldn’t use up. The yellow energies literally made ten birds as powerful as gods. There was no doubt they could significantly help her.

Sure, there were risks, but her mission was always above her life, and her mission required more power.

It didn’t take Jean long to make up her mind.