“I can’t wait to get started.”

“Me neither, I feel so excited.”

The gathering of 32 students gave a meticulous ear to Headmaster Zegel as he explained the fundamentals of the Guild Test. “The mechanics of this Guild Test is very simple. Upon arrival at Vultures Byte, you are to be very aware of your surroundings. Approximately 6 evolved vultures of Amazon-Warrior-Rank-3 are spread across the nest. Each of them is wearing 5 colour coded ribbons; 1-red, 2-blue and 2-white ribbons. The specific colours have their significance. Red Ribbons equals 5 points, Blue Ribbons equals 3 points and White Ribbons equals 1 point.

Your objective is to locate these vultures and acquire their ribbons by any means necessary. The ribbons are to be tied around your person in plain view for all to see. You will be immediately uprooted from the test if you hide them in any prohibited concealed spaces. Once you’ve collected sufficient ribbons, head to the Final Stage. Its location will be highlighted on the map provided on your Digital Feathers.

The time limit for this Guild Test is approximately 2-hours. The student who reaches the Final Stage with the most ribbons within the set time limit will win first place that comes with a special reward. As for the others, your passing grades will be determined by the number of ribbons you bring to the Final Stage and by the Guild Masters who deem you adequate to join their guild. That is all for the prerequisite Guild Test information. For those of you who didn’t hear me properly, the objectives are listed on your Digital Feathers. Do your best.”

Headmaster Zegel stamped his rod on the floor. It erected a large teleportation spell diagram beneath the students’ feet. They instantly vanished only to soon reappear in a dark forest that possessed an eerie ambience. The ground was littered with fallen leaves; trash heaps could be viewed everywhere even on thick branches of trees. Currently, Vultures Byte was raining autumnal leaves almost as if they were appearing out of thin air.

“This place looks so creepy.” A student voiced her opinion.

Looking around, the students felt a cold chill of trepidation embracing their shivering feathers. It wasn’t long before their attention was drawn to a lone Amazon-Warrior vulture ahead of them. It was sharpening its elongated beak in the punctured viscera of a deceased jungle rabbit. Its humanoid malevolent caricature was greatly enhanced by the repetitious clunking of its beak.

“Guys look! There’s a vulture right in front of us. What should we do?”

“Hm?” After taking a quick gander at the vulture, specifically viewing the location of the 5 ribbons it had wrapped around its lanky body, Gnihzur grabbed Kwaserah’s hand and quickly flew away.

Shortly after Gnihzur flew off, many others began making their swift escape. The mysterious hooded lad vanished in a flash of feathery-shaped lightning bolts; Drazil blazed his feathers away and later, numerous others followed suit.

“Where are they going, don’t they want the ribbons?”

“I see. So that’s how it is.” Upon realizing something of great importance, Mou also disappeared via air transport.

Soaring through the expansive forest, Kwaserah released Gnihzur’s grip from her arm in order to ask him, “Why did we fly away? That was a perfect opportunity back there to acquire ribbons.”

“Why did we fly away?” Gnihzur explained to her, “We’re simply chasing after another available target that isn’t so crowded. Remember what the Headmaster told us? He said that they are approximately 6 vultures situated inside this scary nest and each of them holds 5 ribbons. The total sum is 30 ribbons.”

“Oh, I see where you’re getting at.” Kwaserah began to comprehend Gnihzur’s strategy. “32 students are participating in this Guild Test and there are only 30 ribbons.”

“Yeah, so even if we were to be generous and split the ribbons evenly which is most unlikely to happen, 2 crows would remain empty-handed and eventually end up failing this Guild Test. Additionally, the crow who has the most ribbon points will win first place. I believe the true objective of this Guild Test isn’t so much the acquiring of ribbons but to determine our aptitudes in combat, scouting, tactics and teamwork. So this is what I think will happen. The crows will probably team up at first to take out the vultures because each of them is an Amazon-Warrior-Rank-3 and I doubt there’s anyone in our group who is strong enough to defeat one on their own. Now, after the vultures have fallen the students will inevitably turn against each other to accumulate more ribbons.”

“So what’s your plan, Gnihzur?” Kwaserah became interested in learning about Gnihzur’s brilliant plot.

“We’ll traverse close to the Final Stage area but not too close. Though their locations aren’t marked on the map, there should be a vulture waiting close by there.”

“How can you be so sure, Gnihzur?” Kwaserah was puzzled by Gnihzur’s assurance.

“Because this test has a time limit. If it was me who came up with this unfair scenario I would place a vulture close to the Final Stage where every participant is bound to gather eventually.”

“Why would you do that?”

“The first reason is to garner your attention. A lot of crows will be going to the Final Stage once they’ve acquired sufficient ribbons. Now here is the important bit. Because we won’t be able to tell who in our group has the most ribbons…”

Kwaserah finished his sentence, “The crows will try to get their feathers on as many ribbons as possible!”

“Exactly.” Gnihzur agreed. “The second reason is to delay us.”

“I see. So while we’re busy fighting for each other’s ribbons the time would probably run out.”

“Yeah, so we better make haste. I doubt that we’re the only ones who have thought of this.”

“Right!” They increased their wings’ velocity and continued to follow the direction on their digital map toward the borders of the Final Stage.

The Guild Masters who sat comfortably on the podium were watching the entire scene of Vultures Byte via the many large screens floating before them. They heard the conversation between Gnihzur and Kwaserah. This prompted a comment from Heera’s mouth.

“That fledging with the white patch is quite clever. He wasted no time using his analytical prowess to figure that there would be a vulture lurking around the Final Stage as well as the true intent for this Guild Test. He would be a great addition to my guild.”

“Hm?” Gairo perused a digital document containing Gnihzur’s dossier. He became intrigued when he viewed his Krowqui instability chart. “Hmm… Gnihzur Costar... his speciality is, Newpalf? So he used to reside in the Godiva Forest…?” As he continued to peruse Gnihzur’s document, Gairo’s pensive demeanour garnered a few stares from his peers.

Back inside Vultures Byte where all the students were initially teleported, the grotesque vulture who was feasting on the jungle rat’s rotten corpse became aware of a team of 5 crows standing behind him. Their names were as follows, Agumi, Doolbs, Neji, Retskeir and Marrigo.

Agumi was rather portly. He had a round build almost like a doughnut. A pair of orange and green gauntlets were attached to his hands; also a protective goggle was stylishly sitting around his head. His persona was quite caring and adorable.

Doolbs was slender and had a cunning demeanour about him. He was dressed in silky dark feathers; also had a dark mask across his face which partially concealed his craftiness.

Neji was a bit shorter than the others, however, this did nothing to lessen his supercilious attitude. His feathers had a silver tint to them which brought out their sharpness.

Retskeir had a medium build with enough strength to support the large black cylindrical case he carried on his back.

Marrigo possessed a pair of snake eyes that could instil fear in his opponents with just a glance. Unlike the conventional 5 fingers to one hand, he had 6 on each. In total, 12 fingers. His wings boasted an intimidating snake pattern.

“Hmm…?”

Sizing up the small group of crows before him, the menacing vulture spat out blood residue which came from the jungle rabbit’s corpse that he had just eaten. He wasn’t at all impressed by their mediocre evolution.

“So small and weak. Not even going to be an appetiser. I am Wallis the strongest creation in Vultures Byte. Standing idle won’t get you these ribbons.” When he straightened his spine, the vulture’s impressive height was revealed to the 5 onlookers. He measured a little over 10 feet in height.

Agumi felt intimidated, thus he said to the others, “I suggest we work together to take this one down. They are 5 of us and he has 5 ribbons. It should be easy pickings, right?”

“Yes, I agree.” Responded Doolbs. As he said this, he had a sinister thought resting at the back of his head.

“Me too.” Said Marrigo in agreement with Agumi’s suggestion for teamwork.

“Fine, I’ll par with you guys for a while.” Neji agreed to team up.

“Count me in as well!” Retskeir took off his cylindrical black case. It sent out a spike at the bottom that kept it balanced after he stamped it in the ground.

Verifying that his team was ready to rumble, Agumi gave the order to attack the vulture. “Surround him!”

The tall vulture observed for a moment as the crows began scampering around him like flies. “Tsk, pesky little bugs. Die!” He punched the ground with such vehemence that it produced an orbital shockwave that sent the surrounding crows flying in various directions.

“He’s so powerful.”

The students quickly balanced their feathers in order to start fighting back. Rushing back to where he was previously, Marrigo adroitly slipped between Wallis’s skinny legs, moreover, spun around while activating flat yellow circular Krowqui around his fingertips.

“Six Fingers, Snake Tracer!” Marrigo’s fingers became dark and lanky, possessing a variety of snakelike heads that started stretching unevenly in bizarre patterns. They extended and extended like tendrils of ropes; wrapping around Wallis’s body; binding him in place.

Retskeir took advantage of the easy target. He quickly commanded his black cylindrical case which had been placed perpendicular to the ground to open up. When the vertical seam from the middle was split into 2 portions, a collection of multifaceted guns was exposed! These guns were specially built to accommodate physical matter as well as Krowqui bullets.

“These will do.” Picking out his favourite ebony pistols, Retskeir shot off like a twisting cyclone around the trapped vulture as he started firing countless bullets.

“Gunslinger, Bullet Shower!” Countless series of bullets were storming the vulture.

“Black Cutter!” Jumping into the fray, Neji dipped his right hand into his left wing and pulled out a shiny black katana. Its sharpness sliced apart some falling leaves as he advanced toward Wallis with killing intent.

“Sword Mastery, Slice & Dice!” Numerous slashes streaked from Neji’s sword at his opponent.

“Hm?” Taking notice of the deadly vibrant slashes streaking towards him, Wallis inhaled fiercely then exuded repelling surge of energy that blasted away all the slashes along with Retskeir’s Bullet Shower. Also, Marrigo’s Snake Tracer which kept Wallis bound a moment ago was greatly loosened.

“Burst!”

After coming free, Wallis grabbed the extended Snake Tracer that was still connected to Marrigo’s fingers. He twirled him around for a bit before tossing him at Neji. Following their rough collision, Wallis dashed in front of them apace. With his fists tightly clenched, he threw back his arms like a spring then started producing uncountable punches.

“Gatling Punch, Rapid Shot!”

“Ugh, he’s fast!” Marrigo, Neji and Retskeir did their best to block Wallis’s fast pace vanishing punches by arousing their Protective Krowqui; it resembled a flowing auric field decorated with sparkling illuminations.

“Huh?” Wallis realized very soon that his Gatling Punches weren’t doing much to affect the resisting trio. Thus he tied them together using parts of his loosed feathers to prepare for the unleashing of a more powerful technique that was sure to blast them into oblivion.

“Let’s see how you 3 runts handle this.” With his lanky arms raised above his head, Wallis began to produce an enlarging ball of Krowqui. It didn’t take him long to build up enough Krowqui to release the deadly technique. “Krowqui Bomb!”

The blast was fired at the captured trio. However, seconds away from causing a deadly collision, Agumi appeared between them and the blast with a flat circle frame of white arcane energy present at his rear. It measured 1-metre in diameter, moreover, consisted of 1 large green and 1 white tomoe that was rotating inside.

“Yin Yang Array!” Agumi clunked his elbows together in a protective manner and waited for the blast to hit him.

“You, what are you doing?” Agumi’s teammates were alarmed by his foolish bravery. A moment later, the Krowqui Bomb hit him and exploded with fierce intensity.

“That’s one down.” Wallis smiled widely. Soon after he spoke, he heard a crow saying:

“Check again.” Agumi was still standing firmly, moreover, unscathed.

“Impossible!” Wallis was veritably shocked.

Even the captured trio were astonished by Agumi’s unscathed appearance. “He’s not injured?”

Agumi faced the bewildered Wallis and said, “With my Yin Yang Array active I can absorb any type of attack be it ethereal or physical and repel it tenfold. Just like this…” He thrust his hand forwards as he channelled the absorbed energies stored in his special Yin Yang Array.

“Terminal Backfire!” A resplendent Krowqui Bomb shot out from Agumi’s palms that smashed into Wallis’s abdomen. The explosive impact sent him crashing into some trees nearby.

“Dude, that was awesome!” The trio were glad to be free again. Looking to where Wallis had fallen they identified Doolbs crawling out of a dark portal behind him along with 2 dark copies of himself.

“Shadow Doubles!” Doolbs 2 Shadow Doubles grabbed Wallis’s arms and spread them far apart so that the original could punch his face repeatedly.

“Abyss Fists!” He assaulted Wallis’s face with phantasmal punches until he fell flat on the leaf heap.

Moments later, Doolbs sneakily attempted to steal the Red Ribbon from around the vulture’s neck, however, he was prematurely delayed by Agumi’s outburst.

“Be on the lookout, it’s not over yet!” Agumi’s warning came just in time to save Doolbs from getting blasted by a vertical Krowqui Blast that shot up into the air from Wallis’s ranging persona.

“What’s this? His Krowqui just spiked.” Observed Neji.

“It did. This situation has taken a drastic turn against our favour.” Said Agumi. They could sense that Wallis’s power has risen to the next level of evolution.

“Hm? This Krowqui that I’m picking up. It belongs to an Amazon-Warrior-Rank-4!” Doolbs was shocked.

Marrigo surmised, “It must have evolved during battle.”

Retskeir came along and said, “It’s a good thing that we decided to team up, otherwise, none of us could deal with that vulture alone.”

Agumi agreed. “Only a fool looking to be killed off would be traversing these unpredictable woods all alone looking for ribbons.”

At the same time, Agumi voiced his particular opinion about only a fool was brave enough to traverse Vultures Byte alone, 9 kilometres west of his position, a lone crow landed on a tree branch that was overlooking an alluring blue pond that had some pretty fishes swimming around at the bottom. This foolish crow according to Agumi’s opinion was none other than the mysterious hooded lad called Chirako.

“I’ve finally found my first target.” His brilliant blue eyes glinted with an insatiable thirst for battle.