Assassin Crow Evolution

Jimmy and White Blade walked to the edge of the watch-tower, facing the meadows ahead.

Tens of meters ahead of the city walls, Jimmy spotted a crow that he otherwise would’ve seen as a dot from such a distance.

This crow did not look like a dot.

Even from the watch-tower, the crow seemed massive!

"What is he doing down there?" Jimmy asked, "Hunting squirrels?"

"She is inviting squirrels to fight her." White Blade answered, "According to our scouts, she managed to kill fifteen squirrels already. She’s just stomping them to death."

Jimmy was conflicted, and albeit confused as well.

On one hand, he got a test subject for the Beast Cores without even asking for one.

On the other hand, the elder who absorbed the cores, seemed like nothing but trouble. From what he saw, she was half the height of the average tree across the meadows!

She had to be at least three meters, or ten feet tall. She was a monster, one that may be hard to kill if she ever went rogue!

"We’re close to ending the war, my friend," White Blade said, "Your cores secured us our victory."

"Yeah?" Jimmy said, "I don’t know how you missed this, but basically, you’re winning a war, and starting another one."

"Another war? With who?" White Blade asked, and took a light step back, expecting the other to attack. "Explain."

"A war with the humans, genius." He shook his head, "I mean, it must’ve already been weird for the humans to see a bunch of crows flying around with weapons. Hell, I think that’s part of the reason why they were sending predator birds after us, but you pushed their contempt towards us to the next level. You sent a giant crow out there in the open, where half the damn guard of the city could spot her."

"We spent many years hiding from the humans, and we tried our best not to bother them, but we’re putting those dark days behind us." White Blade said, "I do not wish to start a war with the humans, but they must understand that we can evolve into big problems if we wish to. Helene will help us form an unspoken peace treaty with the humans. We won’t bother them, and they’ll stop bothering us."

Jimmy almost respected his friend’s point of view. However, since he used to be a human himself, he could already picture how this attempted ’peace treaty’ was going to play out. He knew exactly how the humans were going to react.

For that matter, he said, "And here I thought that you actually knew what you were doing. You’re making shit up as you go along, aren’t you? Look at the city behind you, man, we’re out-numbered. If the humans choose to fight us, there is nothing we can do to stop them. They could kill Helene tonight."

"I’m aware," White Blade nodded, "I’m expecting them to kill her."

...

Humans didn’t have to rely on magic to eliminate threats. Their iron, and /or steel weapons could be just as effective, especially since they could put more power behind their swing.

Guards that were patrolling across the top of the city wall, began to sweat when they saw a giant crow walking across the meadows.

They could hear its every step, heavy as that of a mystic giant’s. It shook them to their very core.

"Get the Captain here!" A guard shouted. "We were not trained for this!"

In less than half an hour, a lot of guards gathered to the west-side of the city walls. The captain joined them eventually.

The battle-plan of the guards was delayed because of human problems. Guards who banged on the off-duty, Guard Captain’s door, essentially pulled him out of his wife’s embrace. He had been doing the deed.

"What’s this about a big bird?" The Captain barked at his men, "You took whole Basilisks down, but you’re scared of a damn bird? What’s wrong with you bastards?"

"Captain, sir!" A guard saluted him, his spine as straight as an arrow, "This bird is as big as a Basilisk! It could be a Legendary Beast, and we’re concerned that if we provoke it, it might fly right past us, and terrorize the citizens!"

"Legendary Beasts do not care for cities. You’re supposed to know this." The Captain said. "Have you forgotten your basic training?"

Upon the Captain’s arrival, the guards were set up to attack five minutes later.

Bows stretched to their limit across the west walls.

Then, a cloud of fifty arrows hit the sky.

Whistling their song of dominance, the arrows rained down on the giant crow, and only five of those arrows missed their target. The rest pierced several inches deep into the crow’s flesh!

The severe blunt damage the crow suffered, killed it on the spot. It wasn’t even given the chance to bleed out.

Upon seeing the giant go down, the guards raised their bows in the air, chanting a united shout of triumph!

The Captain remained unbothered. He left the walls irritated, and refused to say another word to his guards. His wife was waiting for him at home, and he hoped that he wouldn’t be bothered throughout the rest of the day.

"The city should lower its fucking standards," He spoke to himself, "We need more Captains, and soon. I can’t keep watching over these bastards all by myself."

...

Jimmy, White Blade, and what remained of the crow community watched the giant elder submit to an eternal slumber.

The Beast Cores she absorbed weren’t enough to contest the will of iron.

Jimmy was horrified, and confused.

In many ways, he knew that the giant crow would’ve done a great deal of damage against the ravens, and the razor squirrels. Having her killed this early on didn’t make any sense to him.

White Blade picked up on his friend’s confusion, and so he said, "Don’t worry. She volunteered to sacrifice herself. Even for an old crow, she could see the bigger picture."

"Bigger picture?" He parroted, "You just had your biggest advantage killed."

"The most effective battles are psychological," White Blade said, "The humans will no longer bother us. They no longer see us crows as a threat, because they believe that they killed the most troublesome crow. On the off-chance that we get stuck in the city, the humans will not bother us. They certainly won’t deploy eagles to hunt us, because other than boosting the confidence of the guards, the fact that crows can grow as big as Helene, will forever stick to the back of their minds. They wouldn’t want to provoke a potential catastrophe."

"You sound too sure of yourself," He said, "The humans are jumpy. They might start hunting us even more now."

"I doubt it," White Blade said, "We’ll be in the meadows by next sunrise. No human will bother to come out there and hunt us."

"What about the squirrels?" He asked.

"I believe that we killed most of them already. Their attacks have dwindled." White Blade followed along, "We’ll leave the city, and live in the meadows once more. Whatever raven or squirrel remains there, I’m sure we can kill them over time. Of course, we’re going to need more crows to assure our dominance."

At that moment, Jimmy noticed that his family members were missing. All of them.

At first, he was concerned that they had died in battle, but his friend nipped that confusion in the bud before it could’ve devolved into a sad argument.

White Blade explained, "I’ve sent your family to recruit crows beyond the meadows, and across some other human-infested cities as well. Gordon the Vast guaranteed that he could bring at least twenty crows here, but we’re expecting more. The war is over, my friend, and soon, we will prosper like we’re supposed to."