Fan Yumei watched, breathing steady, still atop her floating storm platform. Her eyes never wavered.
"You lost this one," she said quietly.
Tian Rou coughed, chest heaving as she clutched the Roc's back feathers.
"Yeah… I figured that out when I saw your damn whale laughing."
High above, Mystic hovered—rolling slightly in the air as if amused, cloud-rippled fins swaying.
Fan Yumei exhaled sharply. No ground. No fallback. Just the wind.
She kicked off the edge and landed smoothly atop Mystic, her boots sinking just slightly into the charged layer of qi that pulsed along the beast's back. The air crackled—thick with ozone and anticipation. Around them, the sky became the only battlefield.
Above them, Mystic gave a slow, exaggerated spin—her cloud-rippled fins swaying in smug little loops as she hovered upside-down for a breath, clearly amused by Tian Rou's retreat.
Fan Yumei narrowed her eyes.
"Stop it."
Mystic let out a soft whumfff of air, like a guilty child pretending not to understand.
Fan Yumei crossed her arms.
"You're being a sore winner."
Mystic squeaked, rolling back upright with a lazy flick of her tailcloud—then nudged her with a faint rumble of apology.
"That's better." Fan Yumei patted the edge of Mystic's neck. "We win with grace. Got it?"
The leviathan flicked her left fin in a loop-de-loop motion, tail spiraling wind around them like a nod.
Fan Yumei exhaled.
The battlefield dimmed slightly as the dome flickered, resetting parameters. Stadium lights recalibrated, casting fresh illumination across the sky arena. Scanners swept across the clouds as an announcement echoed:
🎙️ "Round One complete — transition to Command Round: Beast-Only Engagement. Combatants remain airborne. Platform supports will remain disabled."
⸻
🌀 Round Two – Sky Platform Zero-G Control Protocol Engaged
No countdown.
The air itself trembled.
Fan Yumei didn't move. She simply breathed in—long, slow—then tilted her head down, touching two fingers to her temple.
Bond Link.
A surge of golden qi pulsed invisibly between her and Mystic.
"You ready, girl?" Fan Yumei's thoughts brushed into the shared mindspace, like a familiar warmth.
Mystic responded with a low ripple of amusement, her voice echoing through the bond like deep water and rolling thunder.
« She thought she could catch me with that diving flame chicken. »
Fan Yumei frowned. "Mystic."
« What? I didn't laugh out loud this time— »
Fan Yumei shot her a look.
Then lifted her fingers to her lips and whistled—two short, sharp tones.
Flashback — First day of moving into their home — a few days ago
On a makeshift training field, at the home of Fan Yumei, and Mystic stood side by side.
Fan Yumei raised her fingers to her lips and let out a series of crisp, varied whistle tones.
Mystic responded instantly—spinning, diving, then bursting into a lightning-fast spiral of speed.
"Again," Fan Yumei called.
Whistles pierced the air in rapid succession—high, low, rhythmic.
Mystic weaved through clouds, her movements fluid and precise, responding flawlessly to each distinct command encoded in the sound.
Nearby, the neighbors and the travelers watched with growing admiration.
Lufei's voice rang out clearly, cheering Mystic on with bright enthusiasm.
"Go, Mystic! Show them how it's done!"
Maxius hovered nearby, a teasing smirk on his face as he watched Mystic's graceful movements.
"You call that fast?" he joked, flapping his wings provocatively. "I could outfly that lazy whale any day."
Fan Yumei's eyes snapped toward Maxius, sharp and unamused.
"Maxius," she said sternly, "if you want to join Mystic, you better start the whistle drills."
Maxius's face twisted in mock anger, flapping his wings harder.
Before he could retort, Fan Yumei suddenly appeared behind him holding his "favorite" ten-pound wing weights.
"Time to put these on," she said quietly but firmly.
Maxius's expression fell, wanting to cry but having no tears left to shed.
Nearby, the old man who looked to be in his fifties stood arms crossed, lips curled in a rare smile.
"She's mastered a language most beast masters only dream of," the old Commander murmured.
"That bond is exceptional—rare even among seasoned tamers," another added.
—— flashback ended
⚡ Mystic surged left—an immediate, wide spin that brought her to Tian Rou's flank.
The whistles continued—high-low-low, then a single sharp snap.
Mystic dove without hesitation, curving up at the last second to arc over the Roc's wings.
The crowd noticed.
From the stadium's shaded observation ring, murmurs began to build—voices of veterans, teachers, and even Guild instructors.
"She's using command whistling—layered with qi pulses."
"No hesitation at all. The beast is responding instantly."
"Are they… midair pattern coding? With a newly hatched Sky-Class?"
The head of the Beastmaster Guild, Guild Commander Qian Shiyan, leaned forward. "That bond's mature. Almost instinctual."
Principal Renshu crossed his arms, expression unreadable. But a small nod gave him away.
⸻
Flashback — Home Practice Field (continued)
Lufei leapt up and down on a practice boulder, clapping wildly as Mystic curved through drills.
"Woo! That's three spirals clean! Go Mystic!"
Maxius grumbled from the sidelines, heavy weights dragging at his wings. "She always gets the fun drills…"
Fan Yumei raised an eyebrow. "You said you were faster."
"No, I said maybe faster—"
She held up his second favorite weight.
Maxius groaned like a soul in torment.
⸻
Back to Match – Ring Aether 04
🎙️ "Round Two, execution-only phase. No master combat. Bond-link communication permitted."
Fan Yumei stood motionless now—boots pressed lightly onto her storm platform, hands behind her back like a commander.
She whistled again.
🔥 Tian Rou narrowed her eyes. "Lys—cross-pivot spread."
The Blaze-Titan Roc extended its wings wide—generating fire vortexes in four directions to limit Mystic's high-speed arcs.
But Fan Yumei was already ahead.
A low, rolling double whistle—a code Mystic had been drilled on a hundred times.
« Split cloud dive, tight roll, disrupt rear shield. »
Mystic vanished into her own storm—reappearing above with a burst of golden light.
⚡ Thunder God Strike—Minimal Arc Version.
A precision beam lanced downward—not to strike the Roc, but to disrupt the Roc's updraft lift.
🔥 The flame vortex collapsed. The Roc dropped half a level.
"Storm of the Fallen," Fan Yumei whispered into the wind.
Mystic responded.
Clouds spiraled once more—targeted and concentrated. Rain burst sideways in wind-laced sheets.
Visibility snapped to zero.
Tian Rou whistled sharply, but her beast was half a second behind.
That was enough.
Mystic curled beneath the Roc—unseen—then burst through the underside of the vortex, scattering flame with her own thunder-charged body.
The impact twisted the Roc midair, feathers flaring.
🌀 Then—
"Pressure Coil," Fan Yumei called aloud.
Mystic's body shimmered as a barrier wrapped around her, slowing her own descent while absorbing the Roc's reactive fireblast.
In one motion, Mystic spun backward—whipped her tail—and knocked the Roc back just enough—
That its balance faltered.
🔥 Tian Rou screamed, "Recover! Star spin pattern!"
But it was too late.
Mystic released a low, thrumming Call of the Whale.
The soul-wave hit the Roc at the exact moment it tried to ascend.
It froze.
A second later—it plummeted.
Mystic circled once… twice… then dropped with thunder trailing her sides—wings flared wide.
Instead of striking—
She stopped midair, inches away.
Hovering. Unmoving.
Dominant.
⸻
Fan Yumei exhaled quietly, hand still behind her back.
No celebration. No arrogance.
Mystic made a low grumbling sound.
Fan Yumei tilted her head. "Mystic. No."
Mystic grumbled again, clearly displeased.
"Don't be a sore winner."
The crowd erupted in cheers.
——-
🎙️ "WINNER OF ROUND TWO — FAN YUMEI, full marks for Command Execution, Tactical Adaptation, and Qi Bond Fidelity."
⸻
🏆 FEDERATION ACADEMY — SKY STADIUM LEADERBOARD
📍 LOCATION: Gate Seven – Ring Aether 04 (100 ft above Federation Academy)
📅 PHASE: Day One, Large Sky-Class Division
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📊 CURRENT RANKINGS — TOP BEAST MASTERS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🥇 1st — Fan Yumei
—-
► CLASS: Elemental Caller / Soul Function
► BEAST: Mystic – Golden Thunder Cloud Sperm Whale
► ROUND ONE: 18 / 20 pts
► ROUND TWO: 17 / 20 pts
► TOTAL SCORE: 35 / 40 pts
► STATUS: ADVANCED
► RECORD: 1–0
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
❌ Eliminated — Tian Rou
—-
► CLASS: Aerial Combatant / Flame Elementalist
► BEAST: Blaze-Titan Roc
► ROUND ONE: 10 / 20 pts
► ROUND TWO: 11 / 20 pts
► TOTAL SCORE: 21 / 40 pts
► STATUS: ELIMINATED
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📘 NEXT MATCH:
——-
► Fan Yumei vs. [REDACTED Opponent Name]
📎 STAGING: Sky Gate Sector B – Lightning Crosswind Altitude Tier
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⚙️ OBSERVER NOTES
– Beast Link communication via whistle tones: ✅ Verified
– Sky Cloud Domain + Cloud Blade combo: 🟣 Ranked: Exceptional
– Command response time: ⚡ 0.48 sec avg
– Bond resonance and tactical flow: ⭐ Guild Commander & Principal Marked: Elite Potential
——
🌀 Weather Residue:
► Active storm qi remnants from Mystic's Sky Cloud Domain detected
► Atmospheric static field persisting at 43%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Even the instructors stood from their seats.
Principal Renshu gave a nod of acknowledgment.
Guild Commander Qian Shiyan whistled softly.
"She's not just riding that beast. She's dancing with it."