Fan Yumei watched, breathing steady, still perched atop her hovering storm platform. Her eyes never wavered.
"You lost this one," she said quietly.
Tian Rou coughed, chest heaving as she gripped 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 open sky.
She pushed off the edge and landed smoothly atop Mystic, her boots sinking just slightly into the charged qi layer pulsating along the beast's back. The air crackled—thick with ozone and anticipation. Around them, the sky became the entire battlefield.
Above them, Mystic spun slowly—her cloud-rippled fins tracing smug little loops as she hovered upside-down for a breath, clearly entertained by Tian Rou's retreat.
Fan Yumei narrowed her eyes.
"Stop it."
Mystic exhaled 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 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, tail spiraling wind around them like a nod.
Fan Yumei exhaled.
The dome flickered as the battle parameters reset. Stadium lighting recalibrated, casting fresh illumination across the sky arena. Scanners swept the clouds as an announcement echoed:
🎙️ "Round One complete — transition to Command Round: Beast-Only Engagement. Combatants remain airborne. Platform supports disabled."
—
🌀 Round Two – Zero-G Sky Platform Control Protocol Engaged
No countdown.
The air itself trembled.
Fan Yumei remained still. She inhaled slow and deep—then tilted her head, 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, voice echoing through the bond like deep water and rolling thunder.
« She thought she could catch me with that diving flame-bird. »
Fan Yumei frowned. "Mystic."
« What? I didn't laugh out loud this time— »
Fan Yumei shot her a look.
Then lifted her fingers to whistle—two short, sharp tones.
—
Flashback — A Few Days Ago: Fan Household, Private Training Grounds
On a makeshift training field, Mystic and Fan Yumei stood side by side.
Fan Yumei raised her fingers 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 rapidly—high, low, rhythmic.
Mystic weaved through the clouds, fluid and precise, responding flawlessly to each distinct command encoded in the sound.
Nearby, neighbors and travelers watched with growing admiration.
Lufei's voice rang out, cheering Mystic on with bright enthusiasm.
"Go, Mystic! Show them how it's done!"
Maxius hovered nearby, a teasing smirk on his face watching 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 to Maxius, sharp and unamused.
"Maxius," she said sternly, "if you want to match 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.
Nearby, an older man in his fifties stood arms crossed, lips curling in a rare smile.
"She's mastered a language most beastmasters only dream of," the old Commander murmured.
"That bond is exceptional—rare even among seasoned tamers," another added.
—
Back to Match
⚡ Mystic surged left—an immediate wide spin that brought her to Tian Rou's flank.
The whistles continued—high-low-low, then a 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—veterans, teachers, and Guild instructors.
"She's using command whistling—layered with qi pulses."
"No hesitation. The beast responds instantly."
"Midair pattern coding? With a newly hatched Sky-Class?"
Guild Commander Qian Shiyan leaned forward. "That bond's mature. Almost instinctual."
Principal Renshu crossed his arms, unreadable, but nodded slightly.
—
Flashback — Continued
Lufei bounced on a practice boulder, clapping wildly as Mystic curved through drills.
"Woo! Three spirals clean! Go Mystic!"
Maxius grumbled, heavy weights dragging his wings. "She always gets the fun drills…"
Fan Yumei raised an eyebrow. "You said you were faster."
"No, 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—boots lightly on 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 wings—generating fire vortexes in four directions to limit Mystic's high-speed arcs.
But Fan Yumei was ahead.
A low rolling double whistle—a code Mystic had 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 striking the Roc, but disrupting its updraft lift.
🔥 The flame vortex collapsed. The Roc dropped half a level.
"Storm of the Fallen," Fan Yumei whispered.
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 thunder-charged body.
The impact twisted the Roc midair, feathers flaring.
🌀 Then—
"Pressure Coil," Fan Yumei called.
Mystic shimmered as a barrier wrapped around her, slowing descent while absorbing the Roc's reactive fireblast.
In one motion, Mystic spun backward—whipped her tail—and knocked the Roc off balance.
🔥 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 just as 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. Dominant.
—
Fan Yumei exhaled quietly, hand still behind her back.
No celebration. No arrogance.
Mystic made a low grumble.
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 BEASTMASTERS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🥇 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 nodded approvingly.
Guild Commander Qian Shiyan whistled softly.
"She's not just riding that beast. She's dancing with it."