Chapter: Brats, Beasts, and Boundaries
The Academy grounds were alive with chaos.
Students darted between courtyards, their laughter sharp and careless. Some trained clumsily with baby beasts, sending minor spells flying into the air like unlicensed fireworks. Others were glued to their Oni comm bracelets, projecting emojis and video clips of battle simulations or trading memes from the morning's registration scene.
I weaved through the mess with Maxius gliding above me and Lufei trotting silently at my heels. A few kids glanced my way, recognizing me from earlier—but most kept their distance.
Good.
Then I heard it.
Excited murmurs. Dozens of them.
I rounded the curve past the mana fountain and slowed.
A crowd.
A big one.
They were all clustered at the edge of the Beast Parking Pavilion—specifically around my spot.
"Mystic…" I muttered, my gut twisting.
I broke into a jog. Lufei's hooves clicked beside me. Maxius shot forward like an arrow, scanning the perimeter from above.
As I shoved past the last few gawking students, I saw her.
Mystic floated calmly just off the grass—a gleaming, opalescent cloud-whale with fins shimmering like diamond dust, her enormous tail lazily stirring the air. Dozens of kids were taking photos, some even trying to record videos for their feeds.
But in the middle of it all, a girl dressed in gaudy embroidered silks and gold-thread boots was reaching toward Mystic's face with a dainty, jeweled hand.
I didn't hesitate.
I surged forward and yanked her hand back by the wrist, hard enough to pull her off-balance. She stumbled, whirling to glare at me.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she snapped.
I stood between her and Mystic now, calm and cold.
"Preventing you from losing a limb."
She scoffed, cheeks flaming. "She's just a beast. If she were bonded, she wouldn't be floating around out here like some stray. Don't touch me again."
"You touch my beast again, and I'll do more than grab your wrist."
The girl's nostrils flared. "Are you insane?! Do you even know who I am? I could buy ten of you."
I stared her down.
"Then maybe go buy yourself some common sense."
The crowd hissed in delight. A few students laughed nervously. Her face twisted with outrage.
"You expect me to believe you—someone who looks like they washed up from a trash sector—own this mythical-class beast? What are you, some kind of animal thief?" She jabbed a finger toward Mystic. "Move aside so someone worthy can try to bond with her!"
I blinked slowly.
"…So let me get this straight," I said, voice flat and razor-sharp. "You see a powerful beast, assume it's unclaimed, and decide you deserve it? You think being rich makes you entitled to touch, take, or bond with whatever you want?"
She lifted her chin. "Obviously."
Something inside me flicked off.
I wasn't above fighting a kid. I was in a kid's body anyway.
"Alright then," I said, turning slightly. "Let's ask her."
I raised a hand and called clearly:
"Mystic."
The great beast's fins twitched. A low rumble vibrated the air.
Then—KRACK!
A blinding arc of sky-blue lightning shot from Mystic's mouth and slammed into the pavement two inches from the girl's embroidered boots, scorching the ground with crackling qi.
She screamed and stumbled back, and the crowd absolutely exploded in gasps and awestruck murmurs.
The girl's wide eyes darted between Mystic and me, shaken. But instead of learning her lesson, she sneered as her gaze landed on Maxius, still perched silently nearby.
"Oh, that's your other beast?" she said, voice dripping with mockery. "I thought it was some crippled street bird. Look at those ragged wings—one of them's missing entirely! Ugly and broken. What a downgrade."
Everything went still.
Maxius didn't speak.
Didn't move.
But I felt it—qi building like a blade drawn slow across stone.
I turned—just in time to see Maxius's feathers flare with shadow and spectral glow, his claws extended and a dark crescent forming between them.
"Maxius, no—"
PHANTOM SLICE.
A deadly curved arc of qi tore from his wing like a reaper's scythe, silent and screaming toward the girl—
I snapped up my hand and caught the attack mid-air, qi flaring in my palm as I deflected the Phantom Slice just inches from her chest.
The crowd gasped.
My hand stung.
Blood dripped from my palm where the edge of the attack sliced deeper than I intended. Maxius stood behind me, furious, wings pulsing faintly as if the phantom blade still lingered.
The girl opened her mouth to protest—but that was the last mistake she'd make today.
Mystic's tail came down like judgment.
WHUMP.
The controlled blast of air slammed into the girl like a moving wall, flinging her back a full ten feet and scattering her gold hairpins like glittering shrapnel. She landed on her rear with a choking cough, completely stunned.
Several kids burst into open laughter. One shouted, "That's what you get!" while others scrambled to record more footage.
Mystic lowered herself slightly, a swirl of mist forming steps of condensed cloud beneath her.
I didn't say another word.
Just strapped Lufei gently into her reinforced harness on my left side, extended my arm for Maxius to perch—and turned.
But Maxius didn't move.
He looked down at my bleeding hand with wide eyes.
"…Master…" he whispered, his voice unusually small. He fluttered forward slowly, pressed his head to my chest, and hugged me with both wings, whimpering.
"I didn't mean to hurt you… I'm sorry… I didn't listen… I just got so angry…"
I sighed, squeezing him back with one arm. "I know. But you can't lash out. Especially not like that."
Beside us, Lufei's antlers shimmered softly as she stepped forward and pressed her muzzle to my hand. A soothing wave of emerald qi spread across my skin. The blood stopped instantly. The wound closed like it had never existed.
Maxius pulled away, guilt clouding his golden eyes.
Mystic let out a low, warning rumble as I stepped up onto the cloud stairs. She narrowed her eyes at Maxius.
"You endangered her," she said sharply. "If she hadn't stopped you, that could've hit her chest."
Lufei flicked her ears in agreement. "You acted without discipline. You should be ashamed. She does everything for us, and you ignored her order."
"I know…" Maxius whispered. "I'm sorry."
Mystic gave him a final glance. "You're lucky you don't know how to charge that slice properly yet. Or we'd be grounded—permanently."
Maxius hung his head.
I took my seat between Mystic's shoulder-fins, Maxius curled tightly on my lap now instead of perching, and Lufei tucked under my left arm.
"Let's go," I said.
Mystic flapped her fins once—and we lifted off.
The wind rushed past, and the school below shrank beneath us. The girl still sat near the crowd's edge, too humiliated to move.
I let out a slow breath.
That could've gone worse.
We crossed the skyline heading toward the Materials Department Center. I needed tools, food, maybe a few basic defensive runes.
And after that—
Home.
The place Ka Sanni gave me. The edge of the safe zone. Broken. Isolated. Mine.
And with Mystic, Maxius, and Lufei beside me, no one was going to take anything from me again.
Not without a fight.