As the explosive force of Jasmine’s mana intensified, and the wind picked up, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air.
There was a loud bird-like shriek that cut through the night, causing Jasmine to wince and then with a massive wave of the figure’s wings, wind exploded in all directions.
Standing a few feet away from Jasmine was a large majestic bird with grace befitting a royal.
Her blue eyes were the colour of the sky, a vibrant hue interlaced with white patterns, and her feathers took a darker shade of blue, with milky white feathers on her chest.
Her beak was golden and curved, and her deathly talons served a sufficient deterrent for those who could not observe from afar.
This was Jasmine’s beast, the one who had recently rejected her...
The bird looked around the environnt, surprised by the sudden change, and when her eyes landed on Jasmine, they narrowed slightly.
Whoosh!
With a wave of her colossal wings, a gale of wind slamd into her, sending her body tumbling backwards.
Kael imdiately appeared next to her, stopping her from crashing into the river, then he glanced at the beast and back to her, his eyebrows knitted together in concern.
"Are you sure about this?"
Jasmine stood up and began walking towards her beast. "Please, don’t interfere, professor. This is sothing I have to do myself."
When her bird had rejected her, when it had begun refusing her summons, Jasmine had done nothing about it; she had simply sat down hoping that it would get better soon.
But it never did.
The mythical beast shrieked in anger, shooting her one last nasty look before turning in the other direction.
Energy began to encase her from her foot upward, covering her in a white glow, but just before she could disappear—
"Cancel teleportation."
The energy suddenly shattered like glass and the light faded into nothing.
When the mythical beast turned, she saw Jasmine’s hand up, a faint light glowing on her palm.
As the beast master, she could cancel her teleportation at will. Although she had rejected her, the contract was very much in effect.
"You dare?" ca a voice in her head.
Jasmine took a step towards her. "Karin, listen to , we can sort this out."
Karin’s gaze hardened, her irritation building up by the second, yet Jasmine kept talking.
"I know I was not the most competent beast master, I know I have failed where others succeeded and you couldn’t stand the embarrassnt."
She paused as she rembered how her last few months at the academy had been. One failure after another, one disappointnt after another.
Karin was of a proud species of beasts, she could not bear the embarrassnt any longer, so she stopped willingly answering her summons.
"Can you just give one last chance? I promise, things—"
"No! Why do I have to give soone like you another chance?" she shrieked in Jasmine’s head.
"It seems you’ve grown full of yourself in the days we have been apart. Summoning here and arrogantly making demands."
"I’m not making demands, I’m telling you to hear out at least!"
Whoosh!
Sharpened wind cut past Jasmine, ripping into her cheeks and drawing blood.
Karin’s eyes narrowed to the point that they were nearly closed.
"Don’t raise your voice at , child, I could very well kill you where you stand."
It was a bluff. The beast could not kill their masters without dying themselves.
If it was in the past, then Jasmine would have fallen for this, but now? She could hardly care about her shallow threats.
For every action she took, she weighed it against the feeling of drowning... the desperation she felt back then.
Was she yet at that level of desire? Was she still halfway there? The answer was no.
As the wind began surging around the beast, the angry currents roaring like a wounded lion, Kaeri scread to be heard.
"We are partners, Karin! That was our agreent!"
"I don’t care about any damned agreent! Cancel your limitations on right now!"
Jasmine shook her head. "You’re not listening to , you never did..." she said, anger slowly seeping into her voice.
Her fingers twitched at her sides and she hugged herself in anger just before screaming.
"How dare you abandon !" Her voice ca out as a loud shriek, one fraught with anguish.
"Do you know how much I tried? How I felt each ti I embarrassed you?!"
"How could you leave at such a ti?!"
Stunned by her outburst, Karin was left speechless, and by now, from taking slow continuous steps, Jasmine was just a few feet from her.
And so she lunged—
"Jasmine, what the hell are you doing?!" Kael scread as he gave chase, hoping to stop her.
It didn’t matter if killing their masters would kill them too, so beasts could not help but react harshly when confronted this way; he had taught them this over and over again!
Even if she did not die, she could be severely injured or lose a limb at the very least.
But his words fell on deaf ears.
Jasmine had already latched onto the beast’s beautiful feathers.
Karin stumbled backward, eyes wide as Jasmine grabbed onto her feathers and pulled herself onto her back.
"W-what are you doing?! J-Jasmine, no! Don’t you—hahaha—Jasmine, stop that!"
Jasmine had landed on her back and stuck her fingers in between the feathers of her neck, tickling with all her might.
She could not bear to harm Karin, so she did the only thing she could to gain her attention—she tickled her with the intention to kill.
A few seconds later, Karin was lying on the floor, cackling uncontrollably, her air of grace disappearing along with the laughable behaviour.
Yet, Jasmine did not stop, up until she began to beg, her breath hitching from the endless laughter.
Only then did Jasmine pull her fingers from her neck.
Sitting on the belly of the gigantic bird, Jasmine’s expression remained serious as she stared into her eyes.
"One more chance, Karin, I promise, it won’t be the sa this ti."
This ti she knew what she was up against; she would not fail twice.
Karin glanced at her, her large eyes blinking, all mirth lost as a look of irritation overtook her features.
"What happened to you, Jasmine? This is unlike you."
"I got so advice from a friend," she said, her eyes never once leaving Karin’s.
Karin looked to the side and rose up, a gentle gale of wind surrounding Jasmine and bringing her to the ground.
"He’s a bad influence," she said, and then she sighed. "One more chance, that is all I’ll give you."
"Thanks, Karin!" Jasmine ran to her, embracing her in a big hug.
"Hmmph! I know, I know. I alone am rciful, I alone am gracious!" she said, this ti out loud.
•
"What a dramatic bird."
Kael was observing the two of them from a distance, a small smile on his face.
It was clear that the beast just wanted Jasmine to show more drive, the sa thing he had been trying to do by pushing her to a corner.
He doubted Karin actually planned on cutting her off completely.
’She got advice from a friend, huh?’
Kael tiredly ran his hand through his wet hair as he watched the two of them.
Today, he felt his teaching thods had failed and he would lose a student as a result, it was a relief that everything had ended up fine.
She said she got advice from a friend, I guess I owe him one.
"Wait, was the drowning part his idea as well?!"
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