The end of the battle took less than a second.
The torrent of water smashed into Fate's shoulder, tearing it off along and sending his arm spinning through the air in a bloody cartwheel. At the same time, Fate tightened his hold on the animal with a snarl, the sound of cracking bones ringing throughout the massive room as the ball of feathers deformed.
Neither made a sound, even as blood dripped from the lips of each. They only stared through the distance and into their opponent's eyes.
Out of nowhere, Fate broke into a grin, the action mirrored by the chicken as it opened its beak and let out that same odd chuckling sound. A connection formed between the two, intangible and yet clearly felt.
There was no line or string of Mana or anything of the sort that Fate could sense connecting them. The connection was completely wireless.
Fate's thoughts flooded with peculiar feelings and alien emotions. The latter were eerily similar to those of humans, like an uncanny valley for emotions.
He felt what he thought was pride, relief, and joy, along with odder ones that he couldn't pin down.
After that were the tactile sensations, which Fate could easily recognize. Pain was at the forefront of these, but he could also feel the grass under his talons and the breeze ruffling his feathers.
A name surfaced within his mind: Kravoss. It became apparent to him immediately that this was the name of the Dracok. As his mind came to grips with this new presence, he could feel his new Familiar doing the same, memorizing his past, learning his languages, and finding his name in moments.
In less than a second, the two knew everything there was to know about the other.
Kravoss learned of Samantha, Fate's childhood, Old Man Travis, his joy at finally having someone to be by his side.
Fate learned of Kravoss' litter, of which he was the youngest. His siblings were either dead, still in the wilderness, or the Familiars of other Mages.
He experienced the bird's sadness at never finding a mate, Kravoss' drive to become strong enough to protect himself, and his age, which was surprisingly twelve years.
Through Kravoss' memories, Fate learned that Dracoks matured at around eleven years of age, but could live for centuries or more, depending on what Tier they reached.
Most importantly, Fate was introduced to the rooster's intellect, which was just as great as a human's, if not more so. This wasn't terribly surprising to the young Journeyman, who expected as much. Unlike Tier 0 animals, Tier I Magical Beasts weren't much different from humans in this area.
He released his telekinetic grip on the bird and pulled the fire starter out of his ring, biting into his sleeve as he pressed it against the wound in his torso.
"Now, wait a moment!" Cerec yelled.
Fate stopped, raising a brow at the professor as he stood there with his arm held awkwardly, so he could both bite it and cauterize the wound.
"If you do that, we won't be able to heal it, you fool!" the professor scowled as he walked over to the reckless young man.
'Oh, right.' Even though he had already benefitted from the nurse's services twice last week, it still hadn't fully sunk in that there were ways to heal even life-threatening injuries in the world he was now in, that of Mages.
He put his fire starter back into his ring and used his Mage Grasp to bring his severed arm into his remaining hand. 'Looks like I'll be a lefty for a bit,' he lamented.
"Honestly, what are these nobles teaching their children?" Cerec complained to Serden as he snatched Fate's unattached arm out of his hand. "First, they say Familiars are pointless, and now they raise their children to cauterize wounds?
"Actually, I was born in a town of mortals," Fate said.
"I – " The professor squinted at Fate as if trying to deduce if he was lying or not. "That explains a lot. Mortals always were quite charitable," he said, referring to Fate's actions from a few hours ago.
"Yep," Fate scowled. It was partly a scowl of anger, and another part of pain. He did still have a hole the width of a finger through his stomach and a lump of flesh currently being blown on by an unseen breeze, after all. "Although they never shared any of that generosity with me."
"Regardless, don't ever try to cauterize your wounds unless you know for a fact you won't make it to a healer on time."
"Is there even a healer here?" Fate asked.
"Of course," Serden replied. "SEDRA! C'mere!"
A woman in the same leather armor as Serden leaned her broom against the wall and jogged over, blue eyes going from Serden to Fate's missing arm to the hole in his stomach.
The woman let out a deep sigh as she grabbed the arm out of Cerec's hands. "Boys. Always reckless," she muttered in the same accent as Serden.
Jabbing the shoulder against the spot it was torn off and ignoring Fate's wince, she closed her eyes as the spot the arm touched the stump glowed bright green.
As Fate watched his arm slowly reattach itself, the Dracok visibly healed as well. He glowed with the same green light as Fate as his wings shifted and his bones snapped back into place. Swiftly, he went from a smooshed pile of meat to the Dragon Chicken he was before.
When Sedra was done, Fate rolled his arm around in its socket, finding nothing amiss. His pulled muscle from earlier and the hole in his stomach were likewise healed.
'Facets sure are convenient,' he wondered.
"Will all Spells heal both of us at the same time?" Fate asked the woman.
"No, that only worked because my Spell works off of my Mage Reach. I surrounded little Kravoss in it before pouring my healing Mana into him."
Fate felt a trickle of irritation from the Dracok at being called "little." He was fully grown, dammit!
He thanked the woman and hopped over the pen's fence to greet his new Familiar.