Last Stretch

...

Although Kaelan found himself caught in a tight spot in his duel against the Blightspawn, it was hardly surprising, truth be told.

Magic beasts and magic practitioners were fundamentally different creatures right from the very beginning.

While practitioners had to wait to bloom into their adolescent years to finally get a taste of magic, magic beasts were biologically engineered into the arcane path, with more than a decade head start to hone and tune their craft.

Of course, their own environments and habitats were more ruthless and violent, but still...

Not only did they possess the superior anatomy, resilience, and physique, but, they had stronger tolerance -or was it intolerance- for pain, as well. 

All tea no shade, as far as DNA and metabolism were concerned, humans were still bottom of the food chain, only above common beasts, but even that statement itself was highly controversial.