"Congratulations, challenger!" The Griffin dove down and landed before Mira, "As the last one standing, you've earned the right to challenge me. Should you defeat me, you will have proved yourself worthy enough to obtain the last piece of the puzzle you seek."
"..." Mira stared blankly at the Griffin, wondering if it was joking. However, looking into its eyes, she could tell it wasn't.
'Although I expected something like this, how am I supposed to beat this monster?' Mira thought with a sigh. Considering how easily it smacked away the one Elder on the island, its strength was definitely higher than her own by a considerable margin.
"So? How am I supposed to defeat you?" Mira asked, the grip on her scythe tightening.
"Slay me, and you will pass!" The Griffin raised its head arrogantly as if to say Mira didn't have the capability.
There was a reason why the main treasure of the Spire had never been obtained, even after all these years. Nobody could defeat it.
While Griffins weren't the strongest among the ancient beasts, they certainly weren't far behind.
The Griffin's golden feathers shimmered under the combination of the moon and sun, and its eyes, a deep blue, regarded Mira with a mixture of curiosity and disdain.
Its majestic wings, each feather edged in silver, spread out with a display of raw power. With every flap, currents of air flowed through, rustling the shards of ice that littered the battlefield. The wind carried an aura of absolute dominance, a kind only seen in apex predators.
Mira assessed the beast before her. Beyond its regal appearance, she could feel the immense power pulsating from it, an energy that threatened to suffocate her.
"Before we begin, any last words or wisdom you'd like to bestow?" Mira taunted, trying to mask the unease she felt.
The Griffin tilted its head, the moonlight reflecting off its keen, observant eyes. "Many have stood where you are now, and many have fallen," it began, its voice rich and resonant. "Each came with hope, ambition, and the belief that they were different. But in the end, all were consumed by the same fate."
Mira smirked, "Is that supposed to scare me?"
"Merely an observation," the Griffin replied. "I bear you no malice. But like you, I have a role to play."
As the final word echoed, the Griffin took to the skies, its wings stirring up a whirlwind of snow and debris.
Mira's heart raced, not just from the anticipation of the fight but also from the sheer aura of the creature before her.
"I suggest you prepare," the Griffin's voice carried through the air, a smile tugging at the corner of its beak. Without waiting for a response, it surged forward, closing the distance immediately.
Mira instinctively leaped backward, unfurling her Paragon Wings. However, before she could take flight, the Griffin was upon her, its talons aimed squarely at her chest.
With a swift motion, she blocked the attack with her scythe, only to be pushed back by the sheer force of the blow.
Tumbling a few meters away, she quickly assessed the situation. Her opponent was incredibly fast and far stronger than she had anticipated. If she had any chance at winning, it would most likely be from some full-powered surprise attack.
The Griffin, seemingly amused, hovered above her. "Such feeble resistance. I expected more from the last one standing."
Mira grunted, pushing herself to her feet. "And I expected more from a Griffin. A Dragon would've killed me in one hit."
But as the words left her mouth, the Griffin swooped down once more. Mira tried to evade, but the beast was too fast, sending her flying once again.
However, it didn't stop there and continued its onslaught.
Each swipe, each dive, each peck was more brutal than the last.
Every time Mira thought she had dodged or countered, the Griffin was always one step ahead, mocking her with its superior agility and prowess.
Her body bore the brunt of most of the blows, breaking bones and damaging her internal organs. It felt like battling a tornado; no matter which way she turned, the storm was always there, consuming her.
Luckily, after forming a Primal Heart, her ability to regenerate had improved. However, the beast was certainly putting it to the limits.
At one point, she managed to land a solid hit on the Griffin's wing, but it seemed unaffected, shrugging off the blow like it was nothing.
"Is that all? To think someone with the 9-Tailed Fox Bloodline would be so weak," the Griffin teased, circling her.
Mira's breathing became ragged, her movements less precise, as she tried desperately to keep up. The Griffin didn't miss this and smirked, knowing that it was about to kill another one in a millennia genius.
In a desperate bid, Mira unleashed [Frostbite Requiem], hoping to slow the creature down. The Griffin merely soared higher, evading the icy shards effortlessly, before diving down at a blinding speed, slamming into Mira and pinning her to the ground.
The impact left her dazed, her vision blurry. The weight of the Griffin on her chest was suffocating. Its talons gripped her arms, rendering her powerless, and its beak came close to her face. "Did you truly think you could best me?" it whispered, its breath hot against her skin.
Mira's muscles bulged as she attempted to throw the beast off of her, but it barely moved a centimeter despite using her full strength. She also attempted to shift forms, but the Griffin didn't allow that either.
Sneakily, she snaked her Golden Tail loosely around one of its back legs. Fortunately, the beasts didn't seem to care.
Knowing that struggling was futile, she stopped moving. Instead, she looked up and glared at the beast, her crimson eyes glowing.
"Oh? Not going to beg for your life, huh? Well, that's fine. Talented beings are always like that. So damn prideful." The Griffin chuckled as if it itself wasn't a talented being.
Suddenly, Mira chuckled, her gaze shifting from anger to disdain.
Shaking her head, she asked, "Why should I beg for my life? When I'll be taking yours."
At that moment, the Griffin's instincts screamed to run away. It didn't know what was going on, but it didn't hesitate to do so.
Releasing Mira from its grip, it took to the skies.
Only to realize that Mira's tails were wrapped firmly around its body.
"What are you doing?! Get off!" It yelled, trying to shake Mira off, but she was stuck on there like glue.
Releasing all the energy in her Primal Heart, Mira directed it to her black tail, causing it to shine.
Then, like a black hole, it sucked in all the nearby light. The surroundings dimmed, save for the Sun and Moon on either side, but even those were losing their shine.
The very essence of the world seemed to be absorbed by Mira's black tail. The Griffin felt its life force wane, a sensation it had never experienced before. The soul of the creature, which had never known true fear, was now trembling before the abyssal void that was Mira's tail.
A deafening silence enveloped the battlefield as the light above seemed to fade into the distance, leaving the Spire, the Griffin, and Mira in a twilight realm of desolation.
The Griffin's once vibrant golden feathers began to lose their luster, turning ashen gray, while its majestic blue eyes were consumed by darkness, a void where no light could reach. It felt as if it were being dragged into an endless abyss, the cold grip of death tightening around its heart.
Its strength, which had always been its pride, was rapidly waning. Desperate flaps of its wings, once filled with the power to stir tempests, now felt weak and sluggish. The air currents it once mastered were now rebelling against it, refusing to hold it aloft.
"Fox..." the Griffin croaked, its voice a mere shadow of the proud, resonant tones it had spoken in just moments ago. "What have you done?"
Mira, her form illuminated by the embers of the sun and moon, looked up at the Griffin, her eyes radiating a cold, unfeeling murderous intent. "You asked me to slay you to prove my worth. I simply found a way."
The Griffin, now reduced to a mere shadow of its former self, plummeted from the sky, crashing onto the ground with a thud.
Its once piercing eyes now looked at Mira with a mix of fear, confusion, and a hint of respect.
Gathering her strength, Mira approached the fallen beast, her black tail still shimmering with residual energy. Without even giving the beast a chance to respond, her tail enlarged and wrapped itself around the Griffin, absorbing it all.
As soon as the beast and just about everything else on top of the Spire disappeared, Mira fell to her knees. Sweat poured out of her body, with her face paler than a sheet of paper.
However, the barrier around the swirl of energy, combined directly with the sun and moon, had dispersed, allowing Mira to take what was rightfully hers.
