The sonic cry of the Tempest-Winged Griffin was not merely sound; it was a physical weapon. A wave of pure, concussive force slammed into Ren, staggering him. It was a raw, unfiltered expression of dominance, a king announcing its divine right to rule. The very air vibrated, and the Aether in Ren's channels fizzled, the powerful sonic resonance threatening to disrupt his control.
He immediately anchored himself, his will a bulwark against the assault. He had endured the psychic poison of the Void's sermon; he would not be broken by a beast's roar, however powerful.
The Griffin, perched on its nest of shattered trees, watched him, its intelligent sapphire eyes burning with ancient pride. It had expected him to crumble, to flee like all the other lesser creatures that trespassed in its domain. His resilience had earned him a sliver of its respect, the kind a predator gives to a worthy, but doomed, opponent.
With a magnificent, powerful downbeat of its storm-cloud wings, the Griffin launched itself into the air. It didn't just fly; it commanded the sky, riding the wind currents with an effortless, breathtaking grace. It circled the high plateau once, a silent, grey predator against the overcast sky, before it dove.
It descended like a thunderbolt, its massive, razor-sharp talons extended, wreathed in crackling arcs of wind-aspected Aether. It was aiming to shatter him in a single, overwhelming strike.
"Do not meet it head-on!" Zephyrion's voice was a sharp command in his mind. "It is the master of this realm, the open sky. You are a creature of the earth. Use that. Make the ground your weapon!"
Ren didn't need to be told twice. He used Raijin's Flash.
Fzzt.
He vanished from his spot just as the Griffin's talons slammed into the ground, a microsecond behind him. The impact was cataclysmic. The petrified stone of the plateau shattered, sending a shockwave of force and a shower of razor-sharp, glassy shrapnel outwards.
Ren reappeared at the edge of the plateau, near a cluster of towering, petrified trees. The Griffin let out a frustrated cry and banked sharply, its powerful wings creating a miniature tornado as it prepared for another pass.
Ren knew he couldn't win a battle of attrition. The beast's raw power and aerial mobility were far superior. He had to be smarter. He had to change the rules of the engagement.
He slammed his hand on the ground, not to attack, but to listen. He sent a web of fine Aetheric threads into the petrified stone beneath him, using his control over resonance to feel out the structure of the plateau. He felt the ancient stress fractures, the hidden fissures, the deep, hollow caverns left over from the ancient forest. He now had a map of the battlefield.
The Griffin dove again, this time unleashing a barrage of sharp, focused blasts of wind from its wings, each one a blade of pure force capable of slicing through steel.
Ren didn't dodge this time. He stood his ground and summoned the Aegis of the Storm. The humming azure dome materialized around him, the wind-blades dissipating harmlessly against its lattice. But he did not hold the dome shape. He flexed his will, and the Aegis flowed like liquid lightning, reshaping itself into a narrow, aerodynamic shield in front of him, deflecting the barrage while minimizing his Aetheric expenditure.
Under the cover of his mobile shield, he used his kinetic arts. He focused on a massive, half-shattered petrified tree fifty feet away. He didn't try to lift it; he simply targeted the deep stress fractures at its base and unleashed a powerful, resonant pulse.
With a groaning crack that echoed across the plateau, the colossal stone tree toppled, falling directly into the Griffin's flight path.
The beast, its aerial grace absolute, twisted its body in a breathtaking feat of acrobatics, its storm-cloud wings folding and snapping open to avoid the falling giant. But the maneuver forced it to slow down, to break its attack pattern. For a single, crucial second, it was vulnerable.
That was the opening Ren needed.
He dropped the Aegis, conserving his power, and launched a single, perfectly aimed Thunder's Needle. The spear of azure lightning shot through the air, aimed not at the Griffin's armored body, but at the delicate, complex joint of its right wing.
The Griffin shrieked in pain and fury as the needle struck true. The attack didn't cripple the wing, but the jolt of pure lightning energy disrupted its Aetheric flow, causing the limb to momentarily seize. The beast's perfect flight faltered, and it tumbled from the sky, crashing onto the plateau with the force of an avalanche, its pride more wounded than its body.
Ren stood his ground, his breathing steady, his Aether humming. He had done the impossible. He had grounded the king of the skies.
The Griffin rose to its feet, shaking its massive head. The sapphire eyes, once filled with arrogant pride, now burned with a new, more dangerous light: furious, murderous hatred. The dance was over. The true battle was about to begin.