Every time Ryu felt that he took another step toward his goals, his body would suddenly feel alive, surging with vitality as though each one of his cells had been injected with qi to the point of nearly bursting at their seams.
He didn't even particularly care that he had killed such a talented Ancestral Beast in just a few moves. The weight of the achievement itself was practically meaningless, it was rather the deeper underbelly that rocked his soul and filled him with an overwhelming pride.
The other two griffins who had been blown away by their first exchange stood in their own locations, seemingly frozen in time. They couldn't even seem to wrap their heads around what they had seen.
The only rivals the Ancestral Beasts had ever had in their history were the Fey. Every other race had always been far beneath their notice, and, quite frankly, the only reason they gave the Martial Gods the time of day was because they could tell that there was something different about them.
However, it was clear and obvious to them that Ryu was a normal human. In fact, he was not just a normal human, but his cultivation was an entire Order beneath that of their leader. It just didn't make any sense to them.
Even they were able to fight humans and even Martial Gods far above them in terms of cultivation. This was the first time they had come across someone who could do the same to them in reverse.
Without another moment of hesitation, the griffins turned and ran. They didn't want to have to stay in this place for even a single moment longer. No matter what, they had to report this.
Ryu's head lowered from gazing up at the skies, locking onto the fleeing griffins. But, in the end, he couldn't be bothered to care. Since they could find Little Gem once, they could do it again, and again. It was likely that so long as Ryu was in a world with a griffin, they would be able to find their traces. Well, unless Ryu left the little one in the Incubator all the time. But, Ryu wasn't the type to change the course of his actions for the benefit of others, and definitely not in fear of others.
If they wanted to come, they could come. He would dice them apart to pieces just like he had with the one beneath his feet now.
…
It was only after vanishing thousands of kilometers over the horizon and realizing that Ryu hadn't followed them that the two griffins relaxed. But, it was also in their relaxed states that they were able to think back to the battle and realized what had happened in those final moments.
When it clicked, it felt like their minds were turning too much, their hearts skipping several beats.
Dragon Claw. Lightning God. Storm Talent. All appearing in one humans?!
No, that wasn't the worst part. They had definitely sensed that aura, the aura of their most bitter rival.
It wasn't necessarily true that they had never taken any Race outside of the Fey seriously. Or, more accurately, there was another group of individuals they had no choice but to take seriously as many of the greatest losses their people had experienced had been at the hands of those people.
The difference was that these individuals weren't tied down by a particular Clan, Bloodline, Race or Species. They appeared at random intervals. Sometimes they were beasts, sometimes they were humans, sometimes Faeries or Tree Folk, sometimes Demons or Devils…
However, the one constant was that they would always be obscenely powerful, an unfettered monstrosity that did as they pleased and wreaked destruction and havoc wherever they set foot…
The wielder of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth Pupils.
The two griffins looked toward one another, the shock and fear on their faces evident as they continued to shoot off into the distance. In those moments, it was as though a fire had been lit on their tails as they blazed a trail, flying faster than they ever had before.
This information, they had to tell someone powerful enough to stop the carnage.
…
Ryu descended from the skies, landing by the corpse of the enormous griffin. By this point in their cultivation, griffins were already easily hundreds of meters in length and size. Likewise, their Gems were enormous, taking up a large segment of their foreheads.
The Gems of griffins were precious treasures in their own right. In fact, even the Griffin Clan themselves believed this. When a griffin died, especially if they were extremely talented, the Gem would be harvested for future use.
It was a lot like what Ryu's Tatsuya Clan had done with their Bloodlines.
Of the Ancestral Beasts, the griffins were the symbolism of Order. In this way, they aligned much more with the Qilins than they did the Dragons. At the same time, this sort of dominion made them among the strongest of even the Ancestral Beasts, and for good reason at that.
This Order is where their World Pupils formed and where their strength came from. They gave structure to the world, and as such, they were granted the privilege to mold it into their image. The most powerful of the Griffins could bend and warp reality as they saw fit, changing the fundamental laws that governed the surroundings.
Something like making a distance of one kilometer equivalent to the distance of thousands of kilometers like Bru'li had done was nothing more than child's play. Their domains could make Lu'card's Spatial Domain look like nothing more than a joke.
Ryu reached out a hand, touching the enormous five meter tall gem. Even though he had gone right for the head and split most of Bru'li face into pieces, the gem was still completely unscathed. In fact, Ryu had felt his middle claw shatter in that final attack.
'This gem could actually be greatly useful… If refined properly, they would be the dream of any Formation Master…'