The Mechanical Era

According to olden tales written millennia ago, a griffin was a majestic beast that signified courage, leadership, and strength to the people of its time. In its original depiction, a griffin was described to have, large white feathers, orange front legs, and soft light-blue fur.

Many stories were crafted by many different authors of many generations, depicting this exalted and munificent beast saving the lives of thousands, acting on the hero's side of any story the authors of their time had written. Of course, this creature did not really exist, only in the collective minds of humans through tales and fantasies.

However, when the demons arrived in Eden, everything changed. It corrupted the men and women of the past and took a good gander at their ideas. Within a few hundred years, it had formed a sort of beast of its own, imitating and adding to the original product. What had become fantasy, had become reality with a lot of uncanny and malicious twists stuffed in.

What stands before the squad of musketeers and knights, was a monster born out of their ancestor's imagination. It had black fur and dark gray feathers on its wings, with its beak and front legs, were a violet purple, matching the mana stone on its forehead. On its beak were razor-sharp teeth.

The group can be seen sweating and shivering a little, all at least a little scared for what was in front of them. The cracks of the shield, made by the bullets traveling at fast speeds, started to regenerate. The musketeers load up their guns and make their way to the front, now acting as a wall for the knights. Carson, while still keeping his musket and eyes on the beast, asked Serena.

"You got any ideas, Knight Serena?" he asked. Before she can respond, the griffin screeched at them, and flew up into the air in an instant, leaving a strong gust of wind. It then locked on one of them and dived back in.

"EVERYONE, SCATTER!" Carson screamed. The musketeers and knights fled the area, hiding behind the wooden trees as cover. The griffin dived in and went back up without hitting the ground. With the group now separated, Carson shouted his instruction.

"Regroup! Heat southward and regroup!" he ordered. The musketeers and knights fled the scene and got back together with everyone else. Well, almost everyone.

"We have two missing! Knight Serena and Knight Goldberg. Where are they? They were with you, right?" Carson asked.

"Um... sir? They told us that they will be the distraction, while we come up with a plan." one of the musketeers replied. Carson cursed under his breath.

"Fuck! Ok, Ok. Calm down, Carson. Calm down. Take a deep breath..." he muttered to himself. After taking in a few deep breaths, he was back to a level head, at least as close as he can get.

"Alright. First, I need to know everything about that Griffin. You..." Carson pointed at the knights.

"Do you know anything about this beast?" he asked

"Well, Sergeant Carson. A griffin is mostly a physical attack and defense kind of beast. It uses its mana reserves to give it a strong boost and defense increase. From what we know, it doesn't have any magical spells, like fireballs, that it can use."

"Alright. That is good. How much power will it take to break its shield?" he asks.

"Well, from what we saw, it had a violet mana crystal, so we will need a huge amount of force to break it. Though, I am not sure if the firearms will be enough to do it. Besides, from what we saw, it was able to regenerate it."

"Yes. That is a problem. Do you think there is any way around it?" Carson asked. The knights thought about it before one of them replied.

"Well, from what we know, A griffin would need to focus on that area to regenerate it, making the other parts of its shield more vulnerable. We could use that to our advantage." one of them suggested.

"Yes! That! Anything else?" he asked. The knights went on to explain everything they knew of the griffin.  After listening to all the details of the Griffin that they know, Carson formed a plan.

"Alright, here is what we are going to do. We, musketeers, will distract the beast and focus on a point on its shield. You all will remain in position above the trees and patiently wait for it to come.

Once it is in range, you knights attack from the stop and destroy the shield. From there, you are all free to kill the beast. Is that good for you all?" Carson asks. The knights whisper to one another, before agreeing.

...

Serena and Golberg, a blonde man with ocean-blue eyes with an oval face, were using up their entire reserves to distract the beast away from the others. The two hoped that Carson and the others will be able to formulate a solid plan to deal with it.

As they move from tree to tree, being pursued by the griffin in the sky, they can see a large smoke coming from the distance. Assuming that it was a signal from the others, they decided to move into the area.

As the griffin dived in and out of the forest, trying to catch the two knights, it felt that a small projectile hit its shield. It looked down, and saw a bunch of men on the ground, pointing its weird wooden stick at it.

The griffin, upon spotting the men surrounded by smoke, the creature changed its focus and made its way down to its new target. Serena, upon seeing that the griffin had changed its target, and hearing the sounds of gunshots in the distance, quickly rushed over to their location.

...

Carson had managed to load up another shot to his FLM-18 musket, before finding another round. It just barely managed to hit the spot where he was aiming for. Knowing that it was the last shot from his musket he can take, the man pulled out his PCR-18 revolver and shot at the shield again.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Carson fanned the revolver. The other musketeers, after firing their third shot, left the area to safety to reload their weapons, in case the knights fail to kill the beast. Carson stayed, willing to sacrifice himself in order to kill this demon.

He managed to fire off one more shot before trying to make it to safety, but it was too late. As the griffin got closer to Carson, it screeched out in anger and reached out to Carson with its claw-like hands. Knowing that he has one more shot left, he turned around and fired it on the cracked zone, before using his left arm as a shield.

Though it did not break the shield, it allowed the other knights to jump right in for the kill. With their runic weapons charged up, they collectively struck the beast's shield, breaking it apart. The point of the spear then penetrated deep into the griffin, puncturing the vital organs that it needs to survive, with the last one slicing its head off.

The griffin landed on the ground with a loud thud. A huge dirt cloud forms as the beast suddenly comes to a stop. Serena soon arrives at the scene and finds Carson. He was found alive, laying on the grass bed with his left arm slashed by the griffin's claws. They immediately went on to treat his wound, by washing it first, before pouring a healing potion over the wound.

"Are you alright, Sergeant Carson?"

"Yes. I am alright. Is it dead?" he asked.

"Yes. It is dead." Serena replies.

...

A lone man, covered in a cloak, was sitting on a rock in the middle of a forest, far away from the griffin. He had his black-claw-like hands holding up his head, just staying still, eyes closed. From his mana stone, he received information about what was going on through the beast's eyes, before it goes dark.

"Hm... They have some new weapons, I see," he muttered.