come out better in a competition, race, or conflict; "Agassi beat Becker in the tennis championship"; "We beat the competition"; "Harvard defeated Yale in the last football game"
To vanquish someone means to defeat them completely in a battle or a competition. A happy ending is only possible because the hero has first vanquished the dragons = overcome. to defeat someone or something completely (venquis, past tense of veintre , from vincere; VICTOR)