Dire Opponent

Leto was woken up by a frantic soldier who was screaming. Before Leto could gather his thoughts, he was being handed a sword and ushered into his feet and outside the tent.

The cold wind, blood ridden frozen soil, and the sounds of attrition met Leto as he exited, but there was also something else. A terrible odor permeated the air, one different from blood or decaying beast bodies, no, this was purely revolting. It would be near impossible to ever get used to the smell as one would the usual stenches of war. Leto coughed and covered his face with his hand. He looked to his left and shuddered.

Only about 50 yards away, there was a Behemoth the size of a house terrorizing the guards. It had rough, black fur, long sharp fangs, bright and terrifying red eyes, silver talons, and struck a primal fear into Leto the moment he laid eyes upon it. Mara was dashing toward Leto but was caught up by a group of Fallen Wolves. She fought vigorously against them and within seconds, a red waterfall was falling from their necks.

Mara reached Leto and picked him up with one arm. She was covered in the blood of the creatures, the soldiers, and her own. Her breathing was hoarse, her armor was mutilated, blood was streaming down her exquisite face, and she was considerably slower than when she first joined the fight.

"Leto, I need you to gather the injured soldiers and get them out of here. If they need help walking then it'd be better to let another soldier help them instead. You need to get out of here and get behind the wall where it's safe, do you understand?"

"No I want to fight. I can help."

"No! You need to be safe behind the wall. My soldiers and I will deal with this."

Mara carried Leto into the tent and embraced him for a few moments, her expression was grim but not disheartened. She reluctantly left and began shouting commands at her knights. Leto began doing as she said and escorting people out of the tent and towards the bailey, where it was safe… safer.

"Listen up everyone! We need to get out of here and behind the border! If you can walk, find someone who can't and help them out, we need to move quickly!"

Leto helped a few people to their feet and began guiding people towards the exit at the rear of the canopy, once everyone who needed assistance walking was out of the tent, he rushed back inside to grab some supplies. Bandages, water, food, anything he could grab that would help. As he was running out of the tent, he looked around and noticed multiple people still lying on the pallets and others slowly crawling in agony. He continued out and handed off the supplies.

"I need some capable men to help me in here, there's people still in the tent that need help!"

"On my way!" "I'll help!" "Me too!" "On it, kid!"

Multiple people ruched back in and helped the crippled soldiers. Leto was also helping two onto their feet before another man ran in and took responsibility for them.

From the front of the tent, Leto heard the furious clash of Mara, the soldiers, and the Behemoth. He waited till everyone was clear of the canopy before removing the armor supplied to him by Mara. Then, a short apparition dashed out of the medical area and towards the Behemoth. It was clad in armor as dark as the night sky but moved too swiftly to identify. A sword made of ice grew from its hand as it raced toward the fight. The soldiers whom the being passed by were stunned as the apparent murderer of the King of Earl was in their midst.

Up ahead, Mara was clashing with the oversized abomination. She back stepped and dodged its massive paw, but it wasn't enough. It's claw had gorged her leg open, leaving her unable to run away and badly hurt. She fell to a knee and thrusted her sword into the ground, she glared at the Behemoth with contempt and grunted. As she did, a paw bigger than a person cast a shadow over Mara, she closed her eyes and lowered her head, accepting defeat. As the shadow grew closer, she glanced toward the medical tent with a somber expression.

'I'm sorry, Leto.'

A dark and foreboding image flashed in front of Mara. Suddenly, the paw that was just threatening to completely crush her was flying through the air, going away from her. A horrid odor attack her instead, and with it came a river of black blood washed her and the surrounding area. The Behemoth let out a deafening roar as it staggered back, caressing its stump whence its paw formerly was.

The mysterious swordsman was already upon the beast, his blade nearing its neck. But in the next moment, the Behemoth reacted and dodged with staggering speed. It's paw that was still attached flew toward the dark knight and he was sent flying into the nearby woods, bursting through a few trees due to the force. As this was happening, many medical personnel swiftly removed Mara from the area, wrapping her leg and healing it simultaneously. Within a minute, the wound was closed and she was able to fight again. Luckily, within that time, the soldiers had managed to stall the beast in its weakened state and slightly quell it rampage.

Mara crushed a mysterious stone in her hand that had an intricate and glowing circle engraved in it. The color in her face returned and she was able to fight properly now. She ordered the marksmen on top of the border to fire arrows coated with white flame to be fired at the beasts stump and eyes. She didn't need all of them to land, only a few would help tremendously. However she underestimated her soldiers, every arrow hit its mark, 7 piercing the beasts bloody stump and 2 piercing each eye. The white flame quickly spread across its body, and inside its mouth, a white glow was shining painfully.

Mara dashed toward the Behemoth and lowered herself, preparing to jump. She began to prepare an upward slash as she left the ground, in mere moments, she was upon the beasts cranium and pulling her sword up through its snout. Once the snout was split in two, she changed direction and began a downward thrust, piecing right between its eyes.

The Behemoth weakly finished its beastial roar and shuddered, it fell to the ground with a boom and shook the area.

The Behemoth was dead.