As the ancient trees trembled before the Jackal's might, Leto elusively evaded the falling trees and heavy paws of the pursuer. As he approached the territory of the Blood Bear, a blood curtailing war cry could be heard from the Jackal. In response, the Blood Bear let out a deep and terrifying yawp, somehow more sinister than the Jackal.
Ahead, more trees were trembling and shaking, some even toppling over, as the Blood Bear tried to intercept the intruder. Leto saw the bear and quickly ascended to the top of the trees, escaping the calamitous battle between the two apex predators.
As he reached the highest limb that was sturdy enough to support his weight, the two below were nearly upon each other. Both let out a low menacing growl and then beared their fangs, leaping the final bit of distance separating the two. They collided and a shockwave sent the trees reeling back along, the area beneath the two was cleared of all debris.
Blood poured onto the cold forest floor as two pinnacle existences of the forest clashed.
The Blood Bear's armor was shredded around its neck and stomach, revealing multiple scars and crude fur coated in dried blood.
The Jackal's hide was sliced apart, draining fetid blood from its wounds. Although the beast was capable of healing quickly, the wound left by Leto was still dripping blood due to the Soul Aether coating. The wounds from the Blood Bear were also not healing quite as fast an normal wounds.
The Blood Bear stood up on its hind legs and swiped low with his monstourous paw, eviscerating the Jackal's joint and causing it to lose balance for a few seconds… And those precious seconds were exactly what the Blood Bear needed. In that small gap, it propelled its head forward towards the Jackal's neck, biting into it with incredible force. The Jackal was lifted into the air and was slung left and right repeatedly. It attempted to retaliate with its hind legs only to be met with two ferocious paws from the Blood Bear plunging into its abdomen, gorging its innards out.
The Jackal stuttered and continued its futile attacks to the bear, its strength was being sapped out by the need to focus on repairing its stomach. As the wound began to close, the Blood Bear's eyes suddenly changed to a bright yellow color and the blood that was caked upon its armor surged.
It pierced the Jackal's body and seemed to be siphoning the blood and strength from the beast as if it were a vampire. The Jackal dug its weakened rear legs into the Blood Bear's stomach once again, shredding more and more skin and causing chunks to fall to the forest floor. As it did, Leto noticed something strange in the stomach of the beast.
There seemed to be something embedded within it.
But he also noticed something else, both were extremely weakened and battered, creating the perfect opportunity for Leto to drop from the tree canopy.
Leto decended to a lower branch and manifested a sword, except this time, it was made completely out of Soul Aether. During the beasts bout, he was perfecting a stable form of the Aether sword. Leto summoned his helmet and jumped from the trees, as he fell, a fissure was left in the wake of his sword once again, only this time it was much, much larger.
As the dark knight streaked through the air, the beasts continued their bout, one stealing the life of the other, and the other was wilding flailing around in the maw of the other.
Leto was mere meters above the two and began to swing downward with his Aether Zweihander, creating more force with his slash. The sword easily sliced through the armor and hide of the Blood Bear, nearly perfectly slicing it in half. A black line appeared down the middle of it and two separate halved fell to the forest floor, the blood siphoning the vitality of the Jackal fell to the floor. A black line Appeared along the front of the Jackal as well, but it wasn't deep enough to slice the beast in half. It still was a mortal wound to the beast however, it fell and poured gallons of blood onto the already soiled forest floor.
Leto was bathed in the blood of the two beasts and then moved out of the way to avoid being crushed by their towing corpses. He admired his handiwork for a few moments then grinned, elated at his success.
He sat on the ground and dispersed his sword.
'Now for a feast!'
He started up a fire and harvested the meat of the Blood Bear, excited to taste the spoiles of his small war. He waited for the meat to cook and took out his necklace again, remembering his sisters warm embrace. That very necklace and those memories are what held Leto's mind in some semblance of lucidity and preventing him from turning to a rabbid forest dweller as well. Once the meat was finished, he bit into the succulent meat and let out a satisfied sigh. It was truly a delicacy in the forest.
As the sun was getting closer to the horizon, he got up and decided to explore the area a bit. The Blood Bear had an iron grip upon a sizable area fo the forest where he never dared to approach. He was interested to see what exactly it was protecting and why. Leto walked for a few hours, examining the forest where the beast had previous battles. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and miraculously, he stumbled upon the ruins of a primeval building of wood and stone.
'What the hell…? Was this what it was protecting?'
Leto walked around the ruins and discovered two large doors, above them were two symbols he failed to recognize. He assumed they were part of an ancient, forgotten language. He studied to entrance for a while, deciding on if he should disturb the broken and forgotten ruins.
Eventually, as the sun was setting, he walked up to the door and pushed it open.