It was within a still moment that Ares had reached out. With his ring he shifted the earth around Inta to cover their body, and then he shifted the sack of coins away from Faltain.

The Ten and the ten soldiers then clashed against one another. The humans that had been captive had tried, unsuccessfully, to push aside the Ten that then charged against Faltain’s escort.

Faltain himself, in his passion, flung himself at Ares and the pair locked steel. Yet a spear was quite awkward to use in such close quarters and Ares summoned a blade to his left hand, though Faltain managed to slip his blade against Ares’ side.

Hot crimson pooled down the blade, but Ares lunged forward and head butt Faltain, causing the man to fall back. Then Ares shifted the earth around Inta away and grabbed at the wounded wolffolk. He pulled Inta behind him.

“First Century! Forward!” Ares roared as he then grabbed onto one of the hostages and tossed them against the soldiers. “Nine! Ten! Take Inta away!” Ares yelled out as the pair then retreated, placing themselves either side of Inta and then fleeing with them.

Ares found himself surrounded by a pair of soldiers and then Faltain ahead of him. He watched as the Ten tried to make their way to him, but he raised a hand. “Bring it on!” He then brought out a pair of short blades and began to clatter his steel against his enemy. However, he could barely manage to keep up with the professional soldiers, and Faltain managed to nick him with their blade.

Ares stumbled as he tried to fight, though found that he could not match the soldiers’ pace. ‘What the hell!’ He inhaled deeply and then he lunged forward again, this time bringing out his arms and then clotheslined the soldiers ahead of him. He crashed against the pair and they fell like pebbled onto the ground, though Faltain managed to thrust his blade into Ares’ gut.

Ares managed to keep a grunt within his throat, but he looked up to see the sky fill with arrows. He looked behind him to see that Inta was still being helped by Nine and Ten. ‘Oh shit.’ Ares pulled back and then leapt away, taking another stab into his back as he dashed towards the three. “Get down!” He yelled out as he then shifted the earth up so the three were protected, but he leapt onto the wall and then turned, taking the hail of arrows to his front.

Some arrows sank deep within him, pushing through the segmented armour, as others deflected off the rounded parts of the armour. He let out a hiss and then reached a hand up. He was getting rather annoyed at his inability to fight as well as he had previously, and so then summoned a large tree that shot out towards Faltain and the other soldiers that were on the right. Faltain ducked under it and another soldier managed to drop down just in time, though one soldier and a hostage were struck and crushed under the tree. Then Ares raised his hand higher and swung his fist down, summoning a number of spears from the sky that rained down around them. Faltain flew forward, making a mad dash towards Ares as the other soldier and another pair of hostages were pierced by the spears.

Faltain managed to meet with Ares, again stabbing Ares in the stomach under the metal of his armour. Ares looked up at Faltain, seeing the cruel smile on their face. Yet it flashed away into shock as Ares grabbed his throat and then lifted him up, slowly squeezing it.

“Watch! Watch damn it!” He called out as the First Century behind him charged down the mountain path behind him, causing the very ground to shake. He then began to march forward, still choking Faltain out. He had managed to catch the eye of Arteon. Faltain continued to struggle, even driving their blade against Ares with multiple thrusts, but Ares snapped their neck with a sickening crunch.

Arteon’s eyes filled with dread, as though he had just met their maker. Well, they did. Ares marched onward, only a single goal in his mind as he did so. The soldiers fighting the Ten had been pushed back, and the hostages had managed to scramble away, though some were caught in the rain of arrows that Ares’ own men had loosened.

Ares then, with a mighty heft, tossed the limp, lifeless body of their leader behind them. It bounced off the floor once but then rolled aside, then fell still.

The soldiers had paused, the few at the front retreated back towards the line as Ares’ warriors continued to march forward, ready and eager for a fight.

Ares snapped a pair of arrows away from him before then waving his hand to make the arrows disappear. Only just now did it occur to him that he could have made them disappear with his ring before, but that’s fine, there would be none left to tell the tale of his embarrassment on the human side.

“I would have offered you surrender, but you fucked up.” Ares then reached up and began to rain down his own arrows that he had kept in his ring, though the soldiers pulled up their shields overhead. “If any of you want to come forward for a swift and painless death, you may do so.”

“Kill him! A thousand rimars for his head! No! Ten thousand!” Arteon managed to exclaim, standing much more resolute now that they were in the safety of the soldiers. “For the Emperor!”

Ares summoned a pair of swords and then ran forward with the line of beastfolk that had managed to catch up to him. “Come and take it!” The Ten, or at least the eight of them, charged from on ahead. A few of them were injured, but they dared not to fall behind their companions.

The Ten had clashed against the front line at first, the enemy soldiers throwing javelins at them that pierced through their shields and even felling a few of his Ten. Ares’ heart panged with guilt, but he flew forward and took the javelins straight through the front, and then tackled against the shields of the soldiers like a raging bull. He continued to push forward, ignoring the spears of the soldiers that prod him all over, his blood already painting the area crimson.

Ares let out a roar as he continued to push forward, punching and struggling against the soldiers as they tried to grab him. He the soldiers up into the air as he continued to march forward, punching the enemy down, crashing against their jaws and beating them away.

The soldiers eventually overwhelmed him, though the moment they tried to pile and strike him down, the oxfolk that had formed the front line of his army had crashed against them. Ares gasped for air as he bit down into a soldier’s wrist, then with some effort, he tore the wrist off of the soldier.

With the chaos of the battlefield, the two armies continued to fight one another. Eventually Ares had freed himself from the clutched of the humans and then grabbed onto a large spear that had been dropped by one of the fallen oxfolk, then had run it through a pair of soldiers as if to skewer them, and then kicked them off of his spear, continuing the assault until the enemy began to route.

“Chase them down!” Ares roared as he then leapt on ahead of them, mowing as many as he could with his spear, before beginning to pull up the rocks around them to form a wall, then hopping onto the wall and chasing the rest down, repeating it until the last man had been captured within the several layers of walls, like tiny mice trapped within various shells of death.

“Didn’t I tell you? You fucked up. Now die, damn vermin.” He said as he then shifted the first layer of walls away for his soldiers to come in and slaughter the last remaining mice. Ares watched as they did.