Leif found herself walking on a dirt trail that seemed to be on the side of a hill. As she looked towards the right it was a grass slope going down, but not steep enough that she couldn't go down it, the same was as it went up. Just grass, with a few bushes along the way. Now, that would be normal and all if the trail wasn't lined with the bodies of humans and fiends alike.
"Seems like I missed the party..." Leif said as she walked over the dead bodies, doing her best to hide back the empathy she felt from their untimely deaths.
It was unfortunate, but she was a one of "The Heros of the Six Flowers". It was now her duty, her mission, to make sure nothing such as this could happen again, but one thing was for sure. A hero or two had already passed through the area. The corpses of the fiends said so. No average human would be able to take on such an amount of fiends and the bodies she saw seemed to be that of normal villagers.
Leif leaned down near one of the human bodies. A claw mark, stretching from the shoulder to the waist had lacerated the poor male's skin. Brutal and Fatal. She expected no less from Fiends who seemed to kill...well that's it. They killed just to kill. From the looks of the wound, it seemed to be new, so her fellow heros were not too far away.
A deafening scream echoed through the air. Leif turned her head away from the body to find a woman, holding a young child in her arms, running from a fiend. It's shape was horse like, yet it's face was that of a monster. It's sharp teeth, gleaming, just to pierce the skin of a woman and her child. Leif stood up, grabbing the bow she held on her back. Her quiver rested on her hip as she reached for an arrow and aimed for the fiends head. More specifically, one of it's eyes to temporarily slow it down before killing it. It made her job a lot easier.
She closed her left eye, focusing better with the right. In her mind, she pictured the arrow slicing through air, passing by the woman's flank, her being too filled with fear and only thoughts on survival that she wouldn't notice. The sharp tip would tear through the skin of the fiend's eye and it would howl in pain.
The fiend grew ever so closer towards the woman. It was without a doubt faster than her, but the woman seemed to already have a head start.
Leif released the arrow and placed her bow on her back. She was quite confident with her aim. All her life, she had practiced archery. Just as she imagined, the arrowed pierced the fiend in the eye. It yelped in pain as it stood on it's hind legs, arms to small to relieve the pain, let alone remove the arrow. The woman took her chance to make off with her child, giving Leif a glance of thanks as she passed.
"So how about we finish this?" Leif asked, not even sure if the fiend could understand her.
One thing was for sure, the look it gave her when she asked made her know that it heard her. And it was ready to kill her...well if it didn't get killed first. Leif dug carefully in her quiver to find a dagger. One that fit her hand perfectly. It was sharp, and deadly just like Leif herself. It was her friend. Ironically, if you take out the 'r' in friend, you'll find yourself with the word 'fiend' and that's what she named her dagger. Etched on it's blade by a fine blacksmith.
The fiend ran at her with full speed and lashed out with it's sharp teeth, but she side-stepped, taking her dagger and tracing it at it's side, causing the skin to split and blood to gush out. To not look as intimidating as she acted, Leif made sure to stear clear of the blood that went everywhere. Though, such a small cut wasn't enough to stop the fiend. Instead it turned around and charged at her like a bull. It was fast and Leif couldn't say she was any faster. To be honest she was more gentle. Her movements flowed like water, gentle as the wind, but powerful enough to knock one off their feet. She used that power when the fiend found that trampling her would be a suitable option. It once again, raised on it's hind legs and Leif took that opening. Moving closer to it and jumping with her dagger in hand to horizontally slash at the fiend. Her cut deep enough to sever it's head.
When the deed was done and more blood was shed, Leif landed and moved out of the way in which the fiend had fallen. She had won and killed her first fiend. She was trained in combat, but she never intended for the training to come to use against fiends.
Leif placed a hand to her chest. Her heart drummed and she hardly noticed earlier with the adrenaline running through her body. She clutched her hands and took in a deep breath and released. There was no use getting worked up over her first battle. There were many more to come and getting so bothered by just one was mocking The Saint of the Single Flower's choice. Though, she was glad that she stayed calm, not letting fear get the best of her. That alone was proof enough that she may have been a good choice.
So...How was the first chapter? Sorry the main characters didn't appear yet! They will! Don't worry. I finished the anime and now I'm reading the light novel, so I may end up going by both or just the anime and after that continue with the light novel. It seems easier that way. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and look forward to the next chapter!