His partner.
When the second part of the opposing duo mentioned Errisa and her possible demise, Letho had to will his eyes to stay level and not cast a glance upwards towards the control room. He had his doubts, but then again he had had his doubts even before the tournament. The elf wasn't off the meek sort, but she still lacked that hardness that came with experience. So far, life had spared her the excruciation of tearing her down and beating her into nothing before building her up again, stronger than before. And while most people went through their entire lives without getting as much as a glimpse of such a decisive moment, none achieved greatness without a near death experience or three. Letho had had his share, spat his share of blood, licked his share of wounds. Now it was her turn. But he wouldn't let her endure it on her own. He hadn't made it through thick and thin all by himself either.
The humanoid with the face of a monster was coming at him with a different, gory tactic now. Holding an impaled body in front of his advance, he kept his own body out of sight, covering it with a tower shield made of dead meat. Letho's first instinct was to shoot through it, but a human body was an unpredictable target at best, making effective shooting difficult. It was enough for the bullet to wing a bone and already it would change direction or shatter, and even if it hit soft tissue, the large caliber would slow down significantly. No, it was the blade that would do the work here, not the bullet.
Draug was still three paces from Letho when the Lawmaker swooshed through the air, the massive six-foot weapon sweeping a wide horizontal arc. The dehlar blade tore through the recently deceased meat and bone with little finesse and a cartload of power, slicing what it could, tearing and breaking what it couldn't. And as the body was cut in half, the sheer momentum threw Letho's foe out of balance for the briefest of moments. It was nothing that the bestial man wasn't able to remedy with a firm step to the side, but by then the Marshal was already moving. Following the lead of his sideways slice, Letho pivoted on his right foot, took a step forward and then brought the gunblade full circle, aimed to sever Draug's head. It was a predictable move, but intentionally so. When his foe ducked beneath it, Letho continued the pirouette and, with another step forward, cut at his opponent's side even as he flashed past him. His attack was aimed at the kidneys as the jagged talon swept from behind, a possible kill shot.
But even as the retired Marshal finished his move, an explosion of pain made it clear that he hadn't made a clean kill. He saw an arm move where no arm should be, saw the hand bring the dagger even as he finished his counter-clockwise spin. And now Letho could feel the dagger in his back, dug firmly into his left shoulder blade. His lips pursed as he sucked air through them, the sharp ache spreading throughout his back like a surge of electricity, expanding with a jolt and taking reign throughout Letho's nervous system. It made the wounded man grin. Pain was an old friend. Letho wasn't immune to its grip by any means, but he had experienced it so many times that he understood it and accepted it, even welcomed it sometimes. Nothing made a man feel alive quite as much as pain.
"So, the beast has a bite," Letho grumbled. He hadn't made an attempt to remove the dagger. It would've taken too long and he would have to drop the Lawmaker in order to do so. Draug seemed more than ready to jump at one such opportunity. But the retired Marshal decided not to give him such a chance. While his move rewarded him with a stab in the back, it also got him on the opposite side of Draug, meaning that nothing now stood between Letho and the stairs that led upwards to the upper levels, the control room and possibly Errisa.
"Here, something to bite back," Letho said, allowing a smirk. And even as the words left his mouth, two tears in reality opened up next to the Marshal, one on each side. Out of these black portals two silver wolves leapt like arrows, landing soundlessly between Letho and his opponent. No words were passed between the canines and their master, yet the mental link directed the beasts immaculately. The larger male bristled and growled as its red eyes locked on Draug while the smaller female stood at the ready next to Letho.
"Now, if you will excuse me. I need to rectify this mayhem."
With those words, Letho charged up the stairs, slinging the Lawmaker into the holster on his back. A sonic boom spread around the bulky man, an aura of white flames enveloping him even as his muscles expanded. Like a white arrow he went up the steps, gaining three at the time before crashing his healthy shoulder against the door between the ground and first floor. He hadn't stopped on the first walkway, though. His ascend continued in a series of mighty footsteps that echoed through the prison like quakes. Only the second wolf remained behind on the first walkway, eyeing Ciato with a hungry eye.
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