Alric feeling the stinging cold started filling the coffin with shadow magic. He gripped his Shadow Scourge sword trying to focus its ability. In an instant the coffin that should have been transparent had now become opaque.

The boss focused his magic as he sent his ice magic to consume the coffin. Inside the coffin Alric was trapped in the darkness.

The kludde’s shadow magic engulfed him, but the cold still protruded it and stabbed at his entire body. He remembered the fear of death and being without a form. The feeling of despair and inability to move as the coffin grew tighter caused a primal fear to weld up inside.

Alric in his panic filled his kludde mark with mana.

As he did his eyes glowed red. His instincts heightened and his muscles tore trying to break the coffin by force, all while Alric’s shadow magic rotated violently within the ice coffin.

“Damn it! This guy is a monster! no one can survive that kind of cold!”

The boss was dripping in sweat despite the frigid temperatures. He had used every drop of mana but this brat still fought violently.

He decided it would be best to leave before mana deprivation took effect. When the boss turned his back to run the entire warehouse was overrun with an unknown force that threw everyone to the floor and pinned them to the ground.

The ice coffin instantly cracked and turned to shards that flew in all directions.

Alric’s clothes were already solid, it was obvious he had already begun to freeze.

Alric, still in a somewhat dazed state, saw that the leader was escaping. Alric wanted to run him down and remove all loose ends but in the state he was in he might have collapsed even sooner than the escaping boss.

Right now Alric was only maintaining a face. If any one within the warehouse made a serious move against him, he might find himself very dead.

Alric took the kluddes off guard duties and sent them to play with the dead bodies. The warehouse watched mortified as the hounds ate through full size human bodies effortlessly.

Alric, with his gravity amplification still pinning everyone in the warehouse to the floor Alric spoke.

“I run this now, and any of you who have an issue with that will become dog food.”

Alric gripped his necklace, and after a minute or so was teleported to his personal dimension. He pulled the back door and entered his room, the moment he entered his room he collapsed on the floor.

-

“You are damned if you think we are going to take orders from a brat who showed up out of nowhere and murdered the boss!”

“Shut up Duce, you keep acting like you're not here for just the money but we both know that’s all that matters to you.”

“Exactly and what does this brat know about money? I have a better chance just joining the mercenaries.”

“Well I have a daughter at home that needs the money so long as he can keep the pay coming i’ll work”.

“It’s always about pay with Derek. I say when he gets back here we cut his throat, take everything he has and then go our separate ways.”

Before he could finish his sentence he was thwacked in the head.

“Are you an idiot? Did you not see what happened to the boss? That kid is a monster and I don’t feel like turning into puppy chow.

Let’s just see what the brat has to offer and if we don't like it, next time he disappears so do we.”

They nodded all in agreement. Their gang was small but each member had his own reason for joining.

It took them two hours to come to a consensus most of the time was spent quarrelling and bickering.When the gang finally decided they heard a loud clap and the warehouse filled with a bone chilling dark energy.

Behind them came the blurred faced boy with the glowing red crystal at the centre of his blurred face.

“I am glad I don’t have to kill all of you.

Now sit down. We have some reorganizing to do.”

Alric started by reorganizing the rag tag group of bandits. There were only sixteen members left but it was a decent start. He established a clear rank structure amongst the bandits and promised to pay them weekly according to their ranks and merits.

When this was done he gathered them all and spoke,

“None of you know me, and you don’t need to.

Follow my orders and I assure you, I will keep you alive, well paid and protected.

And if they ask you who your leader is, tell them ‘the Dimachaeri family sends its regards’.”

It was a simple speech, but for a group of men who only cared about being paid it was enough to rile them up.

Alric split his sixteen men into two main groups. He then appointed two officers to command the two groups then set an adjutant to watch over the two groups.

The roles of officers were taken by the only three members of the gang that could read and write. With them being from the slums majority of his gang was illiterate. They were not the brightest set but their loyalty to money was enough to keep them in line.

He tasked the first division of men to gather information about a few noble families within the kingdom. While tasking the second set of troops to make some fixtures to their base.

Although Alric needed the manpower to take down powerful noble families he did not want to use fear and money to lead those around him. He wanted a team he could trust his plan with and assuming the role of a gang boss was the only start he could consider.

Having more men meant a greater chance of exposure but with the enemy as he knew it now, these men were merely ants climbing up a giant. Afterall until he could find out who specifically orchestrated the attack everyone would be treated as an enemy.

There were many more pieces he needed to put in place.

-

I looked up towards the darkness of the night sky. The stench of piss and stools which I had gotten accustomed to could not spoil the view of freedom I had.

But, metal bars and walls engraved with anti magic runes, they poisoned me without end. The lack of mana in the air, and the inability to gather it was tortured for a warrior like myself. I would give anything to feel that powerful once again.

I had been captured a few years back when a group of soldiers came to my little village. I was an emerald adventurer at the time and had just returned from a mission smiling with my gold sack full.

Well, until I walked in, only to find my sister raped and sodomized in her own inn. She built that inn from the ground up with her sweat.

I was never around but I sent her money when I could, and I regretted not being there to protect her when it happened. But her face lost its life the day I found her like that.

According to those who had seen what happened, a group of soldiers bearing the Dragnier Kingdom’s crest entered the bar celebrating some big victory, luckily she had enough life to confirm as much.

I didn’t care how many of them there were supposed to be in that camp. I drew my sword and when I entered their camp outside the village I hacked and killed every last one of them that my sword could reach.

I was bathing in blood but they came without end. The more I hacked the more spears came stabbing and arrows that pierced my body.

Eventually I was captured and thrown in this cell never to see the light of day again. Now I spend my days always dying of hunger and constantly being tortured. I guess this is a faith far worse than death.

My only regret is that I didn’t kill more of those bastards, but that was four years ago, I'm sure a lot has changed in the outside world since then.

While being here I even made a few friends. That young lady over there is Freya. She was a servant to a noble who was an adventurer, but when he died she was blamed and thrown in jail.

She was only about sixteen but since she has been in here every night the guards would take her out and they would have their fill of her then send her back before morning. By now after over a year of it she was already crazy.

She was one of the only companions I had so we became friends nonetheless, she said she always wanted to be a baker.

And over there is Klause. He is also a part of our little group, he was a soldier.

At first I almost killed him when he came here, until I heard his story. He was a young fellow who joined the army when he was sixteen.

Said he wanted to fight for justice and peace, tsk these silly brats these days. He saw a few high ranking officers taking bribes and reported it through the ‘proper channels’.

Before the night was done he was arrested and thrown in jail, treason and thievery was his charge. Said they found piles of contraband in his personal tent.

I would guess our hatred for the army kind of brought us together and the fact that all of our sentences just so happened to be ‘indefinite’.

Tonight it was just another night. Freya had just been thrown back into the cell, and love fluid could be seen dripping from her leg. Her red hair ragged as always, she crawled to her corner.

We had an unspoken agreement not to talk about what the guards did or our thinned malnourished states.

“Wow look! it's a moonless night, aren’t these the most beautiful?”

I tried to break the tension while pointing at the small window we had.

“It sure is Merrik.”

Klause tried to reply with a half hearted smile.

Our awkward conversation was cut short when four beasts erupted from the ground and started sniffing around. The blackness of their fur felt like an abyss that if one stared at too long would fall into and their eyes glowed creepily as they moved. The green eyed one was particularly scary, he kept clawing at the cells.

Meanwhile the alarms above the prison rang non stop. Several guards were found dead.

Alric and his team of only two others ran through prison pulling cell after cell. Alric had to be particularly careful in this prison, he had no magic while inside the walls of this prison. The most he could do was use the kludde contract to enhance his senses and physical prowess.

Eventually Alric had accumulated a large herd of prisoners running behind him. They had no idea who he was but they were sure if he came in he must have had a way out.

The guards mounted blockades and tried to slow them down. However with an army of inmates who had all been promised their freedom it was merely speed bumps.

They rushed at the blockades tearing each of them down as quickly as they were erected. The descent to the lower levels of the prison was slowed when the horde of inmates crossed paths with the warden.

The warden was a paladin, and while he did not have any outstanding skill he wore a bright green ring, which he fondled as he flashed his sword.

“Take another step and I will cut everyone of you down.

Now, tell me where you pests came from and where you think you are all going?”

As the warden spoke Alric felt the mana in the air gather around the sword of the warden, he furrowed his brow in frustration.

“The warden's ring allowed him to be the only one in the entire complex able to use magic.”

Alric was told this by an inmate as they all lined up looking at the warden who held off the horde of criminals. Alric activated the enhancement from his kludde contract converting his raw mana into physical strength and speed.

He gripped his sword and lunged forward. The warden met Alric’s attack with his own.

Alric initially thought his own brute strength was enough to over run the warden however after seeing him still standing after the first sword strike he knew this would not be easy.

The warden was baffled, no magic could be used within the prison walls except his, so how could a human match his strength and speed.

It had to be noted that the warden was still a knight ranked warrior, so his brute strength was on par with that of orcs and ogres.

The warden swung his sword and a blast of mana erupted from it’s blade. Alric rolled forward to dodge but the mana blast continued until it cut through the escaped criminals behind him.

Alric needed as many of the criminals as he could release, so watching them get cut in half angered him.

The warden used his sword skills and fired off multiple slashes. The slashes kept the intruder at a distance and also allowed him to cut down the defenceless escapees. By now the majority of the prisoners had scattered out of fear but he was still not pleased.

This was because the ringleader of the escape attempt, although having the build of a fifteen year old pubescent, his strength and speed were monstereous.

But the warden's goal was not to win, he needed to only draw out the battle until the military arrived. Regardless how strong he was the sheer numbers would be enough to suppress him, not to mention the equally monstrous commanders that were in the army.

The warden pushed Alric back with a swing, then raised his sword and shouted.

“First Degree, Paladin’s Armour!”

Instantly The warden was bathing in a lush rainbow like aura. The warden smirked and clenched his fist feeling the mana flowing freely within himself.

“Let’s try this for real this time!”

The warden pounced at Alric at an unrecognizable speed.