Alric attempted to parry the attack however the sheer force was enough to send him flying. Hitting against a prison cell abruptly stopped Alric’s movement.

He coughed up blood and flashed his head trying to regain his full faculties.

Alric drew his sword and released the gravity chains from himself.

This was the only spell he always had active and even though he could not cast any new spells within the prison, he could keep spells casted from before he entered so long as he had the mana and focus to sustain them.

His gravity chains took no focus, he could literally use it in his sleep. By now they had reached five times that of earth's natural gravity.

The moment he released his gravity chains Alric felt his muscles expand. Alric smirked at the feeling of raw power in his hands and then rushed forward at the warden once more.

They exchanged blow for blow, the warden's mana armor only provided minimal protection, but made them almost even in speed.

But as the fight progressed the attacks of the intruder increased in speed and strength, even he himself fell to his knee at the impact of the last attack. It was obvious that even though they were even in speed the intruder's strength was increasing as though he was just getting used to the power.

Alric had started to pump the mana inside his body into his kluddes tattoo the moment he would strike or dodge as opposed to continually letting it flow. Like a hose that had been flowing freely that now had been semi covered his strength erupted in bursts allowing for more devastating attacks.

The warden's palm was still shaking, he had successfully blocked the last attack but the sheer force had not only knocked the sword out of his hand but also sent him to his knees.

Without hesitation Alric swung his shadow scourge, the warden without a weapon tried to focus all of his armor at one point. But the brute force of the attack sliced through the magic armor and sent his head rolling.

When Alric looked behind him to signal the inmates who were following him, he saw only dead bodies and limbs that had been cut clean.

Those that came out of hiding were his two underlings and only four inmates who had stayed to watch the fight. Alric so far was disappointed as he ran. He had planned this break-in years ago when he received his kludde contract, and had calculated it would get him at least fifty men.

But the reality was these criminals were already in a mental prison. The moment they saw a hint of danger they gave up and returned to their cells, only these four from the upper levels decided to continue.

Unknown to Alric the main reason for so few of the inmates from the upper floors deciding to continue with the escape was due to them having relatively short sentences, if they behaved they would all be free men within the next five years or so.

Eventually the group made it to the lowest level of the prison. This was when Alric made eye contact with his pet kluddes.

He hugged Yike and Rike and rubbed their furs. The inmates behind him looked awkwardly at the scene.

The blurred-faced man hugged monsters as though they were puppies, even more strange was how they all took turns jumping and rubbing against him. Eventually the reunion ended and Alric and his group examined the cells.

These cells were filled with cobwebs and prisoners that were inside them were bone thin and obviously malnutritioned. They weren’t what Alric considered when he originally thought of creating an army out of criminals.

These inmates were so thin and feeble that they needed help to leave their cells. But with no one better, Alric released them and sent them ahead piling those who could not move onto his pet kluddes and sent them forward.

Due to the nature of the runes and wards that surrounded the prison no form of external magic could be casted within the walls of the prison, neither could mana be gathered. Unless you casted a spell before you entered or used internal mana it would be impossible to use magic.

Alric exploited these principles to run amuk inside the prison before his internal mana reserves were depleted. The final phase of his plan was the escape.

He had sent his four pet kluddes to dig a way near to the prison. If they got too close they would trigger another set of alarms, however with Alric and his team uptop already creating chaos the four pups each setting off the alarms from four different sides went almost unnoticed.

When the army arrived and was on the tail of the escapees they discovered the giant hole in the lower section of the prison.

The army entered and walked a few meters into the tunnel and saw there was a fork in the path. The commander, after careful thought, decided to split his troops and continued.

However after only five more minutes of walking the commander came across another split in the road and once again he was forced to split his troops.

After an hour of walking the commander that started with thirty odd soldiers following him had now been reduced to only two men, while the others explored the other tunnels.

-

I was laying on a shadow wolf, too exhausted to move but I saw everything. the blurred-faced man who led the group,

“The magic is back.”

He smirked when he said that and grabbed his strange necklace. It started to glow slightly but then they found us,

“The intruders! let's get them!”

It was only two of those soldiers, but the armor they wore brought back every memory of my sister laying over the table with her blouse still torn and blood running down her legs.

My rage swelled but before my dry lips could whisper a word the leader, that blurred faced man, his speed was excellent.

He flashed and apparead behind both of them, they were only foot soldiers so I doubt they saw but the sword in his hand had already slashed their necks clean. I smiled as I watched their heads bounce and roll as they touched the floor of the tunnel, but in that instance, we were engulfed in a ball of light. When we opened our eyes we were in a wooden cabin.

There were about twenty five persons gathered in the cabin, most of them thinned and malnutritioned, but their eyes beamed as they looked at the blurred-faced boy who had so brazenly released them from their prison, he held up his fingers and spoke.

“Three years, give me three years of your service and then you are free to go anywhere you want.”

“Like hell we would believe that. You see these marks, anywhere we go within the Dragnier kingdom or allied nations we will be hunted like animals!”

One of the criminals pointed at the branding mark below his left eye, they all had the same mark.

It was three crooked lines, everyone in the kingdom knew what it meant. It was the last line of defence, only when a criminal had completed their sentence could the branding mark be removed by the grand healer of the kingdom.

The mark represented the wrath of the dragon, and all citizens had the duty to be the kingdom's claw.

The prisoners looked despairingly as their comrade spoke, until it was cut short by the blurred man.

“And who says that there will be a Dragnier Kingdom in three years?”

Alric laughed maniacally, his shadow magic covered the cabin and all its occupants shuttered at his words.

“That's right, that is my wish. My dream is the destruction of this kingdom and all its noble bloodlines.

All the corrupted bastards who threw you into prison will be killed one by one until this kingdom has been purged, and you have replaced them as nobles.”

The once prisoners who had spent their last few years behind bars could not believe the ideals of such a man, but he had done the impossible already.

The prison they had thought to be inescapable had now been escaped, the prison in which no magic could be used had now been teleported out of, he may seem a little crazy but the talent of this child was undeniable to them.

“I will fight until this kingdom has been turned over!”

The first agreement came from a man that was more like a skeleton. But his eyes beamed with a steadfastness that was infectious and shortly after the rest of the cabin raised their fists in agreement.

The two members of Alric’s gang were shocked at the development. What would a group of men who were barely strong enough to walk be able to do, they scoffed at their ignorance. Alric smiled at the sight of the feeble men and women who raised their fists in resoluteness.

Alric returned one of the two gang members that had accompanied him back to the warehouse.

He reported the success of the mission and showed off the bag of gold coins he received as payment.

When Alric first requested the help of two men from his gang of any level, no one wanted to go, worse when they heard it was to break into Ironside prison. They thought the new leader was a mad man.

But now that they saw Waller return, more so with a sack of gold their jaws hit the ground.

He spread the rumors among the gang of the boss fighting a paladin with his brute strength. They were thrown further into disbelief but the bag of gold was hard to dismiss.

Waller at first was worried shitless when he volunteered to take the mission. But his five year old daughter was sickly and he did anything he could find to pay for her medication. He had robbed, stole and murdered to keep her alive, to him this was just another fight he had to endure for her sake.

Sure he felt guilty after all he had to kill quite a few innocent guards while breaking in, but the pay off was too good not to smile. He reflected on the strength of the boss and his sureness in every move.

He wanted to be like that, sure that every move he made was right but lately he felt lost. It was only when he followed the sureness of the new boss did he feel he was always right, and this pay off was proof. Waller jiggled the sack of gold as he smiled and walked out to the herbalist’s shop.

-

Meanwhile at the cabin, Alric had let loose a few wild boars and other animals to graze on the grass within his. The escapees would need a lot to return to their original states.

Alric spoke to the inmates. He explained to them where they were and how time flows differently within the space, he placed a strange crystal at the center of the space and chanted a spell. The light glowed and covered the space briefly then disappeared.

Alric gathered those in the training space and revealed to them his true intentions.

“ I am the last son of the Dimachaerus bloodline, Alric Dimachaerus.

My family has been wiped out by this kingdom.

And in return I shall banish this kingdom and all those responsible to eternal darkness. All those who stand by my side will replace them and stand as the new nobles of this kingdom.”

When Alric spoke the people at first murmured, the legend of one the strongest upstart families being wiped out was common knowledge and had been used as parables for the young whose reach exceeds their grasp.

When Alric gave his speech they felt an eerie feeling cover the halls of the cabin, but there was a sureness in his voice that stole their hearts and mind. The man who had granted them a second chance of life had asked for their help in achieving a goal that would benefit them in the long run.

How could they deny such a heartfelt request?

They all raised their feeble arms and shouted “For Alric!”.