The night he came started like any other.

We had just given our weekly report to the boss and we drank as we celebrated our ill gotten gains for the past week.

Business was running good. Sure we had a few squabbles here and there with the other local gangs but we made it through.

We were a small little lot, an up and coming street gang. Just a little over thirty but when we got together no one could talk down to us.

The celebrations were just getting good. We had drums playing and enough liquor to euthanize an elephant. This was the place where men could truly be happy.

That was until the shadows came crawling into our warehouse. At first we thought it was the city guards, but we were a small gang, just budding and we weren’t on their radar yet.

The four shadow wolves had eyes so deep they glowed in the darkness of their bodies. They ran around tearing grown men to bits.

It all seemed like just a game of tag for them, but for the rest of us it was a horror house.

This was just the start.

The boss was an advanced level mage, the moment the wolves killed the first man he started chanting and fired a beam of ice which instantly froze the shadow wolf.

The moment he did a foul dark energy erupted and ‘he’ appeared. His face was a complete blur, his shadow magic covered his body only his black hair could be clearly seen.

The blur jumped between the boss and the men, and in an instant the men and objects inside the warehouse started to … fall.. sideways?

It was the oddest of phenomena we had ever experienced.

The objects inside the warehouse crashed against its walls while the men tumbled and rolled towards the walls. The boss however had already frozen his feet to the floor and prevented himself from moving.

-

Alric drew his Shadow scourge and pointed it at the boss before declaring.

“Consider this… a hostile takeover”

Alric had decided to use the sword he had appraised today since it wasn’t particularly connected to his student identity.

Furthermore he needed a weapon that showed he

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“Young foals always want to run their own show.

That's fine, I'll turn you into a gelding then poopy meat.”

The man scoffed and spat at him.

Alric swung his sword but to his surprise the man in charge quickly dodged and drew a sword from thin air returning his own attack forcing Alric to step back.

The temperature in the room began to fall. Alric could see his breath but the cloak of darkness protected him from the cold.

Meanwhile his pet kluddes blocked off the rest of the gang from interfering with the fight.

The rest of the gang wanted to help their leader but the wolves tore anyone who took a set forward to pieces.

It took a few minutes of struggling but Riku that was frozen managed to break free from the ice and laid down trying to rest.

They had already lost a few members and just looking at the dogs lazily lying about with the severed body parts was disturbing enough. But watching as they took turns eating and playing with them was not something for the faint of heart.

The wolves looked sinister as their deep black fur and white fangs were colored only by their eyes and the crimson of fresh blood.

The crew of men gulped as they stepped back and some even sat back down.

Meanwhile,

Alric gripped his sword tighter and adopted his stance.

Alric and the leader pounced at each other and clashed swords in a heavy exchange.

With every swing of his sword the boss would release ice magic.

Now after exchanging so many blows with Alric the room was covered in snow.

The boss was now becoming perplexed because Alric seemed unaffected by the dropping temperatures regardless of how much mana he put into it.

To make matters worse each time they exchanged blows he was the one left panting breathless.

The leader of this small gang was not very strong to Alric. He was more like a cockroach.

The leader had an ice substitute spell that was just purely criminal. Each time he thought he delivered the final blow he would turn to snow and prove to be only a puppet.

Alric countered the ice attacks using the shadow cloak to defend and attacked with shadow tentacles. All of this while using his gravity mitigation to up his speed and strength.

This all was mana intensive and being only a beginner mage made him have to rely on his kludde’s tattoo for all the extra mana.

Essentially Alric was overclocking his physical limits and mana reserves just to keep on the same foot as the leader.

It was all a facade for him. He had to look like he was several times more powerful than the leader.

Alric’s hand already felt like electricity was running through him due to the sheer strength of the leader's swing but he masked his pain and continued.

With each swing Alric was literally placed on the back foot trying to defend, not to mention the ice that started to grow on his clothes.

This took its toll on Alric’s body, for a split second Alric felt a sharp pain in his leg and stumbled slightly.

Finally the leader saw an opening. He was almost at his end in terms of mana but he had more combat experience and pushed the kid back while chanting spells.

Alric jumped back however when he looked ahead he saw a thick sheet of ice running towards him. He looked up, there was another and below him was also another already lifting him in the air throwing him off balance.

Before he could make heads of what was happening it was too late he was trapped in a coffin of ice.

“Ice Coffin!”

Alric so far had circumvented the cold temperatures by relying on the shadow cloak but even that had its limit. Afterall it was just meant for minimal protection.

The leader grinned with his arms outstretched in a clasping motion. He was pleased as he saw his most powerful spell be completed along with this brat already beginning to freeze.

The temperature around the coffin began to fall and the ice began to grow on Alric more rapidly.