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 leader 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.

Alric began to remember 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 but familiar fear to weld up within him.

Alric could feel the walls trying to squash him. A trail of blood trickled from his nose as the pressure intensified.

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 should be able to survive those kinds of temperatures!”

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

The leader decided it would be best to leave before mana deprivation took effect.

When the leader turned his back to run, the entire warehouse was overrun with an unknown force. The force 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 to tie up all the 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 hunt down the escaping leader.

The warehouse watched mortified as the hounds dragged the escaping leader back and ate through a full size human body effortlessly.

With his gravity amplification pinning everyone in the warehouse to the floor Alric spoke,

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“Your sorry excuse of a leader has decided to step down and allow for someone more fitting to take over.”

Alric grinned and allowed his shadow magic from his mark to run rampant, then continued to speak;

“and any of you who have an issue with that will become dog food.”

Alric gripped his necklace and a bright purple light engulfed the warehouse.

After a minute or so Alric 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’re 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 and -”

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 quarreling 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 center 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.”

He gathered them all to speak. There were only sixteen members left but it was a decent start.

“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.”

Alric spoke while activating one of the dimensional rings that he had. The gang was mesmerized by the gold that seemed to fall from the lad endlessly.

“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 one as an adjutant to oversee the two groups and to be his immediate assistant.

Alric wanted to have a military-like structure and make two officers to oversee the two groups but between the lack of literacy and combat power it really would not make a difference if he did. It would just promote in-fighting and jealousy. 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 men 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 to execute his plans.

Alric just needed a start, this small gang was just the first step of a network. He wanted to build an army powerful enough to uproot the kingdom meanwhile these men were literally the bottom of the barrel.

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.