Meanwhile in the Yellow maple city...
Unlike the glamorous and luxurious places in the city where the rich and powerful lived, the commoners lived a miserable life in the slum part of the city.
As a result, countless crimes and illegal activities happened every single day.
But the authorities had to turn a blind eye to this as most of these activities were affiliated with various superpowers of the region.
***
In a bleak and abandoned corner of the slum district there stood an abandoned mansion. It had mutated trees surrounding the entire area so most people won't approach it normally.
But today the mansion hosted several people.
In the dungeon of the mansion, a man covered in blood was strapped to a chair.
Bits of his flesh were lying on the floor, his hair was in disarray, and he had countless wounds on his body.
3 other men were standing in the room. But one of the men had an extremely valiant look on his face and wore a flawless white robe.
His handsome face and valorous temperament seemed to be completely out of place and with the situation.
"Sir, we can now confirm the identity of the murderer! Only five people survived the entire ordeal including this one. We have caught two others and their account of the incident is the same." One of the men spoke out loud.
"Young lord Theo and the 'stranger' escaped in the same direction. But among the shriveled corpses, we did not find the stranger's body." The man was trembling with fear as he read the report.
He out of everyone present here knew this man's true nature. He was a virtuous and gallant enforcer of the law. But even a saint can't have a pure heart and expect nothing in return for their efforts. This was human nature!
Arnfinn had great ambitions and his focus to achieve perfection was indomitable. But his most redeeming quality was his exemplary leadership quality and influence over his subordinates.
All of his most trusted subordinates had deep relationships with him and had accompanied him from the very beginning.
"What is the background of this stranger?" Arnfinn said apathetically.
"Yes Sir, he was first sighted in a small town called Foggy dews. But we could not confirm his exact origins. Moreover, we also found out that he is acquainted with the town's guardian Felix. He introduced himself as a vagrant martial artist."
Arnfinn seemed to be in deep thought and he slowly walked out of the room.
"Sir, what should we do about this? Should we put a bounty on him?" One of the 3 men suggested doubtfully.
Arnfinn suddenly turned around and said softly, "Do you think that is effective? How do you think the public will react to this?"
"Can you even imagine what will happen to my image! I am the model for righteousness in this entire region! Do we have any concrete evidence on Theo's death? We can only make vague guesses. No one will be convinced with just this!" He shook his head furiously.
They entered a thickly guarded throne room with strange markings.
"So Sir, what are your instructions?" All of them kneeled simultaneously.
After serving Arnfinn for a long time they were quite familiar with his intentions. He had a noble heart and was impartial in his decision-making. But when it came to the affairs of his loved ones, he was unreasonable and downright vexatious.
"We need a suitable reason to justify ourselves and in the name of 'righteousness' deal with this guy." Arnfinn looked indifferent and detached from his usual self.
"But Sir, it is incredibly hard to sully his name in such a short time!" One of the men protested.
But before he could say anything else he was blown away and he crashed into a nearby wall.
~Bang!~
"Hmm, do you think I can forgive my brother's murderer? I may not be accurate but I need to remove this guilt and indignation from my chest."
"For him to incur public hatred we will slaughter the entire foggy dew town. We can convince people that he was consumed by greed and attacked Felix. Such a mass slaughter is quite potent!" Arnfinn was casual in his speech and was rather composed about this.
But the others felt increasing fear and terror shook their bones.
They knew the calmer he was, the greater of a fury he had inside of him. All of them felt bad for the stranger whom they were targeting but they also held some schadenfreude.
Arnfinn stood up and commanded, "Search! Destroy! Burn everything! Bring him down to damnation and ruin. This is a 'hunter's revenge!"
"Even if the heavens take pity on him, I will not! Let me see how far he can escape."
The roars echoed throughout the mansion and the sounds of marching followed.
***
Meanwhile, Leif was staring blankly at the plaque in front of him. At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still and as if a sea of blood covered his entire field of vision.
Within that sea of blood, he could see the deaths of countless people, tragedies, natural disasters, and a sense of everlasting terror!
Most importantly the blood in this sea was not warm but was chilly and quite freezing to touch.
"Is this my path! No, I won't succumb to this path! This is not something a human being should do!" Leif roared with madness and unwillingness written on his face.
His dark hair was unruly and his eyes were almost protruding out of his sockets.
~Puff~
~Puff~
He took several deep breaths to calm down his chaotic state of mind but it ultimately proved futile.
"I can't handle this! Please let me free!" he yelled while clutching both of his hands on top of his head.
~Shlaa~
The area surrounding him seemed to have been completely frozen and a slight layer of frost seemed to have formed in some areas.
"Stasis? Who would have thought such a peculiar ability existed!"
"To combine the ability to freeze and the profundities of time. Simply ingenious!"
A pretty but familiar voice sounded out. Diane, who was laying on the ground motionlessly, had spoken.
Leif was stunned and as he looked at 'Diane' he felt a sense of danger.
"Hello, let me introduce myself! I am 'Daybreaker'. Are you interested in a massacre?"