All three of them realized who that man was. He was a nobleman and a powerful one.
Haley had unknowingly stolen from a dangerous person and borderline suicidal.
The ground around him started to freeze with his scimitar blade covered in thin layers of ice.
You could start to see your breath since the air got so cold. The gang leader's body had completely frozen with the puddles of blood beginning to freeze up.
The unnatural cold was thanks to the nobleman's divine power. A power that allowed him to bend reality in some way to his will, in his case, the ability to manipulate ice.
The other gang member's legs were frozen to the ground, and they tried to wiggle them out, but their legs were already completely frozen and stuck. One of the gangster's legs eventually broke like glass as he tried to break free.
"Stupid idiots. But what would I expect from a group of commoners? They have no divinity in them, and never shall they have," explained the nobleman, "Now give the necklace here, girl."
Haley started to walk towards the man. She was scared and could not disobey the man, and he just had sliced a man in two right in front of her so she knew her only way to get out of the situation was to do as she was told.
As Haley was just about to hand out the necklace, Rufus jumped and pushed Haley aside.
"What the hell do you think your doing," yelled Haley angrily at Rufus.
Haley saw an ice spear from the ground where she had just stood before Rufus had pushed him away.
"You really think you'd leave here with your lives," said the nobleman.
The nobleman was reading an attack but then was hit in the head by a rock, and it was thrown by Harley and made the nobleman fall on his butt.
"Run, you two," yelled Harley.
The three started to run away, hoping they could flee from the nobleman.
"You can run, but you will die tonight. This world belongs to us. Not you," yelled the nobleman in a fury, "Guards, do not let them escape."
~~
Eventually, they were able to lose the guards who were chasing them. They took a breather at a closed alley, all out of breath.
"I, I, I am sorry. I just wanted to help, and I just wanted to see you smile, sis," cried Haley.
Instead of scolding and yelling, Harley hugged her sister.
"Do not cry. We will talk about this when we get home, " Harley said while embracing her sister.
~~
The three of them were tiptoeing around the city. A lot of guards had been alerted with their home being raided by soldiers of the nobleman.
They decided to go to the only place they knew where they could be safe.
~~
"Damn you stupid brat," yelled old man Haufen as he gave a loving hit on the top of Haley's head.
The three of them had arrived at old man Haufen's bar to hide there, and it was the only place they could think could be safe.
"Old man, do you know who this nobleman is?" asked Harley.
"Old man…tsch. Well, it seems your idiot of a sister decided to steal from the Blausabers. And it seems you described him as the master of the house, Adolf Blausaber. They are a proud noble family, probably one of the strongest noble families in the entire kingdom, but what makes them more dangerous is not their power but their complete lack of morals.
"They are the worst kinds of a nobleman in this country. The deadliest cancer that's eating away at this country. I heard that prick of Adolf had killed a father and raped his daughter in the same room with the girl's father's corpse still lying beside it where the deed happened," explained old man Haufen.
"I wouldn't think that was such a bad thing to do. She was just a commoner anyways, and I was a nobleman. I had the right to do it, and she shouldn't have refused me. It is just how the world works."
Adolf Blausaber just entered the bar along with six soldiers.
Old man Haufen took a kitchen knife from behind the counter. He took the necklace and threw it in front of Adolf.
"You have what you came for. These kids certainly got their lesson. Now please leave this place," said old man Haufen.
Rufus was stunned. He had never seen old man Haufen talk to someone so politely before and realized that even Haufen was afraid of this man.
Adolf Blausaber at first chuckled and then immediately dashed forward extremely fast. Haufen could barely dodge Adolf's attack and, with the second slash, had his fingers cut off.
Haufen wasn't even startled by the fact he lost a few of his fingers. The knife was still in his hand, held by the rest of his fingers.
Adolf started to laugh. His soldiers began to attack Haufen, luckily being still able to hold them off. Nonetheless, having six of them coming at once proved hard even for Haufen.
"Rufus, Haley, Harley. This way."
Mrs. Jean tried to get Haley, Harley, and Rufus out the back door, but Adolf wasn't letting them.
He came plunging with his sword. Rufus decided to take a chair and use it as a shield but got cut himself on the chest, with the chair getting cut in two.
One of the soldiers had pinned Mrs. Jean down. Harley was screaming to Rufus, standing now between Adolf Blausaber and the two girls. Blood was coming from the cut on his chest, and Rufus could barely stand.
" you were able to see me coming?" said Adolf licking his blade.
"Run, you two!" yelled Rufus.
Unfortunately, Haley was paralyzed by fear, and Harley refused to run away without her. Adolf kicked Rufus and sent him flying through the wall.
Harley took Haley out, trying to escape the building where old man Haufen was still fighting the rest of the soldiers. Rufus then got up and was still somehow able to stand but couldn't lift much of his head.
The entire ground had a small layer of ice. The air was cold and made breathing harder for all. Adolf walked outside and looked with disgust at Rufus.
"Damn you, insects. I hate your kind the most, and you refuse to accept your fate." Adolf was annoyed since he didn't see Rufus giving up.
He saw Haley, who was still paralyzed from all the fear. He jumped quickly over Rufus and landed in front of Harley and Haley. He dragged Harley from her hair off her sister so he could frighten her more.
"Do you want to know a secret little girl? That necklace meant nothing to me. I have tens like that back at home, but the thought of letting one of you gutter runners get away from stealing from me. Well, I can't have that," whispered Adolf to Haley's ear.
Adolf looked at Rufus, who was limping in their direction, trying to save Haley.
He readied his saber and was ready to plunge it deep into Haley.
At that moment, Rufus moved the same way as Adolf had just done. The speed of what he moved stunned even Adolf. Rufus put himself between him and Haley and was determined not to let any harm come to her.
"You can die all together for all I care at the same time," said Adolf and swung his icy sword at both.
Harley quickly jumped and pushed Adolf Blausaber down. She looked at Rufus and Haley.
"Save yourselves!" screamed Harley.
Blood spilled on the ground. Harley's throat got cut open as Adolf swung his sword while being held down by Harley. His sword had dealt a fatal cut.
Harley fell and started to tremble from the loss of blood.
"Damn insects," said Adolf and stood up.
Haley and Rufus were both stunned. They saw Harley lying on the cold floor, blood spilling from her throat. They quickly ran to her past Adolf, not caring about him anymore.
Haley grabbed Harley and started pushing down on the wound to stop the bleeding. Her hands were cold and numb, but she still tried her best.
"Hey, sis. C'moon. Didn't you promise to scold me for today, right? We are gonna manage through this, and you're gonna scold me right, right….RIGHT!" yelled Haley with tears coming from her eyes.
"Hahaha. I thought you hated my scoldings, Haley," said Harley with a smile and then touched Haley's crying cheeks.
"Do not be afraid. Do not ever be afraid when you make a mistake. Own it and move forward. Never stop moving forward", said Harley to a crying Haley, who was holding her, and then put an earring on Haley's ear, "This belonged to our mother, and it is yours now."
Then Harley looked at Rufus.
"Rufus, my dear. I have loved you as my brother all my life. I never knew why I decided to take you in, but I have not regretted it a moment. Become great. This country and this world are in pieces. You help people who do not deserve it without expecting anything in return. You do not yet realize it, but you have the power to lift people.
"Before you can help people rebuild their lives, you have to destroy it and then build it up. I know that you will have a large following of loyal friends in the future that I am sure of. So don't be sad and continue going forward. Break the world and rebuild it a new Rufus."
"Aaaaaaah. That's it. I got to see it. AAAAAAAH YYYEEEEESSS!" Adolf screamed in ecstasy.
"But now I am sorry to break this tear-jerking moment, but you all have to die now, starting with that other girl," said Adolf and started to walk towards them.
Rufus stood up.
"No," said Rufus.
Rufus had just said "no," probably for the first time. The ice in the ground started to crack, and the cold air began to evaporate. Adolf started to feel something was wrong. Divine powers started to circle Rufus, and parts of the nearby buildings nearby began to crumble into dust slowly.
"What is this power? It destroyed my divine energy. What is it? It's like pure destruction that doesn't let anything near it," thought Adolf, who started to be more careful.
Adolf flung his sword through the ground, and knife-sized and shaped ice shards started flying toward Haley and Rufus. The ice shards crumbled away like they eroded mid-flight.
"Aaaaah. I knew you were someone special when I first saw you, and you are the one who will break everything and rebuild it new. Save Terra, please...Rufus," thought Harley as she faded away from the living.
The ground started to crack. Everything around Rufus began to get destroyed or erode to small dust.
"What the hell are you!?" Yelled Adolf and jumped fast toward Rufus with his sword.
He tried to slash Rufus, but he dodged it quickly. As a counter, Rufus kicked Adolf, who then flew against a wall.
"I see it now. You have some divine power. How? HOOOOOW!? Divinity is based on lineage. It is passed through generations. How can someone like you have such power," Adolf yelled in anger.
Adolf quickly fell back onto the ground as he was trying to stand up. He spewed blood from his mouth and looked at where Rufus had kicked him. The entire area had been destroyed, like part of this body was missing like it had been cut off with a dull knife.
Rufus started calmly walking towards Adolf. He then started to create more ice shards that he desperately tried to get to hit Rufus, but it was all in vain. All of them disintegrated mid-air when they got close to Rufus.
"Stay away from me, you freak!" yelled a blood-coughing Adolf.
"No," repeated Rufus calmly.
Adolf started to panic.
"What is this power? It's like destruction itself, and it can't be. Can he really be? Can he really have a divine power of destruction," thought Adolf to himself in fear.
Rufus grabbed a fidgeting Adolf by his head and lifted him. Adolf started to punch Rufus, but he still didn't let go.
"Let me go. LET ME GO. DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM? I WILL NOT DIE! IF YOU KILL ME, THE OTHER NOBLES WILL HUNT YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES DOWN!"
"Die."
The entire body of Adolf exploded, and blood spattered all over the battle-torn streets.
Rufus then started to feel tired. The divine powers began to fade away, and Rufus fell to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.