The mysterious man descended quietly, his breathing steady to a chilling degree. He slowly opened his fist to reveal a small, charred fragment of the "Black Heart Stone"—the only thing he had managed to seize before Atheria exploded and vanished from existence.
He pulled off his tattered shirt, revealing an athletic physique covered in strange scars. Right in the center of his chest was a tattoo of a pure white hexagonal jewel, looking as though it were etched into his very flesh. He placed the fragment of the Heart Stone over the marking; at the moment of contact, a current of black and white energy surged through his veins. The tattooed jewel shifted into a turbulent grey, as if absorbing the remaining energy of dead Atheria.
The Unknown Man (In a voice devoid of emotion): "The energy is meager... but it is enough to awaken the hunger."
Hours later, the man entered a quiet trading town called "Servel." He walked with a cold indifference through the crowds, his hollow eyes looking at no one. He stopped in front of a restaurant redolent with the scent of grilled meat and sat at one of the outdoor tables.
The owner brought him a plate, and the man began to eat with a strange calmness. When he finished, he rose to leave without uttering a word or reaching out to pay for his meal.
The Restaurant Owner (Shouting): "Hey, you! Where do you think you're going? Pay up, or I'll make you regret it!"
The man did not turn. The owner lunged forward and grabbed his shoulder violently. In the blink of an eye, and without changing his expression, the mysterious man's hand moved like lightning, driving his fingers into the owner's throat. The man collapsed, a lifeless corpse, amidst the shock of the onlookers.
The town guards and several mercenaries gathered around him, brandishing their swords and spears.
The Captain of the Guard: "You madman! You killed an unarmed man! Surrender now, or we will have your blood!"
The Unknown Man: "You are obstructing my path... and the stars do not like obstacles."
He raised his left hand toward the sky, and tiny "radiant stars" appeared around him—no larger than grains of sand, yet their light was blinding. In a single second, these grains shot toward the crowd. There was no sound of impact, only a funereal silence; everyone touched by a star saw their body dissolve, turning into fine ash on the spot, as if they had never existed.
He did not stop there. He spread his great wings and soared over the town center. He looked down coldly, charging white energy in the palm of his hand.
The Unknown Man: "Ability: Glowing Star."
He cast a small orb of white light downward. It was the weakest of his abilities, yet the moment it touched the ground, the orb expanded in a massive thermal explosion that wiped the town of "Servel" entirely off the map. Not one stone was left upon another, and nothing was heard but the whistling of the wind filling the void left by the blast.
The man flew away through the smoke, heading toward an unknown destination, while the jewel marking on his chest grew whiter, as if he were feeding on the destruction he left in his wake.