Red Beard's Camp...

In the large tent at the very center of the camp was a long table at the head of which was a man with braided shoulder-length Red hair and a long breaded heard as well. He was quite a large man and could maybe be considered handsome in a brutish, violent kind of way.

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The man was quite obviously red Beard and behind him stood a group of seven men and women who were clearly his closest confidante's and kept glaring at the disapproving merchants.

Then lined in certain locations of the tent were more men of his bandit hand who stood there as 'Extra security'.

The outside of the tent was also being guarded by two other bandits who acted as though guards to a king.

It was the first thing that had raised the brow of the merchants upon arrival but they had long ignored it for more pressing issues,

"Red beard! Are you really going to throw away years of cooperation to now anger us and in turn anger the mayor of Dell's city?" Yelled the man with three empty seats between him and Red beard but was still the closest to the imposing man.

Red beard looked over to him and then drew a dagger from his waist. The Merchant flinched but Red beard did not act as though he had noticed as he ignored the man's words and proceeded to begin carving the table.

The man was a bit peeved to have been so readily ignored but said nothing apart from swelling in anger.

Eventually, Red beard paused his activity and spoke in a surprisingly clear and mellow youthful voice that did not quite fit his large and brutish appearance,

"I guess we have indeed had many years of cooperation and it was indeed nice. You contributed to all you have seen here today and fur that... I say thank you" he said with a wave of his hand at all they could see, The imposing guards as well as a structured camp that they once again noted really did not have the feel of a bandit camp.

Then he continued,

"However, cooperation is by my definition, finite. It is destined to come to an end and if you will not agree to my demands, you can consider our cooperation at its end.

Look around, I no longer need your resources..."

"But Red Beard, the Mayor. Don't you fear him?" Interrupted a merchant.

Red Beard looked at the interrupting merchant and it was clear he did not particularly care for that interruption but the words of said merchant seemed to be quite amusing,

"Hahahaha. You think I fear that old fool?" He laughed boisterously before he raised his hand in a signal and from his confidants behind him to the guards right outside the large tent, they all released their pressure.

The weakest of them all was at the peak of the Cosmic Armament realm and the strongest was at the mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

The eyes of all the merchant representatives widened in shock.

This was a level of strength they had not expected. And yet all these men were only subordinates. How strong would the leader himself be?

And even if he turned out to be weaker than his men, getting to him would not be so easy with them protecting him.

They had all come here with but a few bodyguards all because it was one of Red Beard's rules and a way to show their willingness to be reasonable.

Plus, even the strongest of their bodyguards was barely at the early stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm.

As for the merchants themselves, they were mostly men of commerce with little to no actual interest in combat. The strongest of them was at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm but that was one against about five others of the same level who were much more battle-focused.

They were fucked!

And they could easily see this turning into a trap in which they needed to find a way to escape and a quick way too.

"These are the strongest of my men but the others are not too bad either. Curious how I did it? It was quite easy actually. Once I had created a strong reputation for my Bandit camp, I approached every other bandit band to ask for them to join me.

These fine men and women behind me once headed their bandit bands. Small-time stuff really.

Once I made them see the bigger picture and how stopping merchants on the road for wealth was only the stepping stone to greatness, they were only too happy to join me."

The merchants were understandably confused,

"Bigger picture?... Stepping stone? What the hell are you talking about?" Asked the one among the merchants who could best be described as the most vocal.

This was especially true since, after that display of strength through cultivation base pressure, they were all mostly struck dumb.

Red Beard smiled,

"Oh yes, the bigger picture which is me taking control of this region and putting an end to the flawed mayoral Bloodline of Dell City." He said and so ridiculous did this sound that a couple of merchants actually stopped looking dumbstruck and began to view him as truly insane.

"Are you mad? You can't possibly believe you can achieve that. Kill us if you want but that does not make you suddenly powerful enough to contend with the mayor. I agree that this little setup of yours is impressive but it is far from being enough to threaten the mayor.

You clearly have not thought this through" said the vocal merchant.

Red Beard chuckled,

"Actually I have thought it through. What is the Mayor's cultivation? He's at the peak stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm is he not? I can handle that.

His strongest man is at the mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm, is he not? Well, my men can handle that.

But I will say that it is indeed not yet time for a true confrontation and that is why I will start with Dell's gate which on account of it being a subordinate to Dell's city is governed by a council.

I will take control of the council and steps are already being taken to make sure the councilmen and women, who are no doubt the strongest in the city, will be Loyal.

Combining my power with that of Dell's gate city, I quite fancy my chances of success"

At that time a voice sounded from the outside of the tent,

"I fancy your chances as well"

All eyes turned to see the one who had spoken was none other than a Blue-eyed young man with incredible manly beauty that could surely make any woman swoon.

Case in point, the female merchants were already running their eyes over his form despite the fact that he seemed to agree with the mad man that seemed to have their death in mind.

Even the women with Red Beard were only masking their interest with scowls.

But the young man was not alone. He was with four ladies whose beauty ranged from seductive and mellow (Rita) to wild and dangerous (Karmen, Olivia, and Lillian).

They looked quite like an exotic bunch.

"And who, might I ask, are you?" Red Beard asked this young arrival.

Hal smiled lightly,

"I'm a merchant from Dell city. I heard about this meeting and decided to drop by" He said in a jovial tone.

"No, you're not. I would recognize you if you were" said the vocal merchant.

Hal chuckled,

"You're right, I'm not a merchant."

Red Beard frowned,

"Who let you into the camp?" He asked.

Hal pointed a finger back towards the very entrance of the camp,

"The men at the entrance let me in. I didn't even have to introduce myself." He said with his still-jovial smile.

Once he was past the men at the camp entrance, every other bandit in the camp ignored him and assumed he was a merchant or at least here by invitation.

Red Beard frowned even more as that seemed quite unlikely. It was then he realized the guards closest to Hal and were at the very entrance of this tent had not said a word since.

They had not even made an attempt to stop him from getting closer.

What the fuck was going on?

It was then he noticed the guards at the tent entrance as well as the Camp entrance itself shivering as though they had just seen their worst nightmare and to be honest, they were not far off.

What Hal had done was simply weaponize the nightmarish feeling of his Devil energy and then infiltrate the bodies and minds of the guards with it.

It had only been possible because they were so much weaker than him and were not in a group.

Unlike Fear! Which could be used in an area of effect capability, this use of Devil energy was even more subtle but single person based. He could only use it, one person, at a time and it exhausts him more than Fear! does.

It was also more effective. You see Fear! can still be shaken off. It can be resisted and can be fought against. The victims could still act despite it.

However, with Devil energy, as long as it was able to corrupt the victim's whole system, the effect would be much more lasting.

At the very least, the affected guards would not be recovering for the next few hours.

Once Red Beard noticed this, the men with him noticed it as well and were already sending out what Hal assumed were distress signals to summon the full force of the camp to the large tent.

However, while the ladies with him took on battle stances, Hal continued to act oblivious,

"As I was saying, I also fancy your chances at success but unfortunately, I doubt you will actually succeed" he said.

Red Beard took a deep breath and decided not to dwell on how Hal cause these men to shiver and look close to pissing their pants.

When he spoke, it was with a calm voice,

"I will only ask one more time intruder, Who are you?"

Hal sighed and rolled his eyes at the bandit leader,

"Alright alright, if you're going to be so grumpy about it, I'll tell you the truth.

My name is Hal and I came here to kill you"