Night twirled a ring around between his fingers. Although he wasn't absolutely certain, he was pretty sure that he knew what it was when he first looked at it...a space stone ring. He was so excited over the find that he was giddy....he couldn't stop grinning....However, he quickly got cautious.

Settling down, he took out the green isolation orb in a repeat of his actions during the night in the Ammon Clan.

'I wonder what this thing is exactly. It sure is helpful,' Night thought as he activated the sphere to give himself some privacy.

Once he was sure the orb was in effect, he eagerly went back to looking at the ring in his hand. He really wanted to know what was inside. Night inserted a nudge of heavenly energy into the ring.

However, when he tried to access the space stone...it felt like he hit some sort of wall....he didn't have any luck accessing the items.

'There must be some kind of soul lock on the space stone,' Night thought as he recollected the information he had read in the book about stones back in Manco Oasis. Most space items could be locked with an inscription that recognized its owner's soul energy.

'Let's see...how do I get inside?,' Night questioned himself as he was thinking. 'If the link is between the ring and a soul, then getting rid of the soul should get rid of the link. I could kill the guy and see if that works....or maybe I can just make it seem like he is dead?'

At Night's sudden idea, he reached over and exerted his Death Concept to the maximum. A death shroud covered the unconscious man, but nothing happened with the lock in the ring.

'Damn, if that doesn't work, then killing him shouldn't make a difference,' Night thought.

'What to do? What to do?,' Night questioned before getting pissed at himself because he couldn't think of a good answer.

"Maybe, I can just get the guy to release the lock," Night made a joke to himself and laughed. He didn't think it would happen no matter how much torture he put the man through.

Setting the ring aside for a minute, he turned to look the two unconscious demigods. Since he planned to war with the Diego family, he needed as much information on their inner workings as possible. Since humans were isolated in separate areas on this planet, then the men had to be members of the Diego Family. Although it was a long shot.....These two men might have important information, so Night would be sure to get the details out of them.

Sitting in the tent, Night entered his soul space only to see Misery and Grief patiently waiting for him. There was also an additional orb floating near the two women....Night had almost forgotten that he needed to make arrangements for his soul's newest occupant.

Night sighed...he needed to deal with this issue first.

Walking over to the soul orb, Night instructed Misery and Grief to join him. Entering the orb, he made the space into a white room where a teenage girl was waiting patiently. In the next second, Misery and Grief appeared by his side. They all walked over to the teenager.

"Hello, my name is Night. I am sorry for what has happened to your family. How are you doing? How have Misery and Grief been treating you? Have they explained everything to your satisfaction?," Night fired off a series of questions in a gentle manner. The young girl's family was just murdered after all. He was trying to talk to the girl like she was any child in a similar situation

"My family fought well. We were able to keep our honor by at least injuring the thief that took our lives," the girl responded in a tone that completely caught Night off guard. Then she shifted the conversation like she wasn't just talking about her family's death, "So, you are the Night guy that these two seem to really look up to?"

Night was surprised by the comment and looked over to Misery and Grief. Misery blushed in embarrassment and Grief only showed a slight movement to her usual emotionless face.

'They look up to me?,' Night questioned with a thought to himself before turning back to the girl.

"And you are also a human that saved a demon caravan? Why?," the girl followed up with serious question since Night didn't immediately respond.

"Uuuuhhh....yes, I am a human, but I am not from any of the families in this world...I was brought here from another world as a slave...but I killed my captors...and here I am," Night said with a pause....he was trying to think of his 'why?'....he honestly hadn't tried to put it in words before.

"Why did I intervene? Because I wanted to.... I have no issue with demons...and I just left a small clan of demons that was nice to me. They were decent people. My parents always taught me to treat others as they treat everyone else. If you are nice, I am nice. If you kill innocent people, I'll kill you. It is just a system of balance...and it feels right to me...that's all," Night said seriously.

"So you would accept me as one of your subordinates even though I am a demon?," the blond haired demon girl asked.

"Why not? I have no prejudices. You would become a Ker anyway...not a demon or human. You will be Misery and Grief's younger sister....and you will be my sister as well. I don't like the idea of subordinates....I do like family though...after all...my family was also murdered by others too....," Night said before trailing off.

He seemed to space out for a few seconds....the action didn't go unnoticed by the three women, so they remained quiet.

"So, are you in agreement to become a Ker....to become sister to these two Keres....to become the younger sister of Night...?," Night asked looking at the girl in the eyes.

She didn't break eye contact and stared right back at him full of a intent to proceed forward.

"Yes, I even have a name picked out for myself just like my sisters....you can call me Distress....bandits...and even armies will get to know the full meaning of distress when I am on the battlefield," the girl said revealing a very slight smile on her face.

'How the fuck is she smiling? Her family was just killed. She just basically died. Why does this young girl seem like a battle crazed lunatic already.....All of these Ker seem to be not quite right in the head,' Night thought to himself as he looked at the three women.

But then the girl's face shifted to one of sadness and she said, "My sisters have already killed most of the men responsible for my family's death...But I would like to make sure my family is buried. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, I can have that arranged," Night said.

"...then, I am ready to go...please make me a warrior," Distress said.

"Okay, I will start the ritual," Night said as he immediately began the procedure to creating a Ker.

___________________________________

After about an hour, Night exited his soul space feeling a bit exhausted. The procedure to make Distress into a Ker had taken a good bit of strength out of him. Recalling the information concerning the technique, he felt that he was maxed out with Keres based on the strength of his soul. He wouldn't be able to hold any more until his soul was stronger. If he created another Ker, then he realized that he would probably fail and the process would injure him.

Feeling a little worn down, Night needed time some time to relax. When he was honest with himself, he just wanted to sleep. Thinking of the three women in his soul space, he gave the responsibility of getting information out of the two demigods to the three Keres. He knew they would do a good job. They were quite ruthless individuals.

"Now, I want Grief to absorb most of the soul power of the level 1 demigod, but don't kill him. That additional amount soul strength coupled with what she already got from the bandits before..... should allow Grief to get to a point that we can make her a blood body. We can kill him later and use that blood as the start of her blood body," Night instructed, "Keep the Level 2 Demigod alive, but get some information out of him. Distress can absorb the level 2 Demigod's soul strength, but I definitely need that one alive for now...so don't get carried away."

"I am going to take care of a few things then rest. Let me know when you are done interrogating them," Night said,"Don't forget to get as much information as you can out of them concerning the inner workings of the Diego Family. The more background we have on our enemy the better."

_______________________________________

After he left the soul space, Night went outside the tent. A few people were still making their way around the caravan's camp dealing with the mess caused by the bandits. Seeing the caravan leader, Enok, off in the distance, Night walked over to discuss a few things.

"Enok, how are things?," Night asked.

"Good considering the situation. Most of our supplies are still intact, but we lost several of the lower class demons that were traveling to the capital," Enok said.

"Speaking of that....I need to make sure that a few of the dead are taken care of appropriately. There was an entire family that was dead over near one of the fallen bandits. I need to make sure that they are properly buried. Please help me with this," Night said as he took two stones out of his pocket and passed them to Enok.

"Night....you do not have to pay anything...we usually take great care of disposing of the dead on our trips," Enok said.

"No need. Keep it. Taking care of the dead is the right thing to do. If you have extra, spend it on some others that perished in the raid," Night said before turning to walk away, "I would like to rest a bit. When will the caravan begin to move again?"

Enok looked up at the sky and paused for a second. He then said, "The sun will be up in about six hours. We will leave an hour after sunup. It is a long journey ahead of us."

"Okay, thanks," Night said before moving on back to his tent.

Once back inside the tent, Night laid down started to rest. He also couldn't stop thinking about his issue with the space ring.

He laid there in a relaxed state for a few hours until he suddenly sat up with an idea.

'I need to master the Presence concept,' Night thought to himself, 'If I can make the ring think that I am this man, then I should be able to open it with ease.'

Night settled down in the tent and began focusing on the unconscious demigod next to him. He could feel the man's physical state and his soul state. The soul state kept fluctuating due to the torment that the Keres were putting the man through.

"Quit messing with the Level 2 Demigod. I am going to try something," Night said mentally to stop the three women. He couldn't concentrate when the man's soul kept changing.

"Okay," Misery replied, "We are almost done with the first one. Are you ready to form Grief's blood body?"

"Damn, that was quick. Did you get any good information?," Night asked.

"Not really. This guy is either strong willed or someone that wasn't included on any important information. We tortured and tortured, but he kept giving us useless information. I know all about the inappropriate things he has done since he was a child, but I know nothing about the family...other than a few outposts in the desert."

"Damn, I was really hoping that we could get some good information, but that response does make sense. Important people would generally be kept around the main city. Anyone sent out as a raiding party would be at a lower level in the family," Night said.

"Oh well.....you ready to get started with Grief's blood body?," Misery followed up.

"I guess," Night said. Seems like he wasn't going to get that much of a break.