Four weeks after leaving the City of Setting Sun. In a small oasis town of the Diego Family.

Blood flowed down short swords held by three winged women warriors. This oasis was the first that Night had attacked during the daytime. He wanted to see the full extent of his group's power to gauge their exact abilities. The last three oases that were taken over were done solely by himself, Misery and Grief........at nighttime......and relying on his strongest power over souls. But Night knew that he couldn't always rely on ideal conditions......and since the three Keres had shown up today.....he figured why not give everyone a test. In the darkness of night, his group was practically unstoppable.....but in the day, even Night had some issues to deal with while fighting to the peak of his ability....he wanted to see just how well they could perform.

At this point, Night had destroyed three Diego Family oases successfully. He hadn't had any issues so far. Two of the oases were even destroyed without even lifting a finger. Theses smaller oases had such weak manpower that Night had simply blanketed the town in his soul perception and ripped the souls out of the bodies of everyone from those two branch clans of the Diego Family. Although he felt that he had the strength to attack like this repeatedly, the end result completely defeated his goals of using these oases as training grounds for the Keres and himself. At least the few slaves that were saved seemed to be thankful for the smooth transition.

A boom sounded out from within a nearby building and a body went flying across the sands to land outside the town at Night's feet resting on the dune. Grief's sand covered body was a mangled heap but was quickly reassembling itself.

"Do you need help?," Night asked as he looked at the bloody mess.

"No. I can take care of this pervert by myself," Grief said emotionlessly as she shakily stood up and threw herself back into the air towards one of the three demigods that ruled over this oasis.

The collision between the Grief and the demigod cause another set of booms to ring out over the oasis town.

With a woosh of wind, Misery appeared next to Night.

"Done already?," Night asked as he looked over the vampiric looking woman.

"Damn. Do you doubt me? Why wouldn't I be able to handle him that quick? It was only a Level 4 Demigod. Those at that level do not cause me any issues anymore," Misery said as her eyes shifted to the three other Keres currently fighting it out with a group of soldiers, "Looks like they are having fun."

"Sorry," Night said as his eyes moved over to Sorrow, Despair, and Gloom.

Even though they hadn't quite gotten to the Demigod level in strength....they were absolutely ruthless on the battlefield. Night estimated that the three women could take on around fifty peak foundation stage fighters with ease. Judging by their progression so far, they would probably go into hibernation to advance to demigod level after this fight.

"Go keep an eye on Grief's fight. That Demigod seems to be quite strong.....a Level 5 demigod that specializes in defense," Night said as he reached out with his perception to keep tabs on what was happening in the oasis.

Misery had actually already killed the other two of the demigods while Grief was still fighting it out, so he put her to work to safeguard Grief's fight.

The three sisters were steadily hacking away at the town's guards. Night couldn't be more pleased with how the customized short swords had worked out for the group. Because the Keres' own bloodstones were encased in each sword, they were relatively safe from harm in battle. In a fight, the Keres could move the bloodstone throughout their bodies.....it didn't have to be in any one particular location. So in making the swords for his dedicated warriors, Night had designed a reinforced port to hold the stone during battle. Even if the Ker warrior's body was completely destroyed, the bloodstone housing their soul would be safe inside the weapon and they could quickly regenerate.

Pleased with his creations, Night continued watching the oasis battle like an overseer. He was very happy with the way that his Keres were progressing, Night stood on a nearby sand dune trying to figure out his own direction forward. He had reached a plateau where he wasn't progressing in his own cultivation very fast. He needed something to change.

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Ten weeks after leaving the City of Setting Sun. The ninth oasis attacked.

The five Keres were swarming above the oasis town like vultures waiting for a kill. Everyone else in the oasis was already dead...everyone except the group of about 50 freed slaves that had congregated in one of the sturdier buildings for shelter.

Night twirled his knives in his hands as he battled against three demigods by himself. He was huffing and puffing.....and very exhausted. He had decided to join in on the fighting.....while wearing his full heavyweight training armor. He needed to push himself to the max in order to complete the basics of the endurance and agility body skills.

"You damned demons," one of the demigods screamed, "I will make sure you pay a price for attacking this oasis. He pulled a canister out of his storage ring and tossed it into the air. With an explosion as haze descended upon the oasis.

Night held out his hand as the atomized powder landed in his palm and said, "Amazon water lily."

"You demons will all die," the demigod laughed maniacally before realizing that something was wrong, "Why aren't you dying?"

"Who said I was a demon?," Night said as he appeared next to the distracted man pushing one of his knives into the man's awaiting neck.

Night turned to the other two demigods standing in shock nearby and immediately reached out with his soul strength to knock them unconscious. This exploding poison bomb was a new development, so Night wanted some more information....it had been a while since he interrogated someone.

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After the ninth oasis battle was settled and another branch family was eliminated, Night had allowed the freed slaves to spend a couple of days recharging themselves on the resources left in the oasis. Night kind of enjoyed watching the rapid advancement of the freed slaves take place once their slave collars were removed. This oasis had yielded quite a pretty interesting surprise.

The surprise was that Night had actually found two slaves that he recognized from the Carmine Family. These two men were guards that he had frequently seen around the Carmine house when he was dating Karine. Night had played on a story that he had once met a dying slave named David from the Carmine Household. In a promise to the man, he said that he would check on the status of some of his friends from Earth if ever given a chance. The story must have been believable because the two men had given Night an update of everything back on Earth.

The men had only left Earth about three months after David had disappeared. However, those three months had been pretty intense. A week after David had gone missing, Mr. Lester had also disappeared. His disappearance had really hit a nerve with some people that had connections to him and Mr. Carmine. A conflict broke out inside the Carmine Family on Earth. Because of the disappearances, an intense investigation was launched by several private individuals and the Diego Family's slave trade operation was completely unearthed as a result. All sorts of hostilities broke out between groups on Earth because of this event. The men didn't really know the status of everyone but they understood that despite all the chaos.....Mr. Carmine had managed to arrange for Karine and Sonia to take a trip to The Other to move in with the rest of the family.

Although this information did give Night some relief on his friends' safety, he was also very excited to have a confirmation that the supply of slaves had been cut off from Earth. If no more slaves were coming in, the Diego Family would really be hurting for workers sooner or later.

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Ten and a half weeks after leaving the City of Setting Sun. The ninth conquered oasis town.

An average height man stood amongst a group of demons in a recently conquered oasis town. Some of the demons looked at Night with a bit of fear, others held respect....and a few looked at him like he was just plain odd. His outer layer of clothes was covered in blood to the level that some of the fabric was beginning to stiffen. He had decided to get an update from the demon army.....so instead of leaving the day after his victory in order to wait for the advancing troops. Night wanted to discuss a few things....he had done this a few times before without any delay.

"They have made the poison portable in small grenades. It is easy enough to deploy that it would definitely cause problems," Night said to the group of demons.

"I have also run into two groups of patrolling soldiers between the last two oases. They weren't large but that shows that some activity is increasing," Night said as he discussed his recent issues with Roth Dreamwalker.

"Since we are getting closer to the City of Southern Wind, the Diego family scouts must have finally caught wind of our advance," Roth said as he paced back in forth in a makeshift command center set up in a building at the newly conquered oasis, "I will start sending out scouts ahead of us to make sure they aren't leading a full army to meet our advance."

"Yep, they seem to have caught on," Night said while moving his head in agreement, "I will travel with your group for most of the way from now on to make sure things go smoothly. I will only break away right before we reach the oases."

"We do not need your protection," Roth said with an odd tone to his voice. The demon army did have four Gods present in its' ranks. The demon command had been surprised that Night was able to successfully achieve what he had promised weeks ago. His eccentric behaviors and his appearance had also puzzled them.....he looked like a blind beggar.

Every now and then.......When the demon army arrived at an oasis, Night would be waiting for them with a group of freed slaves patiently waiting to help out the advancing demon army. Each time they saw Night his appearance would slightly change too.....he looked stronger was the best way to put it.

"I am not going for your protection," Night said with a smile, "I am at the precipice of mastering a few skills.....and I don't want you taking a good fight away from me."

Roth looked at Night for a second before he asked out of curiosity, "Just how strong are you now?" Roth had asked this question every time the two met recently.

"Clear everyone from the room and we can talk," Night responded casually.

Everyone was taken off guard. Most of the demons in charge had realized that Roth had grown increasingly interested in Night's strength after each of their meetings along this route. Since all preparations for the advance to the next oasis were made, they quickly piled out of the room leaving only Night and Roth behind.

"I'll answer your questions....if you give me a hint at something I have been wondering," Night said.

"Ask first," Roth responded simply.

"I am currently training in a few body skills. I have heard that your family is familiar with the Body of Storage skill.....and all I want is a hint to point me in the right direction...I don't want your family secrets.....I know that I don't have anything valuable enough to trade for that kind of info...just a hint to help me figure out on my own," Night said with a grin.

Roth tensed at Night's question. He hadn't expected that sort of question.

Just as Roth was about to respond, a sudden commotion could be heard from the room outside. Both Roth and Night turned to the door as two soldiers came bursting into the room.

"Sir, the scouts have found a group of about 500 human soldiers under the Diego Family's banner marching toward this oasis. At least 4 demigods. They should be here in about thirty minutes," the lead soldier relayed.

"Send some troops out to deal with them," Roth said quickly.

"Wait," Night interrupted, "No point in risking exposure to those poison grenades. I'll go deal with it. Your army can watch the show....tell them to observe how the grenades are used in combat....and consider this my answer to your question. Remember, I don't need a lot of details on the skill.....just point me in the right direction."

Without waiting on a response, Night turned and started walking out of the door. He wasn't doing this entirely out of his own good. The three newest Keres had just awoken after breaking through to the Demigod level....so Night wanted to use this platoon of Diego Family soldiers as a tool to give them a boost. He wanted them at their peak condition for the upcoming battle in the City of Southern Wind....and things seemed to be getting more troublesome as they approached.

Night walked up to the top of the oasis walls next to an entire regiment of demon soldiers observing the group of human soldiers on the other side. There was a human military battalion of at least 500 men standing in formation in front of the oasis walls.

As Night started walking out towards the troops, he could hear a few men on the wall talking about him.

"Did you hear? That guy over there is called the Destroyer. He laid waste to nine oases by himself," a man said as he stood at attention within the demon ranks.

"Ya, I heard that he is vicious on the battlefield and even has some wicked women that fight at his side. Those freed human slaves talk about those women as if they are demons," the other man said.

Night turned and looked back up at the wall. With a bit of power in his voice, he said, "They are not demons. They are not humans. They are Keres."

Then he smiled up at the demons on the wall as blood started to pour out of his eye.