There were no more dramatic and taunting enchanges, it was needless. Both armies just charged at each other. It didn't matter what kinds of undercurrents and schemes were happening under the table, at this moment no human dared to shrink or hide, they all shot forward with bloodshot eyes. It was how the Empire brainwashed its men, everybody knew if they ran at this points, their whole families would perish even if they escaped.
On the side of the Beasts, desersion faces cruel punishments as well, with the worst being exiled from the Mountain. One Beast alone in the human world was a fate worst than death in some cases, they could be captured and turned into pets or mounts, sealed and prevented from suiciding. Thus both armies did their best to appear as ferocious as posible, even if they were prepared to save themselves in a moment of danger.
Lucien just mixed with the Rank 1s and charged forward, hidden like a predator in the midst of sheep, ready to strike at any opportunity. He had already instructed his Blood Slaves on how to act in all predictable situations, with the hope of saving as many of them as possible, after all nobody like losing important assests.
The moment both armies were 10 meters from each other, the Rank 3 Beast disappeared along with the 2 Rank 3 Commanders. The gap between Rank 2 and Rank 3 was not just stats, they were on a higher level of existence, capable of comprehending Middle Level Paths, the devestation they could cause would be catastrophic to their enemies and allies alike. So they moved their fight away.
'Good, now I can get my rewards, hehehe.'
Just as they dissapeared, Lucien also melded with the shadows, and since all Rank 2 humans were his Blood Slaves, nobody on the human side noticed.
The inevitable happened within moments and with wind shattering booms, both armies clashed and blood sprayed in the air.
'Since I won't be getting the Beast meat after this, I'll make sure to get the best of the situation.'
[Devil State]
Darkness covered the whites of his eyes and abyssal coldness spread from his body, indescribable evil seeped from the shadows that covered him.
'To betray the race one belongs to, human feelings are a burden.'
Thinking this far, Lucien appeared behind one of the Rank 1 humans like a specter and pierced his heart with a bare hand. It was as if an illusion had spread around the area and nobody that had a weaker Soul could notice a thing that was happening.
Digging out his heart, Lucien proceeded to enjoy it, it was already a habit of his when he was in this particular state.
The Rank 1 Practitioner had turned by this point and was stating at what appeared to be human, but definitely was not. Absolute fear had engulfed the poor human preventing him from even twitching while his heart was being eaten.
'Since I can't absorb the Souls of Beasts and I for sure can't take my time eating them here, I'll make sure a lot of humans die, as much as possible.'
Currently, Souls were pouring from everywhere inside his Soul Devour Domain, but instead of fighting Lucien made sure to increase that number as much as possible, he could partially judge the threshold of deaths the Rank 3 Commanders could tolerate, so once it was close to it, he would stop to prevent from being found.
The first victim didn't last much longer and fell down helplessly with his Soul pouring inside Lucien, making him stronger. In fact his Soul was growing at a terrifying pace, if the Soul Devour Domain was stealing more than 1/10 during the conversion, the burden might be too big, but right now it was within what his Soul could handle.
By now the fight was turning bitter for both sides, the Beasts haven't dispatched an overwhelming army in fear of provoking the giant monster that the Empire was, but sent just enough to clash with the Beast Slayer Army. For them it was probably also a way to control population and temper the weak, they didn't want a lot of fodder, but a few powerful beings.
These unspoken deals didn't matter to Lucien, what he wanted currently was to benefit as much as possible.
He countinued flashing around like a hidden reaper on the battlefield targeting only Rank 1 humans, normally the main victims of this fight would be the Rank 0 fodder, but Lucien was after the juicy Souls of Rank 1s, as for him anything below Rank 2 was fodder anyway.
As he kept killing and the Soul of his kind kept powering him further, something fundamental was changing slowly, the Abyssal Darkness was deepening and the coldness that was seeping off his body was getting even chillier. Some of his victims didn't even show fear, but were entranced in the Darkness once they saw it, not even knowing they were dead.
And Lucien was in his sharpest mode, so he noticed any minute changes.
'I wonder what does this mean, am I going further on the path of no return, the one that leads to something more than just a mental state.'
'Not that I regret, this suits me, who am I to reject it? As long as it provides me with more power.'
The moment Lucien embraced this side of himself, the aloof voice of All Existence sounded out.
-Devil State: 50% Completed-
There was no long explanations or tempting lines and Lucien didn't need them, he instinctively felt that something he needed was beyond those 100%.
So he picked up his speed even further, even if he knew that the massacre he was causing right now would not be enough to finish the change.
His mentality was so detached that even after all the temptation, he didn't change his methods to complete it faster, he still went through his habit and ate the hearts, but that was is.
A Devil was not the one that gave in to temptation, it was the one that tempted and used everyone around itself.