Once the notification about his progress sounded, Lucien knew that his plan was the right way. He was also sure that he needed one final push to enter the gate that was awaiting him.
Looking over the family, Lucien waved his hand and the body of the mother mummified almost instantly with all the blood leaving and becoming a blob that floated above his hand.
'Condense it.'
The blob that was made from blood shrunk into a drop, and even then the quality was just 10 times better than before, which was around what a peak Rank 0 would have.
Lucien was planning to improve his blood beyond his level, but he knew an absurd amount of blood would be needed for that.
Looking at the man of the house, he was a shell. The man was already dead on the inside, his hope was taken, and his family destroyed.
Lucien didn't even think for a second, and controlled him again while his lips were curling upwards.
The father slashed the gag in the mouth of his son, who looked at him like he wanted to eat him alive. The boy didn't understand too much about the world and all he had seen was that his father killed his mother. The type of person this child would become was obvious from this one event in his life.
"Boy, what would you give me if I let you have your revenge?"
Even through he was the one responsible for the whole situation, he still didn't care while asking this simple question.
The boy was shocked for a second, still not fully comprehending what has happened tonight, but the hatred in his eyes only intensified.
"Everything."
Lucien looked a little surprised at the boy, he was assuming he would offer money or something material, but he was unexpectedly decisive. Waving his hand the restraint on the boy was cut, by a spray of blood that was on the body of the father.
"Go ahead then."
The father stood there motionlessly, ever since he lost his faith and hope, he didn't look alive anymore, he didn't even speak as his son used the knife to stab him uncountable amount of times.
After the whole scene calmed down, the boy that had blood all over his body looked at the body of his father and then at Lucien. Trembling he walked forward and knelt in front of him.
"Lord, everything I have belongs to you now. I will serve you all eternity."
Lucien warmly smiled at the quick witted brat. But then all of a sudden his smile turned sinister.
"I never said I needed you alive. Your blood is currently more precious than your life, so rejoice."
Standing there in the middle of the whole mess, all the blood that was splattered or seeped through the cracks, flew up and formed another blob. At the same time from all the orifices on his body, the boy started bleeding, with the blood joining the blob.
The boy couldn't even say a word before his body crashed on the cold floor. After collecting and condensing the pitiful amount of blood, because the father was Rank 0, Lucien had a drop of middle Rank 1 blood which was not even worth his effort, he just did it for getting used to his powers.
Lucien still devoured the bodies, even through they were a couple hundred existence points. 'Drop by drop, an ocean is made', Lucien never liked wasting resources he had on his hands.
Not long after, Lucien was on the highway towards the capital of the Holy Empire, pondering his actions.
'It seems the further I go on these Paths aligned with Evil, the more my resistance towards Evil is lowering. I did make him kill his wife for the progress, but anything after that was unnecessary, I could have just killed them, but I got a bit tempted and did it for the kicks.'
'I really have to find a way to keep my mind cool, or one day this is going to lead me to my death.'
Lucien already had an idea what Devil meant, and he was sure that losing to temptation was not part of the job description. The moment he lost himself would be the moment he does something stupid and dies for it.
One the other hand the test was meant to kill two birds with one stone, he used it to figure out if destroying faith and plundering hope would help the progress of the Devil State, but he also got a feel for the Blood Path as well.
It was incredible, he could literally control any being that had a Soul weaker than his Soul, not to mention using the Blood inside their bodies to cut them up from the inside.
'I might not even need the spear, the Blood Path is completely overpowered within it's own Rank.'
Even as the fight progressed and blood splattered all over the place, he could use both his and his opponents blood to attack at any moment, it was like having countless weapons in his control all over the battlefield.
Lucien was now looking forward to the other Middle Paths, and was considering what would happen if he progressed all his Lower Paths to Rank 2.
While thinking, Lucien continued on his Path, and in no time he was in front of the capital city of the Holy Empire.
This time Lucien didn't apply his disguise using cosmetics and low level stuff like that, he used a mixture of almost all Lower Paths and his Blood Path to create a living face mask for himself, he even increased his height a little, to make sure he was not recognized. It was not a skill he found in a book, but a thing he came up by himself. After comprehending a Middle Path, he had a completely different level of grasp over Lower Paths.
After entering the city, Lucien found an inn that was within a kilometer of the entrance to the imperial palace and settled down, and started waiting for his chance, like a viper hidden in the bushes.