The Roman soldier continued to flick the tip of his sword as he waited for the young mercenary to answer.
Kellen stood still as he weighed the options.
'I'm not sure what I should do... Osiris what do you think.' Said Kellen in the mental message.
'It's up to you kid... I don't think there is necessarily a right or wrong answer in this situation since we don't know that much at the moment.' Replied Osiris without choosing a side.
Kellen debated with himself the benefits and potential problems he could face if he went with the Roman soldiers. On one hand it would enable him to travel through the lands with less restrictions since he would then be associated with a supposedly powerful Empire, but it would also mean he would have to follow their lead and rules.
The other option would be to remain neutral and somehow figure out what to do in order to find the Laboratory Romans. Siding with the Glecians was out of the question since even Kellen could tell they would soon lose anyways.
'If I side with the Roman soldiers then eventually I would end up traveling to their Empire which could possibly have some information on those bastards I need to find... At the moment my greatest need is information about the changes in Xystenia and the whereabouts of my targets.' Thought Kellen as he raked his gaze over the lines of Roman soldiers around him.
"Alright, if you'll have me then I'll follow you guys." Answered Kellen as he slightly nodded his head towards the Roman soldier he had fought with.
"Great! You've definitely made the right choice. As a mercenary with your talents, especially considering your age, it shouldn't be a problem for you to make some good money in most places, but our Roman Empire can pay you your full worth along with exciting victories and glory!" Said the Roman soldier as he laughed heartily towards his newly received comrade.
The Glecians on the other hand had their faces pale after hearing they would have to confront another talented warrior from the other side.
"Stupid money grubbing mercenaries..." Mumbled Yariv from behind a group of his elite guard.
Soon the halted forces in the bloody battlefield began to grow louder with their battle cries slightly shaking the ground beneath their feet and prepared for another confrontation of blades.
"Kill all the bastard Romans!" Shouted King Yariv as he ushered forth his army to meet the incoming Romans.
"Leave no survivors!" Yelled the soldier who Kellen had fought with that seemed to be commanding the Roman force.
Kellen readied his sword and prepared his demonic energy in case he would need to use it in the oncoming battle.
'This... This is war...' Thought Kellen as he raced along next to the Roman commander with the Roman force surging towards the doomed Glecians.
Lightning began to crackle around in the air next to Kellen, which resonated from the Roman commander's blade, as the two men cut through the Glecians' line. After the ungodly amount of torture and manipulation Kellen had received from both humans and deities alike, he was able to remain unfazed as he cut down the bloodcurdling warriors that rushed towards him.
Compared to the Roman commander or the onslaught he had faced from Gregory in his training, the Glecians were like mere trees waiting to be cut down by Kellen with little resistance.
'They are so weak... No... I've just gotten stronger!' Realized Kellen as he continued to plough through the opposing force with the Romans, while being able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Roman commander.
As they continued with their slaughter, the Roman soldiers that had previously thought their commander was pitying the kid, who they thought had probably been forced to become a mercenary due to poverty, now widened their eyes after seeing the kid's might. In their eyes he was seemingly as capable as their incredibly battle experienced commander, who they respected with all their hearts after being led by him through multiple victories.
This caused another wave of courageous shouts from the Roman soldiers and emboldened them to not let their commander, with incredible foresight that they had lacked, down as they rushed towards the dwindling ranks of Glecians.
Kellen could feel his blood begin to boil with the increasing amount of enemies that began to pile up behind his wake as he continued his slaughter alongside the Roman commander.
It felt like with every warrior he killed his blood would be minutely purify and strengthen.
'What is this sense of energy flowing into my blood?' Thought Kellen as a smile began to arch from the corners of his mouth after feeling a very minute boost in strength with every kill.
'Hehehe... This is the ability of my passive blessing that you're enjoying!' Said Osiris with laughter as he answered the kid's thought.
'Huh? The passive ability?' Replied Kellen as he sliced through the exposed portion of a warriors neck between the layers of his armor.
'Yes! This was the sole reason I decided to follow along with you here... The passive ability of my blessing and my recovery are both connected. The ability is called Soul Snatch and allows the inheritor of my blessing to absorb some of the strength from a slain enemy's soul. Due to our contract, the rest of the soul belongs to me and will help recover my strength.' Said Osiris excitedly as Kellen continued to slay more opponents.
'While I stay inside of your mind it allows me to access the energy from the slain souls a lot faster, especially if compared to returning to the deity's realm and having to wait for the souls to be collected and processed before I would receive them. So by following you around I will be able to return to my peak strength a lot faster...' Explained Osiris.
'So what does this Soul Snatch have to do with this energy flowing into my blood?' Asked Kellen while parrying a spear thrusted from the side by dodging and grabbing the shaft of the spear to stab another enemy beside him.
'Ah! Right... Basically, since your blood now contains trace amounts of demonic blood, you are able to directly absorb the soul energy into your demonic blood for purification. The concentrated demonic energy in your blood merges the soul energy into itself and converts it into raw energy for storage and consumption.' Said Osiris knowledgably.
'So I gain more demonic energy then?' Questioned Kellen rushing towards more enemies amidst the continuing battle around him.
'Yes and no. If you let your demonic blood consume all the soul energy then yes, but if you allow the demonic blood to continue as is, then it will only store the soul energy along with the demonic energy for later use, while only converting a minute amount of it into more demonic energy in the process.' Answered Osiris.
'That seems helpful...' Thought Kellen as he could feel his strength subtly increasing minutely as he continued to slay more enemies until only a few remained on the Glecian side.
Kellen searched around for more opponents until he found only one group remaining. This group was the one comprised of several elite Glecian guards that encircled the King as a protective barrier against the Roman soldiers now surrounding them.
The Roman soldiers only surrounded the small group of no more than eight guards and the one King, while they waited for their commanders orders.
"Kid! Where are you!" Shouted the Roman commander from the other side of the battlefield.
While Kellen was busy slaying multiple enemies, he and the commander had gotten separated later on due to Kellen's aggressive performances.
"I'm over here sir!" Replied Kellen with a shout as he rushed over to the commander's voice.
"Get your ass over here and help me take care of this!"
Kellen quickly found his way over to the commander on the other side of the Roman encirclement and nodded his head towards him.
"I like your style kid! I knew I wasn't wrong about you... But I wanna see what kind of material you're really made of!" Shouted the commander in a hearty voice while patting the young mercenary's shoulder after he arrived.
'This kid has guts! This is what a true Roman soldier should be like. If I can assess more of his skills and then report him to the higher-ups we might even gain a new Sub Legionnaire candidate!' Thought the Roman commander as he eyed the young mercenary more closely after seeing some of his performance in the battle.
"Alright! Help me take care of these elites and then maybe we can ripen your reward a little! What do you say kid?" Asked the Roman commander with a grin on his half blood drenched face.
Kellen wasn't upset after hearing the commander's proposal since he was eager to snatch some more energy from a few more souls, considering that was the whole reason he had fought like a madman earlier. Plus he still hadn't even touched his demonic energy, except for when he used Soul Sense for a couple seconds to get here, but that had already been replenished by the mass amount of soul energy he had received from the battle and his blood converted.
"Just them? Sure." Replied Kellen after turning his head with a side-long glance towards the group surrounded by Roman soldiers that had resisted up till now with a greedy look in his eyes.
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I've started to solidify the main course of the story for a lot of future chapters. These last few chapters have given me some more ideas on this. University starts back up for me Monday, so I'll try my best to manage with the regular releases throughout the semester. If you guys have any ideas you think should be added into the story leave me a comment or review suggesting it. As always much love guys! :)