51 Cruel Night

Walking through the trail, the Myriad Beast Mountain Range was growing bigger and bigger in the eyes of Lucien.

It was getting dark when Lucien finally saw dim light in the distance.

It was a small village, guarded by a makeshift wall, it was wooden and had some pointy low quality wooden poles pointing out, waiting to impale an intruder. It was barely 3 meters tall.

It was obviously not there to guard against Beast but against their own kind, no Beast would even get scratched by those poles.

The Beast had stronger bodies, compared to Humans. Their training was also different than Humans, they didn't actively train or practice, they progressed naturally. Of course, a nice Human tonic would speed up the process.

The lifespans of a Beast were also longer than Human by a lot, but their natural practicing speed was really slow, thus compensating and keeping the natural balance.

'I'll wait for the dead of the night first.'

Lucien just stopped moving and waited. Even if someone saw him, he was just a nobody, why would they care.

Lucien just stood there and didn't even sit, he waited patiently.

The moment the moon was at it's pinnacle, Lucien moved.

'It's time.'

He melded in the Darkness and disappeared, if someone was watching, they would rub their eyes wondering if they saw an illusion.

As a Rank 2 Darkness Path Practitioner, Lucien was already a terrifying assassin, the terrifying part was, not fragile like other assassins, even if the first blow failed, he could still finish the job.

He was already in the main house of the village, right next to the bed where that esteemed Rank 1 was sleeping, he didn't notice a thing.

'This is the cruelty of the world, the weak can't even decide how they die, if I remain weak a single Rank 5 can kill me by just breathing out, so I don't care about the methods, nobody is allowed to have my life in their hands. If I have to bathe the world in blood, so be it.'

Thinking so far, Lucien didn't grow excited or hurry and get to work. He just stood there with a dazed look. He had slipped into an unique state of mind.

The decision he had just made, removed the final restraint in his heart towards life. He had killed before, but still kept a value towards life. But now he had discarded that weight.

He was normally showing a cold front, distancing himself from everyone, but now it was different.

The state of mind Lucien was in, cause an aura to spill from him, it was darker than the Darkness that was surrounding him, it was as if the Abyss was spilling out of him. There was a chill spreading through the air.

'This is it, not being restricted by society and morals, not needing to care about anything, I can focus on being calculative, making sure every detail is covered, making sure everything is executed with absolute precision.'

'It could have a name in All Existence, but , I'll want to name it for myself.'

'People say the Devil is in the details, I'll make sure I don't miss him,

'From now on, I'll call this Devil State.'

Lucien was not noticing, but the most mysterious part on his body was changing along with his state of mind. Normally no matter the state of mind, nothing on the body of the Practitioner would change just with that, but the eyes Lucien possessed were beyond normal.

The pupils remained crimson, but the originally white surrounding was being filled by the same Abyssal Darkness that was spilling in the form of aura from his body.

Lucien gazed at the still sleeping Rank 1, without a shred of mercy being reflected in those cold detached demonic eyes. He just used his arm to piece through the heart, which woke the Rank 1 up.

It would have probably been better for him to die in his sleep, what he saw in front of him made him freeze.

There was a demon in the room, it was holding his heart, that was freshly removed, gazing at him with it's pitch black crimson eyes, the aura spilling from him felt so cold that even his Soul shivered.

It didn't matter if he was a Rank 1, the shocking event froze him and he couldn't even muster the courage to recover his heart.

The following event affirmed his thoughts.

The demonic figure that was holding the heart started eating it, indulging in what seemed the most delicious feast.

The Rank 1 already endured long enough without his heart, he was probably Vitality based. He slumped and died.

Lucien finished the heart and then proceeded to finish the whole body.

After he was done, turning toward the door, Lucien walked with calm steps, when his foot landed on the ground there was no sound emitted, as if he was not walking on the same plane as normal people.

It was destined to be a bloody night in this village, Lucien walked from house to house and finished off everyone in their sleep, consuming them afterwards.

It was the dead of the night in one of the houses. There was a family of a grandfather and a grandson living in it, the parent of the boy had passed away in the hands of a Rank 0 Beast. The grandfather woke up to check in the boy, as he was a bit sick these days. And even if he had to work hard tomorrow to continue supporting them, he still couldn't sleep without making sure everything was okay.

Walking in the room, he saw something that almost made his Soul fly away.

There was a figure shrouded in Darkness, piercing his arm in the body of his grandson.

He was just about to say something, when the figure slowly turned around, and put his finger on his mouth, stopping the grandfather in his tracks. He was shocked by the visage of the intruder, it was clearly not human.

"Don't worry about him, worry about yourself, heheh."