The Plebeian family heads were more than a little surprised as they had expected a good fight if the others would retreat for the Payne Family force but while they fought to the height of their abilities, it was nothing against the mighty force of the Plebeians.

It was a disappointing display that was worthy of a disappointing shake of the head.

Even as they watched, the thousand man force of the Payne family dwindled to three hundred and it continued to dwindle. The only thing that made this look like it was not an all-out slaughter was that they managed to kill Plebeians as well.

Hal then retrieved a spatial pouch within which were the pills Gregory had bought from Arya, the alchemist and then called out to the rest of the Payne Men who were still alive to retreat which they quickly did.

As they did, the Plebeians attempted to follow after but they were only able to stop a few of them and did not follow after those that survived. Instead, they pulled out recovery pills and swallowed them to restore lost Cosmic energy.

"Here" Hal said and tossed down the pouch of pills which from the very start were not enough for all of the Payne family forces because of Arya's 'limited' supply.

When Gregory saw Hal giving them the pills, he perked and praised Hal in his mind.

Mostly saying that Hal was not as cruel as he looked.

Hal smirked as he heard it but said nothing.

Julius was the one who received the pills and quickly handed out one Restoration pill and one Flame Berserk pill to all the others. It was not enough and quite a few of them did not receive either one of the pills or sometimes even both.

First, they took the recovery pills and felt the increase in body Strength. They waited a few seconds for the energy recovery to be complete before they took the berserk pill and their eyes widened from fear when it swallowed up whatever body strength increase they had gotten from the recovery pills.

The Great family heads looked on eagerly as they had not yet seen the effect of the Flame berserk pill which the Alchemist had placed at the Rank 2 intermediate.

They feared they had been tricked.

And then, the bodies of all those who took the flame berserk pill combusted. The flames only stayed for a while and when it went out, the bodies of all those who took the pill were naked and covered by a Dark crust that looked like molten magma.

The crust was cracked and orange flames flowed between the cracks.

Their eyes were also bright orange and their expression looked quite insane.

The Great family heads were shocked as they observed the effects of the pills they had purchased while also proving that the Payne Men had now lost all semblance of self.

Their attention was focused.

Focused on the Plebeians.

And then they attacked.

If the war had been chaotic before, it was nothing compared to this as the Payne Men tore through the ranks of Plebeians and killed as easily as though they were snapping twigs.

They grabbed Armaments in their bare Dark crusted hands and rendered those Cosmic constructs useless against them.

Melinda's eyes narrowed,

"They're Demons" She said and all those who heard it agreed.

Hal observed that not only had their physical capabilities being heightened to the limit, a little something extra had been added and caused such a transformation.

The Plebeian heads turned to San whose eyes was widened,

"San, those pills..." They began.

"I know" San said curtly and they kept quiet.

Meanwhile, the Payne Men contained to kill as Many Plebeians as they could before the effects ran out.

"Incredible" Ford Horst said and the other Great family heads agreed as not only had Arya not tricked them, she had given them the weapon with which they would defeat the Plebeians.

They were already calculating the number of pills they had to the Plebeian forces that numbered Eight thousand, Including those that had not yet fought and were still watching the battle close to the Plebeian leader camp.

Those that had died were at least Two thousand.

The Conjoined Great family Force excluding the Paynes numbered about Five thousand and those that had died numbered at least Three thousand, once again excluding the Paynes.

Among the Five thousand that were still alive, only about Five hundred had been given Flame Beserk pills which the Great family heads were now ordering them to prepare to use and lead the vanguard.

Hal said nothing as they gave these orders.

Since he had marked the Payne Men, he could see into their mind and knew that all ability of rational thought had been turned off leaving only one suggestion which was to 'Kill the Plebeians'.

And while this looked as though Arya might indeed have had their best interest at heart, Hal could not help but feel it was not that simple.

Before this, he had already had Grimoire analyze the pills and he had been told of their ingredients which were much too expensive and would cost so much to get them on the Haron Continent.

What Arya had collected from the Great families while it looked hefty to them was actually nowhere close to what it would have cost her to make the pills.

Once again making it seem as though her business-conscious exterior was a front and she truly wished the Great family would win the war and yet, once again, Hal felt it was not that simple.

The pills' effects wore off and the hard Dark crust fell off the bodies of the Payne Men after which they slumped to the floor and fell unconscious. The Plebeians wasted no time and struck them while they were down.

It did not matter that they were no longer a threat, letting them live after they killed so many of their Plebeian colleagues would be an insult to the dead.

Then they went after the rest of the Payne Men who had either only received restoration pills or had not received any pills at all.

Even as they were chased and struck down, their lives extinguished, Hal did not allow any reinforcement as he ordered the Great family heads in their minds not to interfere.

Gregory transitioned from his kneeling and grabbing Hal's legs position to a sitting one while he stared and his eyes looked completely destitute.

He had lost it all.

When he thought back to him once thinking he would take his punishment with pride, he could not help but laugh at himself in Dark humor;

He had been so naive.

What he did not know was that Hal did not do this simply to punish him but just because it was what felt right to him and allso an act that satisfied his Devilish nature.

It also helped him study the Flame berserk pill's effects.

But if Gregory believed this to be the end of his punishment, he was in for a surprise. But that's for later.

Once the Payne forces were all dead, those in the conjoined Great family forces that had been given Flame berserk pills swallowed and underwent the Demonic transformations.

After which, they led the vanguard and each one of the Five hundred took down at least Four Plebeians further diminishing their numbers.

...

Meanwhile,

In the Master's Den...

The Master smiled at Lilian who was cross-legged on her bed and their Malevolent Crimson eyes flashed.

"It has begun" They said and Lilian stood up to stand before her Master.

Lilian grinned as she guessed the Master's next words,

"It is Time to Harvest"