I'm sure the terror aspect was part of it for the Aztecs, especially as far as intimidating the holy living #&^$ out of all the other groups in the area.. but don't forget they're one of the groups that also just really, really, went all-out with the self-sacrificing god theme. All the bloodiness wasn't even satisfying a blood debt so much as it was a gesture of respect and thanks to the gods that sacrificed themselves, and a way to be godly. I don't think every single person who was about to get sacrificed was feelin' pretty jazzed about it or anything, but people can get really attached to ideas like that. Compare women who'd throw themselves on funeral pyres in India when it was just the Done Thing.
ETA: Course the dynamic changed a bit towards the end when things weren't going so well and they got into doing stuff like symbolic conflicts just to get more sacrifices lined up.
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