As the survivors of the City of Angels' massacre were planning their post-disaster recovery plans, Demien Bloodthorne was in vampire-controlled territory, specifically the Ivory Desert, within Nocturnia.",
Nocturnia, one of the oldest cities in the entire Polaris Realm, was the stronghold of an alliance comprising the ten most powerful superior vampire clans, a city entirely enveloped by darkness.
From afar, Nocturnia could be mistaken for an ordinary human city, with its streets, lampposts, and even recreational and commercial zones. However, a closer inspection would reveal that the pervasive darkness extended beyond its inhabitants.
The buildings were shades of black or very dark colors. The air was heavy with the scent of iron, and the local vegetation included carnivorous plants that posed a threat to the unwary.
The city's gothic architecture perfectly complemented the aura of death that permeated the area, and instead of the common pigeons found in human cities, bats fluttered about.
Even during what should have been daylight hours, Nocturnia remained shrouded in gloom, perpetually overcast and blanketed in darkness, with two periods of reduced light: one at night and a dimmer twilight during the day.
The city consisted of 19,000 inhabitants, including superior vampires (the minority), inferior vampires (the middle group), and monsters (the majority).
In the middle of the city, in the most majestic building, Demien Bloodthorne stood in front of the balcony of his office, a goblet of blood in his hand, looking out over his city with a smile on his face.
But he was not alone in this office, which was decorated with war trophies such as human heads, Magic Gems, weapons, and other items closely associated with some of the greatest enemies he had defeated on his journey so far.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})In one of the two armchairs, a light-skinned, balding man, very well dressed, sat in an orderly fashion, while a man with a bulky body, but also light-skinned, sat on the sofa in the middle of the office.
The man with the white beard and mustache asked. "Have you completed the first phase of our plans?"
These two men were the leaders of two of the three strongest vampire clans in the Ivory Desert!
Both were High-level Paragons, the strongest in the entire vampire domain, second only to Demien, the current supreme leader of the race.
Even though they weren't Archmages like the leader of the vampire coven, these two still had enough freedom to talk to Demien informally.
Demien smiled and said. "Yes, it's all done. Now let's let our men continue with the bloodbaths. If I go on any longer, we'll cut off all branches of the magicians' race. Let's wait an hour for some results before I act again."
"If you continue, we'll miss our chance and wipe out the magicians. That would be terrible for our plans," the man sitting closest to Demien agreed.
Their goal was not simply to dominate the continent, but to use the magicians' essence, their blood, to strengthen the strongest of the race and help create new Archmages. Not only that, they also wanted to raise their supreme leader to the level of a Magus!
"For now, we'll let ourselves enjoy the essences we've secured in these first months of the war," Demien turned and said. "The few remaining Paragons are the weaker ones who have fled, or even those who have recently advanced. By the time they try anything, we'll already be more powerful and have an enormous advantage."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Letting them get a little stronger and feed their magical essences for us is not a bad thing. With the few of them left, there's no danger to our plans." The vampire sitting on the sofa imagined the glorious future ahead.
"By the way, how are our forces coming along? When will we have the entire north under our control?" asked the man sitting next to Demien.
Demien muttered. "Another year. That's how long it will take for the surviving magicians to flee and for these lands to come under our control."
"What about the elves and dragons? What about their two tribes? Will they honor the non-aggression pact?" the Paragon, sitting on the sofa, asked.
Just as the Ivory Desert was an area of negative creatures in the continent's north, there was another area in that region that was dominated by creatures of the Light Path. The two dominant tribes in such a region were the Dragon Tribe and the Elf Tribe.
The Majestic Treefrog Grove was at the farthest point of the Ivory Desert in the northern region of the Polaris Realm. Light Path creatures dominated this area, especially two of the most powerful races in these lands, the dragons and the elves.
Dragons and elves weren't as terrible as vampires in terms of power, but they were even older tribes that knew the deepest secrets of the continent, with the strongest Archmages in those lands.
After The Purification, the only things that worried the vampires were elves and dragons.
For this very reason, Demien had made a non-aggression treaty with the two tribes 30,000 years ago, guaranteeing that neither their vampires nor the dragons and elves would invade each other's territories as long as their leaders lived.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})None of them had died after 30,000 years, so the agreement should still be in effect.
"Leave the dragons and the damned elves alone. Their domain is only 5% of the northern region. Whether they have that hell won't make the slightest difference to us. And as long as we keep our word, they'll keep their part of the bargain." Demien said as he finished his drink.
"But let's make sure that they are surrounded by our domains. That will prevent those two races from helping our enemies as long as their leaders are alive."
The two Paragons agreed, just before they saw Demien pick up the head of the former Temple Master of the Congregation of Revelations.
Demien crushed the brain of the Temple Master he had killed weeks ago.
He collected the brain fluid from the head and gave a few drops to the two Paragons before drinking a whole cup of the special liquid.
"I'm going into seclusion. I hope you two will take good care of our plans for the next six months." He left while the two made gestures of obedience.
...
While the vampires went about their plans and the survivors of the Congregation of Revelations were on the move, the continent faced an unprecedented crisis that no one had expected.
With the death of the Temple Master of the Congregation of Revelations, 90% of the Awakening Temples around the Polaris Realm had completely lost their conditions for awakening magical powers.
Paragons could activate the temples, but a Paragon could only activate the Awakening in a few temples at most. Thus, with the death of the Temple Master and many Paragons from the organization, less than 10% of the Awakening Temples were functioning.
Amid this, young people coming of age to awaken their powers missed the best time to begin their magical journeys!
