The Systems of Power

The main reason why humans have been able to stand toe-to-toe with vampires to some extent is that they thoroughly researched these predators and constructed an artificial system to mimic the power that they possessed.

The researchers of the ancient Lunar Frask tribe made constructs that burned up the blood of vampires as fuel and fired up magic spells. It was an artificial method, but after years of trial and error, it functioned great nonetheless.

Those metallic constructs were shaped like cubes with wings on either side. When the blood of the vampires was inserted into the cube from any side, it lit up a colorful radiance and channeled the power of the spell it was made to cast. The idea of those magic spells was taken from the natural elven magic spells. It was certainly a unique creation.

Even more wonderful than those metallic creations that helped us harness the power of magic was the formation of mysterious 'totems'.

This was a considerably more dangerous method. So much that the 99 out of 100 humans they conducted the experiments on died a horrible death.

But it was only due to the miserable sacrifice of those 99 that one finally succeeded and that little success propounded an idea that lit the souls of those researchers in a crazed frenzy.

Finally, after a long long time, for the first time in written history, humans had learned to stand toe-to-toe with the mightiest species of the continent. And it was done amazingly by harnessing the power of those seemingly superior creatures.

These totems were carved over the veins of the arms, legs, heart, and forehead, pierced deep with a syringe in a particular alignment.

Again, to find that unique alignment that worked, thousands didn't work, and therefore thousands more dead bodies were piled up.

On the piles of those dead bodies stood an experimental subject who had finally been successful.

It wasn't a complete success as there were still numerous faults with the design and limit of power that he could use but it was still a huge breakthrough.

After that, a lot more experiments happened in the dark and eventually, more successful creations came.

Although the value of human life back then was considerably lesser than what it is in today's time, for all the experiments of the Lunar Frask tribe to have gone well, their crimes against humanity can never be discounted.

Yet, despite it being an open secret that any man of reason can easily figure out, who in their right mind would have the gall to denounce the 'noble saints' and 'kind ancestors' of the Lunar Frask tribe.

Anyway, in those totems that were carved deep into the bodies of those successful experiments, the blood of the vampires, along with their power ran amok.

It took a lot of burden on their hearts and psyche to be able to bear with that pressure and fight against the ensuing madness and ravings but the power they received in exchange gave new hope to the degraded and humiliated human ancestors.

The power that those totems could display also depended on the vampire whose blood was extracted to fuel that totem. Since the totems only excavated the dormant potential of the humanoid body and increased perception, the infusion of vampire blood was a very important process because the final limit of power that one could utilize with those totems also depended upon the purity and strength of the vampire.

When the Lunar Frask tribe fell and its leader died, humanity lost a lot of power but they gained a lot more, something beyond the material or physical gains.

They gained a heart to rebel, they gained the pride that they never had, they shed tears in excitement and joy, their bodies shivered in expectation of a brighter future, and… they gained the blood of the Archduke that fought that leader of the Lunar Frask tribe.

It was a very minute amount, something that fell from a minor wound, only a few drops, at least the amount that the remnant saints of the tribe could preserve was only this much.

But even after a thousand years, no blood of the higher quality has been acquired. It gave rise to around 10 champions of the human race, 7 of which are the Emperors of the seven mighty Kingdoms, and the other 3 are the Saints who were the earliest champions, people who were responsible for the cultivation of these Emperors and their trusted subordinates and ministers.

The lifespan of the people with the Archduke blood totems also received an enormous boost.

Usually, a vampire King has the longest lifespan of a vampire, something around 10,000 years. A vampire Archduke might only have half of that but it was still longer than the recorded history of us humans by 5 times!

Therefore, for the Emperors and Saints that received a fraction of that lifespan and had their body and blood enhanced, they still appeared to be like 50-60-year-old men even after living for a thousand years.

Of course, one must not forget the shady and downright evil path we had to take to acquire this power.

Even the so-called greatest champions of the human race face the corresponding side-effects of acquiring that power. According to some urban myths that I became familiar with later in my travels, the ravings of the souls that died to form those successful totems could be heard so clearly by their users as if a person was whispering in their ears.

Anyway, after the achievement of the Lunar Frask tribe, the humans were invigorated. Those that were oppressed the most went into a frenzy and were disposed of by their masters pretty quickly.

After that, the massacre came, and tons of humans were slaughtered in the maddening rage of the Wilcrux Kingdom but it wasn't as if humans were sitting ducks this time. They had acquired a means to transform their humiliation, fear, and hatred into a crazed rebellion

Secretly, the remnants of the tribe slaughtered a lot of those vampires and continued with their experiments in secret places.

Whether willingly or not, those sacrifices had to continue for the future of humanity and so they kept happening and the scale of development kept increasing as well.

Some of those 'centers of research' were able to remain hidden until the hybrid Vampire Counts, Marquises, and Dukes backed off but some of those hideouts were discovered.

The places that were discovered became battlegrounds for more battles between the smaller forces of humans and vampires. The secrets that those hybrids found sent chills down their spines and the massacre kept escalating until it had to be stopped.

The places that those battles occurred still retain a little bit of that crimson hue from the blood of both the humans and the vampires splattered around.

Moreover, nowadays, a lot of things have changed. With as little as a milliliter of vampire blood, the totems could begin to function normally, albeit with a power limit.

But up until now, humans have always been in dire need of the blood of stronger vampires to raise more champions.

And there was only one way, a path that reeked of bloodshed and destruction… to slaughter vampires like livestock for their blood.

Naturally, the arrogant vampires didn't accept this peacefully but they also didn't react as violently as the humans thought. Perhaps, vampires were finally becoming aware of the collateral damage they would have to face if they were to slaughter humans and this collateral damage was beginning to put a dent in their 'manpower'.

The battles, no, the skirmishes between the two forces never stopped, but there haven't been any big wars for a long time.

One such historical place, where a huge battle between the two forces was fought, was Crimson Lake. It was one of the most dangerous places that my father never failed to remind us to avoid.

According to the tales that I had heard from my neighbors and elders, Crimson Lake still reeked of blood, even after a gap of hundreds of years.