2 men were crouching deep in the thick forest that bordered the Forest of Pangaea, home of the Sylphs. They, as part of the elite Nirvanian Intelligence squad, the Crimson Sentinels, already knew the existence of the remnant Sylph Kingdom and even mapped out its territories to the finest detail.

They had not taken action simply because the peace afforded by the status quo was desirable. However, all this was about to change. The 2 men noticed huge movement of Sylph troops approaching their current location using their vastly superior eyes. After all, if one were to take a closer look at them, one would realise that they were not human.

Instead, they were vampires with pale white skin and some had fangs so long they couldn't conceal them even with their lips closed. As vampires, this meant that they were most suited for night operations, since they felt weak under direct sunlight. In addition, though vampires had little to no affinity for magic due to their natural lack of mana, they had vastly superior physical abilities and senses, which made them fine warriors.

In fact, their natural lack of mana explains why they are such useful spies against the Sylphs, since they could not be detected by their sophisticated mana detection devices as their mana supply was simply too insignificant. Sadly, this lack of mana is also the reason why vampires are compelled to suck blood from other living things as they needed the mana found within those blood to sustain themselves.

Only the high vampires, with their larger mana pools, could avoid feeling this hunger for blood, though they still must feed occasionally. Humans and other magic-using beings were the best food for vampires, but those under the Crimson Sentinels and their leader, Baron Marcus, know that other alternatives had to be sought instead to maintain their peace and livelihood.

After centuries of persecution by the 4 major races, it was the painstaking effort of Baron Marcus, the head of the Bluten Household, that secured a peace treaty with Nirvania. In return for not hunting innocent humans, Nirvania had accepted all vampires under Baron Marcus as its citizens, according them the same rights as other citizens in Nirvania.

In addition, Baron Marcus was given an entire plot to rule over, where his vampires could live peacefully without their fear of persecution. In return for such kindness, Baron Marcus volunteered his services to the Nirvanian Army, establishing the Crimson Sentinels.

Back to the present, the 2 vampires continued to observe the advance of the Sylph Army from a safe distance. One of them whispered quietly, "This isn't good…from the reports of our comrades, the Miran Army is moving against us as well. Don't you think this is too much of a coincidence, Dan? Fancy having 2 huge armies attack us simultaneously, we must warn Baron Marcus immediately!"

The vampire named Dan replied stoically, "I admit that I feel that something is amiss. However, we've yet to collect enough conclusive evidence to tell us the true cause of all this. For now, we'll first get back to safety and report our current situation to Baron Marcus as you've proposed. Let's go!" The 2 vampires then disappeared in a blur, rushing back to safety within the Nirvanian border.

Baron Marcus von Bluten was sitting at his work desk, sifting through intelligence reports as well as administrative documents. He sighed. It wasn't easy to manage a city on top of being the head of an Intelligence unit of the Nirvanian Army at the same time. Fortunately, he had several good aides, including his wife, to help get things running on the ground.

He was especially grateful to his wife, Janna, for helping him out with the management of the town whenever he was away for missions or meetings with the Nirvanian Army. Janna was his special one after all, having been a human mage before willingly converting into a vampire for his sake.

Vampires were created either by birth or through the blood of a high vampire with his permission. Thanks to the peace treaty signed between him and the current King of Nirvania, the city he was currently managing had both humans and vampires residing together harmoniously. Some humans chose to remain as humans but many willingly converted to be with their loved ones.

The converted vampires didn't have as much problems when it comes to feeding due to their natural larger supply of mana as compared to the pure-bred vampires. However, they didn't gain as much in terms of physical capabilities, though they compensated for this with their greater tolerance of sunlight. Nonetheless, all vampires had far longer lifespan, explaining the rationale of humans who chose to convert.

Marcus was reading through a report detailing Miran's recent military movement when he noticed words surfacing on an empty slate. When the writing stopped, Marcus picked up the slate. It was another intelligence report, but this was marked "Urgent".

Marcus quickly skimped through the report, as his eyes widened upon reading the information presented. The Sylph Kingdom was also mobilising its army towards the border? This was indeed a double whammy. No wonder Miran had the audacity to move so many troops to its eastern border, they must had known some way or another that their chances of victory had increased with the inclusion of Sylph forces.

However, it was still unclear at this point of time if the two were formal allies, or simply shared the same goal of destroying Nirvania. Not that it mattered now, an immediate meeting had to be convened. This was not going to be any ordinary intelligence meeting where he would brief the senior military officers and General Hargreaves, Chief General of the Nirvanian Army. Instead, it would be a meeting chaired by the King himself, with General Hargreaves and the members of the 10 Saints present.

As a Saint himself, Baron Marcus started preparing the things he required for the trip to the capital. He silently swore that nobody would disturb the peace of Nirvania or his city, or else the Blood Baron would make blood rain down, the blood of his enemies.