Chapter 801 Time-Skip (9) State of affairs
( Regus Aurelius, 12 years after the birth of Kremeth Junior )
Regus Aurelius arguably spent the worst 12 years of his life in Zandar after being dethroned in Ixtal.
He was a king in exile and the respect and adoration of his people that he once commanded had diminished significantly.
He lost his first son to the Dimensional War and his youngest son to Dracula, leaving only his second son by his side.
Although Felix Aurelius was talented and arguably the best suited child to take the throne after him, he was also the child that Regus was least close to.
Regus loved the first child, Marcus unconditionally. Despite all his flaws and shortcomings, Regus had intense feelings for that kid and the same could be said for Lucius who was the darling of the family.
Felix on the other hand, was somewhere in the middle.
He was the youngest child for only a couple of years and Regus never paid much attention to him after the birth of Lucius.
It was almost ironic, how they were the last two remaining descendants of the royal Aurelius lineage as Regus became genuinely worried about the future of his clan.
In the past 12 years, Dracula had launched terrorist attacks on several vampire planets, destroying them in full, however, his attacks strategically targeted the Aurelius hideouts and resulted in the mighty ruling clan coming down to its knees.
Apart from a few hundred thousand mortal fighters and a single tier6 god, Regus Aurelius was IT now for the Aurelius clan.
If Vega challenged him for the throne tomorrow, not only would the remaining Aurelius clan individuals be wiped out in a single day, but Regus would be a monarch without the support of his clan.
He was literally down on his knees and the only hope for him to redeem his glory and revive his clan was to kill Dracula.
If there was one positive for him in all this, it was that after being pushed to the brink, Regus's personal strength improved significantly in the past 12 years.
He did not focus on re-inventing his fighting style or learning new moves to increase his strength.
The only thing he focused on was perfecting his moveset, which saw him using all of his attacks at least once every single day until he mastered all of them!
Seeing Dracula activate ' Ixtal's Supremacy ' in a mere 4 seconds, really got under Regus's skin as he tirelessly worked day-in and day-out for 12 years to reach the same level of accomplishment in the attack.
Although he was not sure if it was enough or not, Regus knew that he was approaching his peak now-
With reaching ' Perfection ' in all his moveset being the last stop, Regus felt like he would be ready to face Dracula once more in a year or two.
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( The commoners of vampire society over the last 12 years )
The mentality of the commoners changed drastically in the past 12 years.
The worst fear of children, the blood sucking monster ' Dracula ' was terrorising the universe once more and this led to more and more individuals walking down a path of strength rather than pursuing intellectual excellence.
A markee shift could be seen in vampire culture, as lean and handsome vampires were no longer considered desirable for marriage and were replaced with bulky and muscular looking men.
With almost all clans introducing compulsory military service, the youth these days was much more disciplined and focused than it used to be during the free years.
Birth rate of children had exploded and there was an imminent migration crisis which saw vampires from relatively weaker clans migrating to stronger ones for Asylum.
The faith that the commoners had in the vampire society was slowly but surely eroding.
No longer did most believe that the lords and the king were working for their best interest and many began challenging the status quo.
Many individuals fled the vampire society all-together, seeking Asylum in welcoming monarchies such as the Hazelgroove Empire or the True Elites Kingdom in hopes of avoiding the war all-together, however, for those who remained, the ongoing war was like a sword hanging over their neck as they never knew which fateful day would be the last for their entire planet.
Crime was on the rise, corruption and insubordination in the government agencies ran rampant and the social ties between the various vampire clans deteriorated as everyone began putting their own selfish interests first.
The golden age of the vampire society slowly faded into the distant past being replaced by a grim present and a dark future.
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( Meanwhile Felix Aurelius )
Felix Aurelius could not have been more happy with how things were turning out to be, as in this environment of crisis where the traditional powers were crumpling, him and his red-umbrella organisation were thriving, becoming stronger than ever before.
With both his siblings dead, Felix was named crown prince by default and as a result his standing within the Red-umbrella group as well as within the Vampire society improved by leaps and bounds.
As more and more prominent individuals began visiting the Red-Umbrella establishments, Felix essentially began collecting dirt and blackmail material over these individuals and using it just like the Saint Maximus clan to gain leverage over their decisions.
Sometimes he would poison his customers and make them sign a system contract under the threat of death, while other times he would collect evidence of faithful husband's cheating on their wives to blackmail them to do his bidding.
Either way, his power and influence grew significantly in the past 12 years, so much so that he now had means to dispose off tier6 god's with a single command.
Now the only question that remained to be answered was how was the war going to conclue?
If somehow the modern vampires won, Felix now had the confidence to dethrone even his father in a forced coup, should he be significantly injured in the final battle.
If not, he had plans to expand the Red-Umbrella's network into other monarchies and slowly establish his base outside the chaotic vampire world.