General Xirila watched the scene protected by her newly specially designed Thisthum armour both in shock at the level of destruction being brought upon Nok the border town of the Thonis empire and in awe at the level of coordination and determination by the vampire soldiers tearing apart the human city in a kingdom that was supposed to be an entirely human friendly environment. Everyone; children and adults alike were being slaughtered by this vampires and homes were bring razed to the ground without care for who was in there

"Watch out." that was all the warning she got before a bulky vampire twice her size even with her armor barreled into her and sent her flying a few feets away. She was lucky to be in her armor as it absorbed 90% of the impact of the fall, otherwise she'd have been rendered useless on the spot still she felt like she had been hit by a mini truck from the unnatural strength of the vampire.

She only had time to dodge as the same vampire came at her on the ground again all fangs and claws without a care.

"guns" she said to her AI which activated the laser gun built into her armor and she began to fire at the vampire as she took steps backwards but the vampire was always going to be faster against her human speed no matter how much she fast she tried to shoot. The vampire kept running in circles around her and she kept firing everywhere she could see flashes of him considering his speed, it was too late when she discovered what he was trying to do was create an opening and when she tried to rectify that she found herself face to face with the grinning vampire again as he tore through her armor and ripped her throat to shreds.

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The command center in Catala the capital city of the Thonis empire was buzzing with activity after the unexpected attack on the supposedly secured border town by the vampires from their neighbouring kingdom with which they had no issues whatsoever with prior to the attack

"General Kedu, welcome to command center." The Major at the command center greeted the new general who came to replace the previous general Xirila

"Thank you, this is certainly different from the barracks."

The major smiled "It certainly is, the others are waiting behind the door."

The general nodded and walked behind the major as he led the way into the meeting room of the command center where five other top command officers were waiting.

"Gentlemen, this is General Kedu and he'll be replacing General Xirila." There were grunts and nods of acknowledgements from the officers present.

"Tell me what you've got." The General spoke as he took his seat at the head of the table

"The vampires used magic, they scaled the mountains by teleporting we think, ..."

"You're not sure?" General Kedu asked with a frown on his face

"We're still investigating but it's the only plausible possibility that we have."

"What's your name?"General Kedu asked him

"I'm Major Renato sir."

"Major Renato, all I need is something that you're sure of"

"I apologize sir." He bowed his head "Death toll was put at over 300,000 with a little over 200,000 injured and receiving treatment all including the soldiers and the guards"

"I'm going to cut this meeting short if there's nothing new you have to tell me other than death figures which we already know." General Kedu looked around the room at the nervous looking soldiers staring back at him, he shook his head and took his leave of the room.

General Kedu walked out of the command center unsure of what to think exactly of the attack by the vampires, he felt this attack could put a strain on his carefully crafted identity which he had put a lot of effort into creating while also rising in the ranks of the human soldiers. He stepped into a corner alley, looked around the alley while straining his ears for sound of movements too and after being satisfied with his check and knowing no one was looking, he tapped the ring on his index finger thrice and mumbled the words to activate the portal "activate portal" and his powers pulsed with purple energy as the portal was activated and he took one more look around his surrounding before stepping into the portal and into a bar that was almost empty except for the bartender and a man in a hoodie at the other end of the bar.

"I thought you weren't coming anymore." The man said as soon as General Kedu took a step towards him.

"I was occupied." the general answered as he went to take a seat opposite the man whose face was hidden behind his mask and hoodie.

"You know why you're a soldier, general."

"I haven't forgotten." he answered with a frown on his face

"There's no need for anger."

General Kedu studied the figure he had yet to put a face to but he could bet that he was smiling under all his disguise and that pissed him off a lot but there was nothing he could do about it- for now

*Why was there an attack on the Nok?" the general asked the man

His question was ignored as he expected and he wanted to reach out and strangle him but he just sat and waited for the man to speak

"Your powers is a rarity, it helps prevent the humans from sniffing out who you are and that makes you useful to us, so think twice before thinking of hurting me."

The general sometimes wondered if the man Infront of him was a vampire or just a magician or if he had other powers but there was no way of finding out or any sign of him being either of the two except for the occasionally periods where he thought he was a mind reader.

"I understand that." he answered

"We need the humans weapons, their technology is advanced beyond what we have been prepared for." the man sighed "They have discovered a new element named Thistle, one of our soldiers on the field neutralized a woman wearing an armor from the element."

General Kedu was surprised, as a high ranking member of the army he was supposed to have access to such information and this came as a surprise to him and only very few things surprised him these days "I've never heard of it."

"I know that." the man answered "That's your new mission, find out everything you can about this new project and we rendezvous when you have enough information."

The man stood up, buttoned his jacket and turned to leave when General Kedu asked a question he had always asked every time they had a meeting "What's your name?"

The man paused at the doorstep and without looking back said "Tal." before he walked out.

The surprised general sat at his seat and watched Tal get into his fully tinted self drive car and he was driven away from the bar and he wondered what on earth was going on exactly or rather what war exactly he had gotten himself into exactly.