Chapter 6: Three thousand years ago.

"Three thousand years ago, vampires and humans lived together on earth. But vampires always win all wars with a power that surpasses a human's."

Clement's voice echoed in the wooden house lit by a small candle. Outside, the forest was dark, with the occasional sound of wild animals hunting and insects chirping.

"Vampires are extremely warlike and slaying; they treat humans as food, sucking human blood when thirsty or killing when they want to amuse themselves."

Uri blurts out: "Vampires are warlike and love to kill? Dad said I'm a vampire, so why have I never thought about killing people?"

Clement patted Uri's arm. "Listen to the story three thousand years ago, and you will know."

Uri silently listened to Clement's story.

"Faced with extinction, mankind was forced to perform a sacrifice to ask for salvation from the god of Genesis."

"A sacrificial ritual? I have never read this in the history books of humanity?" Uri said.

"Because this sacrificial ritual was so scary, it became an undisclosed secret," Clement replied. "I used to be a member of the Red Leaves organization, so I have access to these secrets."

"Is that sacrifice terrible?" Uri asked curiously.

Clement sighed, his face turning sad. "Yes, it was terrible. But they had to resort to that sacrifice to save humanity from destruction."

Uri's hand was wet with sweat. If the story Clement told was true, vampires were once too scary.

Clement continued. "To perform this sacrificial ceremony, humans had to trade many things. Life, soul, and even a poisonous oath."

...

A crowd stood inside the ring of light on the vast square in the middle of the ruined city. Amid this crowd, an older man with a small body in a white robe raised a torch high into the night sky, shouting:

"The sacrificial ceremony is about to begin. Are you all ready?"

The cries rang out from the people around him; it was the cry of women holding their small children in their arms.

"If we don't perform this sacrificial ritual, humanity will be wiped out by vampires. You sacrifice your children to save humanity; consider this an honor." The celebrant said. 

"Please let us die for the children; we will sacrifice ourselves." The woman with ragged clothes and swollen red eyes from crying begged and begged. "They are too young to understand what is going on. Could you please find another way?"

"The sacrificial ritual requires a thousand children, not adults. After the sacrifice, the children will become angels who served at the side of Genesis. Don't be too sad; let them become angels to save humanity." The celebrant, holding the torch higher than the torch, spoke loudly.

Around the celebrant, men wear white sacrificial robes, raise torches high towards the dark sky, and admonish women holding children.

"Let the angels save humanity. Without this ritual sacrifice, we wouldn't be able to survive even one person."

Suffering women still hold their children tightly in their arms, crying bitterly. They knew it was the right thing to do, but they didn't want the sacrifice to be their child.

The celebrant looked impatiently out of the circle of light surrounding the crowd. Outside, a few vampires had begun to look at them with bloodshot eyes.

"Hurry up; our magic power is limited; it's impossible to stop vampires outside the magic light. If we don't perform the sacrifice ritual, after the vampires neutralize our magic power, we will all die."

The people inside the magic circle heard the celebrant speak and followed his gaze. They were scared when they saw vampires appearing more and more. The vampires raised their claws and charged into the magic light to kill the people inside.

The magic of the Sun God formed the magic circle, so when the vampires touched the ring, they were extremely painful, like being burned by sunlight.

The crowd inside the magic circle of light trembled with fear; they tried to stand as close as possible to the people in white robes to seek protection.

The celebrant could no longer keep his composure. He knew the magic circle of light couldn't last long because, to cast this spell, he and the robed mages standing around him had used all their magic power. When the circle of light loses its effect, all magicians wearing sacrificial robes will also die. But to save humanity, they were forced to sacrifice their own lives and the lives of a thousand children.

Out of the magic circle now appeared a man in a black robe embroidered with glittering gold thread, and on his head was a crown of golden eagle studded with glowing jewels. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, smirking at the squalid swarm of people cowering around the group of people in sacrificial robes.

"You're too reckless." He sneered at the celebrant. "Marius, do you think your sacrificial ritual will succeed?"

The celebrant's face had turned pale since the vampire king appeared. He shouted to the men standing guard around the circle of magical light.

"Bring the kids here. If we don't hurry, we can't resist the power of the Vampire King."

The men had lost their temper; they had no way back. They rushed forward, snatched the children from their mother's hands, and placed them around the celebrant.

The women rushed to take the children back, but they could not get past the barrier of white-robed magicians standing outside the children. Besides them, fathers also watched in pain as their children were carried away for sacrifice. But they could not do otherwise because humanity would perish without performing this sacrificial ritual.

In a short time, a thousand children were seated around the celebrant. Outside the magic circle of light, the Vampire King pulled out a black sword and slashed at the magic circle with all his might, roaring like a tiger.

"Attack them, don't let the lowly humans perform this sacrificial ritual."

The vampires immediately attacked the magic circle from all directions. Marius gestured to the magicians standing in a circle outside the children. All of them raised their torches and shouted in unison:

"Genesis, we have a request. Please accept these angels!"

When they chanted for the ninth time, a bright light appeared in the night sky, shining down on the celebrant and the children around him.

The Vampire King saw this and was very angry; he ordered the vampires to attack continuously into the magic light. He couldn't let the lowly humans successfully summon that powerful god.

"I am pleased with these angels. What request do you have?"

A voice resounded like thunder from the sky, and at the same time, an invisible force emanating from the light flung the vampires away from the magic circle.

The crowd of people in the magic circle quickly fell to their knees. The celebrant was the only one who dared to raise his face to look directly into the light, imploring:

"O God of Creation. Vampires are too strong; humanity is about to perish because of their killing. We ask you to save us from this misery."

"I have seen all the suffering that humanity has to endure. Nature needs balance; I will return your entire earth if you accept my condition." The voice resounded from the sky.

Outside the magic circle of light, the Vampire King angrily looked up at the sky, roaring:

"God of Creator, get out of here. We don't need you to interfere in earth's affairs."

There was no answer from Genesis. Amid the crowd, Marius clasped his hands in front of his chest, eyes raised.

"As long as the Genesis god saves mankind, we will accept any condition."

"I will save humanity from being killed by vampires, but from now on, humans will inherit the warlike spirit of vampires. Humans will eliminate their kind to create balance for the earth, and you are responsible for protecting other species. Do you accept the trade-off?" The roaring voice spread across the sky.

"Yes, Genesis." Marius quickly replied, without thinking much; he understood that if he accepted that condition, humans still had a chance to survive.

"Make a poison oath to me. I want to see your sincerity."

The emotionless voice came down from the sky like a knife piercing the hearts of those present in the magic light. Now they are like little ants. On the one hand, vampires are willing to kill them like animals; on the other hand, the God of Genesis forces them to give up their children, and they must accept a poisonous oath.

If humans were to eliminate their fellow humans by themselves, they would be like other animals in nature. But that would be better than dying in the clutches of vampires.