TRINITY BLOOD

Plot
When Earth‘s population drastically increased, humanity, led by the United Nations, attempted to colonize Mars. During the colonization, they discovered two alien technologies: the Bacillus virus and the Crusnik nanomachines. The colonists injected the Bacillus in their bodies which transformed them into “Methuselahs.” They installed the Crusnik in the bodies of four test tube babies: Seth, Cain, Abel and Lilith whose enhanced bodies were the only ones able to survive the procedure.
Continuing wars on Earth eventually led to “Armageddon,” the apocalyptic event that happened 900 years before the start of the story, and the colonists returned to Earth to help with rebuilding. However, when the colonists returned to Earth, a war broke out between the Methuselahs and the humans who had remained on Earth. Abel, Cain, and Seth took the Methuselah’s side—while Lilith supported the Vatican, which guarded humanity. During the war, Cain went insane and killed Lilith. In grief, Abel took her body to the Vatican where she was buried. Abel remained at her side, weeping for her, for 900 years.
At the start of the story, the vampiric Methuselahs, still a major political and military force, continue to wage war on the “Terrans,” as they call the human inhabitants of Earth. The Roman Catholic Church is a major military power determined to protect humans from the Methuselahs, with its seat of power based in the Vatican. The Methuselahs have their capital in Byzantium, which is surrounded by a field of particles to filter out UV radiation, protecting the Methuselah population.
Both groups use “lost technologies,” such as airships, missiles, and computers, to engage in a cold war with one another. A third great power, Albion also plays a role in the war with its superior arsenal of lost technology and weapons and higher level of manufacturing ability versus the Vatican. The independent monarchy of Albion is a primarily human country, however the secret of their expertise in lost technology is found in the Ghetto, an underground city of enslaved Methuselah. It is these Methuselah who operate and manufacture the lost technology, but with the death of the Albion Queen, some of the enslaved vampires begin a

Abel Nightroad
Voiced by: Hiroki Tōchi (Japanese), Troy Baker (English)
On the surface, Abel appears to be a clumsy, absent-minded and very compassionate Catholic priest who has bad luck with money and is always hungry. In reality, he is a Crusnik, a vampire with extraordinary powers that feed especially on other vampires. Nearly a millennium in age, Abel was created in 2088 A.D. as one of four test tube babies whose bodies were infused with Crusnik nanomachines by the Mars human colonists. Abel once had a hatred for humanity and joined the Methuselah in the war against humans after the Armageddon. This predjudice was presumably the result of an unexplained betrayal that was mentioned by a holo-recording of Lilith. During the war between the humans and Methuselah, Abel Nightroad killed seven million humans. Lilith’s murder by Cain caused him to abandon the war. He spent 900 years weeping and mourning in Lilith’s crypt at the Vatican, until a young Caterina Sforza fled there to escape Methuselah assassins. Abel, deciding then that it was his task to continue Lilith’s work and defend the humans, saved the young Caterina and chose to live on. He joined the AX at its foundation in May 3055 A.D. He is described as looking around 20 years old in the manga, and has long silver hair and blue eyes.
In penance for his earlier sins, Abel now adheres to a strict principle of pacifism and has taken a vow not to kill unless he absolutely must (anime only). Though accepting of his Crusnik form, he will generally only use it as a very last resort. After meeting Esther, he is reluctant to use his Crusnik form in a battle for fear of her seeing it and frightening her,^[9] and after she does see it for the first time, Abel is extremely distraught. Later he tells her it is the mark of his sins.^[10] Notably, in regards to Esther, in the novels and manga, Abel first reveals his Crusnik form during the Star of Sorrow arc, not long after he meets her,^[11] and, in the manga, part of her reasons for joining AX is to find out more about Abel (also in the novels and manga, he is nowhere near as distraught for showing her as in the anime). Nightroad is not 100% accurate for the anime> He seems to be oblivious to Esther’s romantic feelings for him. Asthe seems to have noticed, though, and calls him a dunce for not being bothered by Ion’s affections for Esther.^[12] While he mostly responds to her with fatherly affection, when he thought she had been killed, he lost control of himself and went into Crusnik form, seeming to delight in killing the Methuselah Radu who he thought had killed Esther. It is Esther that helps him return to normal.^[10] In the manga, this romantic interest by Esther is absent and the father/daughter relationship is more prominent. In the manga, he is also much less disturbed by killing.
Abel eventually learns from Seth that Lilith’s killer and his brother, Cain, is still alive and swears to find and kill him, once and for all.^[13] After Abel finds and confronts him, Cain defeats Abel and sends him into a near death state.^[14] While Esther mourns at Abel’s grave, Cardinal Caterina retrieves the nanomachines from Lilith’s body and sends Father Tres to take them to Abel in order to revive him.^[15] Tres delivers them to Abel’s grave, both reviving him and allowing him to achieve 100% Crusnik fusion without the insanity that manifested in Cain. Immediately afterwards, Cain arrives and Abel battles him again, but the fight ends in a draw and Abel must continue his quest to destroy his brother, now joined by Ion Fortuna.^[16]
In his human form, Abel fights with an inordinately large and powerful revolver loaded with silver bullets. In this form, he also possesses strength and speed that is as superior to a Methuselah’s as a Methuselah’s is to a normal human. He also appears to have a limited regenerative ability and a great deal of physical stamina, enough to be run through or shot several times and continue fighting. With 40% of his Crusnik nanomachines activated, his eyes become red, his lips turn dark blue, his nails turn into claws, his teeth become fangs, and he can make a gigantic red scythe composed of crystallized blood materialize in his hands.^[17][18] This form also sees a marked increase in strength and speed from his human form, and an enhanced regenerative ability which enables him to heal injuries such as stab wounds instantly. At 80% activation, he grows black wings and he can generate massive amounts of electricity. His speed and strength are again increased, and his regenerative abilities and stamina receive such a drastic upgrade such that he can lose half his torso, including his heart, without any detrimental effects and regenerate it all seconds later. He can only achieve this form, or higher, if he has fed on a vampire, otherwise there is a risk the nanomachines will refuse the command and cause him to collapse.^[13] At 100% activation, he turns into a humanoid creature with dark skin, black bat-like wings, and blue markings that cover his entire body. He also generates more electricity than his 80% form and a second blade forms on the other end of his blood scythe. While in Crusnik form, the blood of Methuselah is drawn to him and goes directly into his body without using his fangs. In the manga it is revealed that the nanomachines also have the ability to activate themselves in situations where Abel is injured. Twice the nanomachines activate themselves; the first occasion is a considerable length of time after Abel is badly wounded during his initial fight with Brother Petros. When this occurs, Abel goes off by himself in an attempt to suppress the activation; only tell-tale signs of the transformation are seen in this case (his eyes begin to change) before he succeeds. The second time is during his second encounter with Pedros. This time, Petros compounds Abel’s earlier injury with another, and Abel loses consciousness. The nanomachines respond by activating to 80% and regenerating his wounds, as well as driving him into a maniacal bloodlust. In addition, the nanomachines appear to have at least some level of intelligence; Abel refers to himself as “we” during his aforementioned bloodlust, reverting back to the singular “I” only after snapping out of his rampage (manga only).
(In the novels he vows never to fuse 100%, because it sent Cain into insanity. Also, Cain takes the nanomachines of Lilith, so Abel cannot be revived using her nanomachines. Crusniks are literally immortal, but it takes long for their bodies to fully repair when their heads are severed. If, in that injured state, their nanomachines are taken, they cannot regenerate. In the manga, his scythe has a blade on both ends no matter what percentage of nanomachines he has active)

Cain Nightroad
Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (Japanese), Mike McFarland (English)
The oldest of the Test Tube Babies, Cain is often seen as Abel’s elder twin. He was once the gentle, beloved leader of the Mars Colonization Project, until an accident killed him. Seth injected him with the Crusnik nanonmachines which saved his life, but also drove him insane. In the war following the return of the colonialists to Earth, he and Abel took the side of the vampire returners. When Lilith’s influence made Abel question their choice, Cain killed her. Furious, Abel and Seth confronted their brother, pushing Cain out of the space ship and into the atmosphere. His body burned into a pile of ash. Cain was able to regenerate his body from the ash; however, he sometimes has difficulty holding his makeshift body together.^[14]
Nine hundred years later, he met Isaak Fernand von Kämpfer. Together, they took over the Rosenkreuz Orden, a small, insignificant organization in Berlin that consisted of enemies of the Vatican. Through Cain and Isaak’s charisma and power, the Orden grew into the world’s leading terrorist organization. Cain’s motivations are unclear, but he seems bent on the destroying humanity and the world. His subjects refer to him as “Mein Herr” which is German for “My Lord.” He is also referred to as “Mein Herr Contra Mundi”, German for “My Lord Against the World”. His most popular title, however, appears to be Contra Mundi. His overall attitude in the anime is one of aloof disconcern.
Once his brother Abel learns Cain is alive, Abel’s primary goal becomes to kill Cain once and for all. When Cain leads the Rosenkreuz Orden on an attack of Albion, the two brothers have their first clash and Cain kills Abel with relative ease due to his higher Crusnik fusion level and Esther’s sudden appearance, that distracted Abel.^[14] Realizing Abel had destroyed the control panels of the rocket, he plans to merge himself with Abel’s body to get the access codes from Abel’s memory.^[15] However, Abel is revived with Lilith’s nanomachines thanks to Caterina and Tres. This puts Abel at the same power level as Cain and their next clash ends in a draw. Accompanied by Ion Fortuna, Abel has pledged to hunt Cain for eternity, if need be, until he is destroyed.^[16] In the probably never to be finished manga, Cain has a seemingly random encounter with Esther while she is having an uncomfortable and undesired meeting with a reporter in London. During this encounter, she mistakes him for Abel at first due to their similarities in appearance and manner, though he is dressed in a white suit and a white top hat. He follows her around for some time while she attempts to make her way back to the Royal Palace, all the while acting in an even more frivolous and goofy manner than Abel. Finally, Esther runs into Isaak, posing as Mr. Butler, who tells her that he happens to be looking for someone. This someone is revealed to be Cain who, after listening to Esther telling Issak that she is lost, insists on driving her back to the Palace. When Esther asks him for his name, he tells her that it is Cain. The situation resolves itself without any incident, with Cain delivering Esther to the Palace safe and sound and then going on his way. In the manga, Cain seems to be very concerned with Abel’s well being for some reason; he shows great happiness when told by Isaak that Abel is well after his confrontation with Dietrich in the Byzantium nuclear launch facility, and during said confrontation, Dietrich mentions that “a certain someone” would be furious if he was to kill Abel. Why Cain shows this concern is not known.
When his Crusnik powers are activated, Cain’s lips and eyes turn red, his hands grow blue claws, he grows six white wings, and a black lance materializes in his hands. In this state, he can generate destructive red energy. When not in Crusnik form, he appears to have the power to launch a destructive and invisible force from his hands and to possess superhuman strength. Among the four Crusniks, Cain is the only one who has fused 100% with his nanomachines in the novels, however in the anime Abel also achieves 100% fusion, without the insanity, after being infused with Lilith’s nanomachines.^[16]

Augusta Vradica (Seth Nightroad)
Voiced by: Yuki Matsuoka (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English)
Augusta Vradica is the Empress of the New Human Empire. Her real name is Seth Nightroad. She is the youngest of the siblings, and the third Crusnik. A member of the Alliance Aerospace Navy, Seth viewed Lilith as a mother figure and holds Abel in great sisterly affection. When Cain was fatally wounded in an accident, she injected him with 100% Crusnik, restoring his life, but changing him for the worse. After he killed Lilith during the war, Seth joined Abel in confronting him and was the one directly responsible for shooting him out of an airlock.^[16] As a child, she seemed to have an aversion to Cain for some reason, taking Abel’s side during an unexplained argument of theirs and going so far as to shrink somewhat into Lilith in fear when Cain later appeared.
Among the four Crusnik siblings, she has spent the most time with Methuselah, but unlike Abel, she does not feed on them.^[13] Around 800 years ago, Augusta Vradica led the Methuselah to the lands where the Empire would eventually stand, to save them from persecution. She helped restore nature back to the lands, returning them to their former glory before the Armageddon. She then became the Empress of the New Human Empire, ruling over her kingdom as the heart of the Empire itself. As the Empress, Seth is seen as a mother by her people, and treats her subjects as she would her own children.^[13] However, most of her courtiers and servants have never seen her before in all the centuries that they have served her, mainly due to the heavy veils she wears to cover her appearance as well as the use of a voice modifier. Though she does age, she still appears as a little girl, but is well over nine hundred years old.^[13] It is implied that she does not wish to declare war on the Vatican territories due to her Abel’s desire for peace; sideways comments by her have indicated that she has very little faith that a lasting peace is possible. As his sister, she knows Abel very well, and has commented that he is quite popular with the girls for some unknown reason.^[4] Her appearance differs between the manga and anime; she looks like a girl of eight or nine years old in the anime, and in the manga she claims to be 13 while in disguise and looks somewhat older that that. In both versions she has green eyes, short black hair, and is very small in stature.
During a plot to overthrow her, Seth disguised herself as a tea-seller and a medical student in the human district of the capital city, Byzantium. During that time, she met Ion Fortuna and Sister Esther Blanchett, though neither knew who she was. She later alerted Abel and Asthe when Ion and Esther were in danger, and saved Esther from one of Dietrich’s puppets.^[29]
When her Crusnik powers are activated at 40%, Seth’s eyes turn red, her lips turn greenish-blue, her voice becomes deeper, and a pair of giant tuning forks made of blood materialize in each of her hands. At what was presumably a tell-tale 80% activation, fairy-styled wings grow from her back in addition to her other traits. In this state, she can almost instantly disintegrate her enemies, turning them into a salt-like substance. Her power is be based on a manipulation of ultrasonic sound waves which she calls “The Fire of Sound”.^[13] She has been shown to have a fondness for random odd jobs; the first time Süleyman saw her she was selling flowers, Esther and Ion meet her as a tea seller, and in one of the omakes Abel runs into her several times doing differet jobs including bagging groceries, selling tissues, and working as a waitress. Also, she likes the color green so much that, as the Empress, it is the “Imperial” color and only objects associated with her may display it prominently. In the manga, she also owns a small white squirrel named Abel which is seen accompanying her almost everywhere.