Long after the Shadowlands War finally ended, and the Edicts of Non-Interference were written, Basil Kirby was selected to join the Ritual Cult for the 13th Ritual. Basil was on Giovanni's team, representing his home region of the Battlefield, wielding a mighty strength that was unparalleled, which triggered when he held onto his sword. The Ritual was proceeding as planned, with the largest number of survivors making it to the Ritual Site, but most of the world was oblivious to the tensions rising in the Vampire City of Cruor. As Ritual XIII fell on an important anniversary of the Shadowlands War, Regal Supremacists, trying to restore the "noble" vampiric blood, had been committing a number of acts of terror against the people of the Shadowlands in the hopes of re-igniting the war. Eventually, their attacks reached their peak when they breached the Ritual Site, resulting in all but five of the twenty four cultists being slaughtered, Basil being amongst the survivors. However, after concluding the Ritual and rejuvenating Animus, Balaur betrayed his companions, driven to madness at how he failed his fallen comerades, but was soon supressed by the four remaining survivors. He was imprisoned in Daemon's Cage, until he would be rehabilitated.

However, Basil soon sought to prove just how strong he was and broke out of the prison, being the only only to have done so without outside help and went back to the Battlefields to fight in a tournament to the death to reveal the real happenings of Ritual XIII, which had been largely kept quiet. Before facing his final opponent, Giovanni approached Basil, asking he turn away and not risk any more bloodshed, but Basil was adamant to speak the truth. In the final match, the identity of the champion facing Basil was revealed - Giovanni Magnus. Still refusing the back down, Basil threw everything he had at Giovanni, managing to nearly overpower the lycanthrope, but forgot a crucial Achilles' heel in his strength - Giovanni was the one who gave him that power and he could inhibit it at will. Defeated, Basil insisted on Giovanni killing him.

Unable to let such a proud warrior go, Giovanni resurrected Basil soon after, naming him Balaur the Feral, due to his beastly rage in combat. The final words of Basil Kirby still haunt Giovanni - "One way or another, the world will know the truth about Ritual XIII!" Certainly the truth about the deaths and the acts of terror were made public, but the truth about how the Ritual works are still concealed.