Chapter 358: You do hear him screaming my name, correct?

"What... happened to you?"

Aurelia asked as she continued staring at Lucian’s face, feeling his odd, heavy suppression.

"Long story."

Lucian chuckled softly.

Aurelia continued staring, Lucian’s smile then became much more meaningful.

"I’ll tell you when we have lots of time later tonight."

He then looked around, staring at the place they were in and—

"Preferably somewhere more comfortable."

Aurelia immediately understood the implication, she stared at him with this flat look on her face before she chuckled out loud.

"Get off me."

"See? Already making plans."

Aurelia kept staring at him.

"Lucian."

"Yes?"

"Get. Off."

"Right."

Lucian nodded. He could sense something about the way Aurelia replied was different from how the Vampire acted normally.

She was... far more stiff.

And Lucian knew the reason.

Aurelia was in an extremely weak state, the power, the self-confidence and the assurance she usually had were no longer there and that made her more defensive.

Lucian respected that, of course.

So he tried to move away, but just as he placed his palm on the ground to move, he paused.

"...uhh, actually."

Aurelia narrowed her eyes.

"What?"

"I need to do this carefully."

"What do you mean?"

The Vampire didn’t understand.

Lucian didn’t explain, he pushed himself up extremely, extremely slowly and even then—

Crack.

The floor beneath his palm cracked a little.

Aurelia’s eyes moved to the cracked floor, then they returned to him with a frown and Lucian—

He was already standing.

"Done."

He smiled proudly before he extended his hand towards her like the gentleman he was. Aurelia looked at him for a few seconds, then took his hand.

Lucian pulled carefully, but even him being careful was too much.

The Vampire practically flew toward him.

"Ackk!"

Lucian caught her again and this time, they fortunately did not fall. Aurelia, however, ended up in his arms, with her head resting on his chest.

Lucian looked down, Aurelia looked up, for a moment, no one said anything, Aurelia just glared at him and he...

"...I swear that was an accident."

Aurelia took a deep breath as she distanced herself, she still held his hand to make sure she didn’t fall.

She then looked at him and—

"What happened to you? Your control is atrocious."

"I know."

Lucian nodded.

He was still struggling with it as they spoke, his head was still being overwhelmed by all his senses.

"It’s a long story."

He sighed again.

Right now, however, it wasn’t time for any of this. He glanced at the woman standing in front of him up and down, then he asked the more important question as all the humour in his voice faded away.

"So, what in the hell is happening?"

Aurelia took a small breath, as if standing alone was taking most of her power.

"The Crimson Hearth."

She answered in an exhausted tone.

"What about it?"

"Neroth has control of it."

And Lucian—

"...what?"

He couldn’t believe it.

Aurelia’s face became grim.

"Varek’s Crimson Ascension began much faster than what was mentioned in Arcelis reports, the Arcelis weren’t prepared. They still managed to react in time and surrounded the chamber he was placed in, waiting for the result.

But in the middle of Varek’s Ascension, they noticed something.

Varek began... screaming at something or someone.

It was something about someone betraying him and how they planned to do it all along."

The moment Lucian heard those words, he instantly realised it.

"It was Neroth."

Aurelia revealed.

"He betrayed Varek and forcibly took over his body, reincarnating himself back into the world."

Lucian nodded at those words. Aurelia stared at him for a moment, then she narrowed her eyes.

"You don’t look surprised."

That made Lucian look at her.

Aurelia narrowed her eyes even further.

"Lucian."

She called out.

"Where is Neroth’s Heart?"

That question held far more meaning than one would normally understand. Lucian first talked to Varek, Varek told him to come here, he did. Then Lucian insisted on doing what Varek said despite how bogus it sounded.

It worked, Lucian managed to find something no one was able to in centuries. He found Neroth’s Heart.

But...

When Aurelia looked around, she couldn’t find any traces of the Heart here.

Then there was also the matter of how their connection suddenly broke down and finally, to make everything worse—

Neroth forcibly took over Varek’s body and resurrected into the world.

Lucian as well, he too seemed much, much stronger than before.

All this seemed... connected.

And if it was—

Then that would mean Lucian was a part of this.

Lucian was... on Neroth’s side.

Lucian stared at Aurelia, he could see what she was implying and he could also see how one would come to such a conclusion.

There was just... one tiny problem.

"You do hear him screaming my name, correct?"

He pointed out.

Aurelia’s face changed, Lucian took that as a cue and—

"He wouldn’t be that angry at me if I were on his side, especially now that he has gotten everything he wanted, as you claim."

Aurelia heard those words and she was surprised, not exactly by what Lucian said, it was something else.

"...you can hear him? From here?"

"...yes?"

"...you shouldn’t be able to."

"Well, things happened."

Lucian shrugged.

"And before you ask what happened, we don’t really have time. He is getting close, I need to know how Neroth took control of the Crimson Hearth."

He asked.

He didn’t particularly care about Neroth’s Resurrection.

He knew it was Incomplete.

After centuries of research and decades of work, Neroth did manage to make Varek’s body compatible with him. The demon’s blood inside the Vampire allowed him to make contact, but that little blood wasn’t enough for resurrection.

This was why Neroth needed him.

Even if Lucian didn’t do what he did, Neroth needed someone to free his Heart so he could implant it into Varek’s body, then later use it as an Anchor to properly complete his Resurrection, permanently.

That was Neroth’s initial plan.

And that failed because of him.