Chapter 359: He planned this.

That was Neroth’s initial plan and it failed because of what Lucian did.

What happened to Varek right now was not resurrection, an Archdemon couldn’t resurrect without a proper anchor. If not the Heart, he at the very least needed his fresh, unprocessed blood inside Varek’s body to resurrect himself.

What he had now was... partial resurrection at best.

Compared to a normal resurrection like he planned, that would have instantly strengthened his body to at least the level of a High Demon with the potential to eventually reach the domain of Archdemon again—

This result was... far weaker.

The current Varek/Neroth was only a little stronger than a normal Arcelis Vampire waking up after his Third Crimson Ascension would be.

A level a little higher than a normal Arcelis Redborn.

A being who could easily be taken care of by almost any Elder Vampire.

And that wasn’t even the worst part—

The first part was that because the resurrection was incomplete and there was no Anchor, it was very unstable.

It wouldn’t last.

If Lucian had to guess, it wouldn’t last more than a day.

The faint connection Neroth relied on to take over Varek’s body would break soon, Neroth would perish and... so would Varek.

So whatever it was that was happening, it would at most continue for a day.

This was also the reason Neroth didn’t run away with Varek’s body now that he had resurrected. There was no point since it would all end in a day anyway.

Lucian was honestly sure that the only reason Neroth even attempted all this was so he could get his revenge.

He thwarted his plan and devoured his Heart, an Archdemon wouldn’t possibly let that go and those screams made his hatred very very clear.

One thing Lucian didn’t understand, however, was that...

Why did he even know all this?

An Archdemon needing a Heart to use as an Anchor for his resurrection, Neroth’s current resurrection being incomplete, how it wouldn’t last more than a day—

Lucian wasn’t supposed to know any of this.

This definitely wasn’t in any of the books he read, in fact, the Enclave had next to no information about Archdemons.

Not that any of it mattered right now.

He knew what he wasn’t supposed to.

It was highly likely a big deal.

He ate an Archdemon’s Heart and somehow fought off the Archdemon trying to devour his consciousness and devoured him instead. There were far too many things he didn’t understand, if he started thinking about them all, he would probably never stop thinking.

So Lucian threw everything to the back of his head, then, he focused on what was more important.

The control of the Crimson Hearth.

Aurelia stared at him for a moment.

She had many questions in her head, for now, however, she decided not to ask.

Then, she answered his question.

"I don’t know."

"...huh?"

"I don’t know how he took control over the Crimson Hearth."

That made Lucian pause.

He then thought of a different question.

"What happened to you?

Even if he controls the Crimson Hearth, he shouldn’t have been able to weaken you to this extent. I don’t think the Crimson Hearth had the power to reduce you to this state."

Lucian refused to believe someone like Aurelia would be weakened by a mere formation to this extent.

"It didn’t."

Aurelia shook her head as well.

"The Crimson Hearth isn’t supposed to have this power but...

Someone changed something."

"Changed what...?"

"I told you before, the Hearth isn’t merely a barrier, it is House Arcelis’s lifeline. It tracks registered blood, controls internal formations, it filters the Sunlight, it tracks security, access and every little thing.

And because of everything it does, the Hearth is important, so important that it isn’t just the outsiders who are registered into it.

Even the Arcelis Vampires are registered to it, every single Vampire in this estate is registered to it.

And now...

Neroth is using that connection to somehow weaken all the Vampires connected to the Hearth."

"...all the Vampires?"

Lucian’s face changed.

"Yes."

Aurelia nodded with an exhausted look on her face and Lucian’s frown deepened.

"If that’s the case then the entire Arcelis territory..."

"Every Vampire inside is affected."

Aurelia nodded.

"And the connection to the outside world has been cut off. The Hearth has activated an emergency measure that locks the entire main Arcelis Estate down.

I contacted House Veyr before all this happened, so they would notice that I cannot be reached.

But even if they come here, it would take at least a few days before they manage to forcibly break the barrier surrounding the estate."

"A few days...?"

Lucian was surprised.

That was a very long time.

He thought House Veyr was... far more capable than that.

And almost as if she could sense what he was thinking, Aurelia seemed offended.

"The barrier isn’t something Neroth created with his powers, it was something House Arcelis created in case of an emergency.

That barrier is an Ancient House’s protective mechanism, the fact that House Veyr can break that in just a matter of a few days isn’t something to look down upon."

She defended her house and Lucian raised his hand, surrendering to her.

"Yes, yes, I didn’t know any better. I apologise."

Aurelia kept staring at him and Lucian started thinking.

"So every single Vampire in here is weakened?"

"Yes and considering it even worked on me, the formation used wasn’t crafted in a hurry, it was planned."

"Neroth..."

Lucian instantly realised it.

Neroth wanted to resurrect, but even if his plans succeeded, even if he managed to resurrect properly using his Heart, at best, he would only be as strong as a High Demon.

Sure, High Demons were strong but inside an Ancient Vampire House that was filled with Elders, High Elders and a handful of Ancients?

A High Demon wouldn’t stand a chance.

The Vampires would instantly realise what happened and kill the demon on the spot, ruining everything the Archdemon prepared for centuries in a matter of minutes.

Neroth needed something.

An Assurance that the Vampires here wouldn’t be able to stop him once he resurrected.

And he targeted the Hearth.

As for how he managed to do it, Lucian still didn’t know, but this had Neroth written all over it. Especially considering how he suddenly had absolute control over it and somehow knew about a feature even Aurelia didn’t.

"He planned this."

Lucian’s face turned ugly.