Chapter 349: You, Lucian Cross, are a perfect vessel.

"Don’t bother."

Neroth spoke dismissively.

"You cannot stop it."

His Heart released more blood.

"Varek’s body has spent decades adapting to my blood, so much so that my blood influences his body. Now that his Ascension has begun, it is strengthening the influence of my blood even further and it is calling for the original.

As the influence gets stronger, it will pull my Heart into his body and once that happens...

Varek won’t matter anymore."

Lucian clenched his fists even tighter.

His eyes looked around, trying to find something, anything.

A way to sto—

"Oh."

Neroth suddenly sounded amused by another thought.

"I should tell you something."

Lucian narrowed his eyes at those words. Neroth’s words were affecting him and the worst part was that he still couldn’t ignore them.

He felt... trapped.

"I could have begun this immediately."

The Archdemon laughed.

"The moment you opened the seal, I no longer needed you.

I could have trapped you in my darkness, I could have let you go, I could have done anything. I didn’t need this conversation, I didn’t need to explain to you what happened to Varek or what Crimson Crucible actually produced.

I could have simply waited for the pull to be strong enough to move my Heart and get what I wanted."

"Then why didn’t you?"

Lucian asked as he stared at the Heart and Neroth—

He chuckled again.

"Because I wanted you to see it."

Lucian’s gaze turned cold.

Neroth kept laughing.

"As a thank you for making everything possible—

I wanted to make sure you understood every little piece, every role every person played, House Arcelis, Varek, Aurelia and you.

And then..."

The Archdemon took a small pause and his voice became almost... cruelly playful.

"I wanted to see your face."

And that was the final straw.

The instant he heard those words, something inside Lucian... changed.

His eyes became scarily cold, he was angry, but it wasn’t an emotional outburst, no, it was something... far scarier.

A frostily cold anger.

Lucian’s eyes fell on the Heart again.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

It was still thumping, still pumping more and more blood and Lucian—

He finally moved.

Neroth laughed.

"I already told you, you cannot stop—"

And before the Archdemon could complete his words, Lucian grabbed his Heart.

SSSFFH

His flesh burned the instant he touched it, smoke came out and Neroth’s black-red blood spilled from his fingers.

It was painful, but nothing compared to the hell Vivienne had put him through.

Lucian’s violet eyes became even colder as he tightened his fingers against the beating Heart, squeezing even more blood out of it.

Lucian didn’t let it go.

"...Lucian."

Neroth’s voice changed. The amusement in it died down and was replaced with more... carefulness.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

The Archdemon asked.

Lucian ignored him.

Instead, he brought the Heart close to his mouth and Neroth panicked.

"Have you lost your mind!? It will burn you!"

He screamed as his Heart started beating more quickly, releasing even more blood.

And Lucian—

He ignored him and—

Bite

His teeth tore through the Heart’s Demonic flesh, before the taste could even hit him, the burning Heart burned Lucian’s tongue, throat and his entire mouth.

FWSHHH

Smoke came out of his mouth, Lucian’s regeneration kicked in. He let it do its thing and he—

He swallowed the Heart and the blood that came with it.

The thought process was oddly simple, Neroth still needed his Heart to complete his resurrection, didn’t he?

Then he would take it away.

FWSHHH

His body convulsed with pain, it was like eating a flaming ember, Lucian didn’t care. He took another bite, tearing away another piece, then another, then another and then another.

The Heart thrashed in his hand, Neroth kept screaming but Lucian did not stop, he ate all of it.

Then, as his mouth, his food pipe, and his stomach burned, he stared at the blood floating in front of him, violet energy of desire covered the blood and he pulled it towards him—

Drinking it all in one go.

"STOP! STOP I—"

And the instant Lucian devoured the last drop of his blood, Neroth, who had kept screaming since the instant Lucian began eating his Heart—

He suddenly stopped.

And Lucian—

Thud

His body collapsed as he fell on his knees.

The veins in his body darkened, his pupils dilated, his nails sharpened.

"Ghh—!"

BOOM

He slammed his hand on the ground, shattering the stone floor, all to try and deal with the agonising pain, it didn’t do anything.

His entire body convulsed in pain, it was as if someone had poured molten metal directly into his body.

Lucian’s back arched up, black, swollen veins spread across his neck, his muscles tightened violently, his bones started to crack, his Heart started beating much more loudly than before—

Ba-dump Ba-dump Ba-dump

Lucian’s body... was changing.

The instant Lucian realised that, he froze.

And then—

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Neroth laughed, much, much louder than before.

Lucian didn’t fail to notice how now, his voice didn’t come from outside, it was coming from inside his body, as if he was speaking directly into his head.

"Perfect, absolutely perfect."

Neroth relished it.

"...what?"

Lucian slowly raised his head.

"Oh, Lucian."

The affection in Neroth’s voice was almost insulting.

"You beautiful fool."

No, it was insulting.

Lucian narrowed his eyes and Neroth laughed.

"How gullible are you?"

"...what do you mean?"

Lucian didn’t understand.

"Did you truly think Varek was what I wanted?"

Those words made Lucian freeze and the Archdemon continued.

"He was, once.

He was the best possibility I had, a body meticulously altered to tolerate me, a vessel that House Arcelis spent generations constructing.

He was magnificent."

He praised openly.

Then—

"Until I felt you, then Varek became disappointing."

Lucian turned completely silent.

"It happened when you first fought him, that was when I felt your power and I couldn’t believe it.

A Human body containing pure Demonic Blood.

Do you understand how absurd that is?"

Lucian’s breathing slowed as Neroth’s blood started changing his body.

And Neroth continued—

"House Arcelis spent centuries cultivating it, experiment after experiment, thousands of subjects, then and only then were they able to produce Varek—

And you?

You appeared out of nowhere, with a body far, far, far better than Varek.

You, Lucian Cross, are a perfect vessel."