Chapter 319: I Killed Him.
"His Authority?"
"Agony."
And the instant Lucian heard that, his eyes changed.
There it was.
Neroth Vhalzaryn.
Aurelia kept staring at him and continued—
"Pain, suffering, breaking living beings through prolonged torment."
"...that sounds familiar."
Lucian commented as he looked back at her.
"It does."
Aurelia nodded.
"Too familiar."
"Can he be linked to House Arcelis?"
Lucian asked curiously.
Aurelia did think of this name when he mentioned a link to House Arcelis, so he was somewhat hopeful and Aurelia nodded as well.
"Yes."
He could be linked to House Arcelis.
All the conditions they set up indeed matched, just that, when Lucian stared at her, he could sense some... hesitation.
As if something did not sit right with her.
"What is it?"
He asked directly.
The Vampire looked at him, still seemingly confused and then—
"Neroth Vhalzaryn is dead."
Aurelia revealed and...
The room got completely silent.
Lucian kept staring at her for a while, then—
"...how dead?"
He asked.
Demons were... different from other beings.
Killing them wasn’t as simple as one would think, especially an Archdemon. So when Aurelia mentioned that Neroth was dead, Lucian’s mind instantly formed a few more possibilities.
How did he die? Was it an Avatar? A Seventh Veil Host? After all, killing a Host doesn’t kill the Demon itself.
But...
Aurelia obviously knew that.
She wouldn’t be surprised by the name if the one who died was a mere Host.
"He is dead."
She spoke again.
"He descended into the world with his real body, fought, and was killed."
She then looked at Lucian again and—
"Killed."
She repeated her words.
"He wasn’t given the chance to retreat back to the Demon Realm, nor was he sealed somewhere, he was killed, properly, like how one kills an Archdemon."
"...huh."
Lucian made the face again.
"How long ago?"
He asked.
"Nine hundred and eighty-three years ago."
Lucian stared at her.
For several seconds, he didn’t say anything.
Then—
"You’re sure?"
Aurelia’s eyes narrowed, she did not like being asked the same question again and again.
"Yes."
"I mean sure sure."
"I understood you the first time."
"But... Archdemons aren’t easy to kill."
"They are not."
"So are you saying there is no possibility that Neroth somehow escaped? Left something behind? Moved his consciousness somewhere else? Faked his death? I don’t know, anything?"
"There is not."
Aurelia’s answer came immediately.
A little too immediately, honestly.
And Lucian noticed that.
"You are... suspiciously certain about this."
He commented as he kept staring at her.
Aurelia didn’t say anything, so Lucian tilted his head and asked directly.
"How are you this sure?"
And Aurelia—
"Because I killed him."
She answered.
"...you what?"
Lucian froze.
"I killed Neroth Vhalzaryn."
Aurelia repeated, though from the look on her face, she didn’t seem particularly proud of the matter.
"He waged war against the Vampires with his Army, the Blood Lord appointed me as the Commander, I gathered the Houses and fought back. The battle continued for three years before I personally beheaded the demon."
She gave a short summary and Lucian—
He stared at the woman in front of him, then he slowly leaned back in his chair and—
"Huh."
He let out a strange voice again.
"That is all?"
Aurelia raised an eyebrow.
"I am processing."
Lucian raised one finger, stopping her.
"You cannot casually tell me you were leading an army against an Archdemon who descended with a real body and expect me to be okay."
"This isn’t about me."
"It became slightly about you when you said, ’I killed the Archdemon we’re currently investigating.’"
Aurelia ignored that.
Clearly, she wasn’t in the usual curious and amused mood she was always in.
There was something on her mind now.
And Lucian, he wanted to know what was bothering her.
"How was the battle?"
He asked, wanting to get her to talk.
And Aurelia didn’t hide anything.
"He descended with his army without any warning or even an indication of a fallout. By the time we understood the scale of what had happened, several territories had already fallen."
Lucian’s face turned serious as well and Aurelia continued.
"His Authority was particularly troublesome."
"Agony."
"Yes, the longer a battle continued, the stronger his influence became, wounded soldiers, fear, captured population, all of it became his fuel.
In the end, the Blood Lord had to make a decision."
"So he chose you."
"I was the Commander, he chose several Houses, even the Ancient Houses were told to join the campaign.
House Veyr.
House... Arcelis."
Lucian narrowed his eyes at that.
There’s the connection.
"All the Houses for... one Archdemon and his Army?"
"An Army of Demons that descended with their True Bodies, an Army that kept getting stronger the longer the battle continued."
Aurelia corrected.
"Do not forget, there is a difference between a True Archdemon and a mere Host of one."
"...right."
Lucian nodded.
Aurelia nodded back and continued—
"I still remember the final day of the battle. I took him head-on with a few more Vampires fighting with me.
We severed his connection to the Demon Realm, erasing his escape routes. The rest of his army was all taken out, and at the last moment—
I severed his head."
Lucian’s face changed.
"His body collapsed shortly afterward."
She concluded.
Lucian turned quiet.
That sounded definitive.
Very definitive.
If Aurelia was this confident that she killed Neroth, then...
"So... how did a demon who died almost a thousand years ago... manage to form a Contract with Varek, who wasn’t even alive when it all happened?"
"Are we wrong? Is it not Neroth but someone else? Someone else with the same power as Neroth, perhaps?"
He wondered out loud but as he did—
Lucian noticed something.
Aurelia, she...
She was... oddly silent.
"Lady Aurelia."
Lucian called out but...
Nothing.
The Vampire didn’t say anything.
Lucian looked at her, she looked back, but then her eyes moved away from him and fell on the books instead.
That made Lucian’s frown even deeper.
For the first time since Lucian met her, she looked... genuinely disturbed.
As though a thought had appeared in her head that she very much wished had not.
"Lady Aurelia, what is it?"
He asked directly.
And Aurelia...
She looked at him and—
"Neroth’s Heart."
"What about it?"
Lucian paused.
"It was given to the Arcelis Patriarch to destroy."
And the instant she said those words, Lucian’s face changed.