Upper-class Dead Apostles. They are VI rank members who were acknowledged by an Ancestor, and bestowed with further superhuman abilities. They may be given the same name but they are on a completely different level than the VI rank. By attaining this rank they become a poison that pollutes the land just by existing.
They are heretics that an average Executor cannot match up against, aristocrat vampires allowed to exert their own discretion. Upper-class Dead Apostles aren’t completely obedient to their progenitor Ancestors, and if the opportunity arises they can defeat an Ancestor and inherit their curse.
However, even with the same “free will,” the difference in the number of years an Ancestor has lived and the years a Dead Apostle has lived is enormous, and it is difficult for vampires of this rank to surpass the scale of an Ancestor's existence.