The Glorious Evolution

Bishop Va’ren placed the fork down and cleaned his mouth without making a mess... then he finally revealed the ploy he had been working on from the moment he figured out Levi’s connection to Bishop Na’thir.

”If we were to fight Na’thir on our own... then you would die, and I would be executed by the Duskbound Order’s Headquarters,” he shared. ”For someone like him to go away, the order has to come from above.”

The Duskbound Order might not care about schemes and sabotage attempts between its peers, as the organization cared only for results, but that didn’t mean they could fight it out in public and expect the Order to remain silent... especially between two Bishops, with one of them siding with the prey.

”Who?”

Levi had expected as much from the start and asked solemnly, curious about who superseded a Bishop in the Organization... he had already bought information about its organizational structure from the Black Slime Board.

However, it was limited only to the structure itself and some low-grade information... as for the entities themselves and their details, he had absolutely no clue.

He didn’t know if his profile didn’t possess the necessary access to such information or if the Duskbound Order’s Upper Echelon was simply that secretive.

”The Black Veil Queen,” Bishop Va’ren uttered. ”She is the only one with enough authority to punish him severely.”

The name immediately drew Levi’s full attention... he knew that a Queen Piece was considered the second most authoritative member under the King.

Even a Bishop had to lower their head in her presence.

”How are we supposed to pull it off?” Levi frowned. ”I doubt the Queen of the entire Duskbound Order will bother with a mere Bishop... plus, how can you even attract the attention of such a being? I thought there was a strict hierarchy within the Organization.”

Levi doubted Bishop Va’ren even had enough weight and authority to request a meeting with the Black Veil Queen... after all, there were plenty of Bishops across the Chained Universe, situated on different planets.

If any of them could reach out to her at will, then... what kind of hierarchy was that?

”That’s where your role comes in.” Bishop Va’ren narrowed his eyes. ”You already know that Na’thir has something that belongs to you... What you don’t know is that it’s a precious treasure that he has been attempting to give to the Queen to earn a promotion to a Knight Piece... heh, luckily, the idiot butchered his chance after he failed to collect the Refined Blood Quota.”

”Huh?” Levi was left stunned.

Ash’Kral had already told him that his eyes were quite significant, but he didn’t know exactly what type they were... At first, Levi believed that Bishop Na’thir had stolen his eyes either to sell, use, or keep as a collectible.

He didn’t even place much hope in Bishop Na’thir keeping them on him.

Now... he learned that his eyes were actually so important that they could be used as a direct bargaining chip for a Bishop’s promotion? In an organization as brutal as the Duskbound Order, they were valuable enough to help someone climb its ranks?

Even Ash’Kral, the Titan, and the Omnithar Genie appeared quite taken aback... ancient beings like them knew what it meant for the Black Veil Queen to seek out these eyes.

Ash’Kral and the Titan glanced at each other... their expressions as solemn as they could get.

’If this is true, we might have underestimated the boy’s bloodline purity...’ the Titan said.

’No... don’t be hasty.’ Ash’Kral shook his head in denial. ’The Queen has yet to see the eyes... only the Bishop and Darius have, and their pool of knowledge isn’t as rich as ours. The Bishop might have thought that a Radian related eyes were good enough to win him a promotion.’

’...True.’

The Titan nodded in agreement, realizing that it was closer to the truth than what they had in mind.

”Yep... the bastard planned on offering your eyes to the Black Veil Queen during the Silent Convergence.” Bishop Va’ren continued telling him the truth to rile him up. ”If it weren’t for the idiot failing to fulfill his quota of Refined Daywalkers’ Blood, your eyes would have already been claimed by the Queen... and trust me, it would be the last time you ever saw either of them again.”

”...” Levi remained silent.

His mind had already connected the dots about what was going on and what Bishop Va’ren needed from him... he realized that if the Black Veil Queen discovered that Bishop Na’thir had obtained something potentially valuable to the Order, studied it privately, and deliberately concealed both its existence and importance from her, the matter would no longer resemble ordinary greed.

It would become the deliberate concealment of an asset from his superior... in the Duskbound Order, such a crime was punished severely... sometimes even with the Death Penalty, regardless of whether it was a Bishop, Rook, or even a Knight.

It was that ruthless.

However... even though Bishop Va’ren had figured out the truth and had a loaded gun to finish Bishop Na’thir, he didn’t dare fire it without proper evidence.

After all, in the Duskbound Order... political enemies were always using whatever means necessary to frame each other to steal credit or settle grudges.

Bishop Va’ren had no authority to request a private hearing with the Black Veil Queen... she was the one who set up the Silent Convergence for them to attend.

All of this left Levi with a single conclusion... Bishop Va’ren wanted Bishop Na’thir to expose himself.

How?

’That’s my role in his plan...’ Levi thought coldly. ’I am the bait.’

The only thing Levi didn’t expect was that his participation in stopping both the Harrowing Forest massacre and the Blood Hunters’ major expedition against the Lord of the Broken Peak would indirectly save his eyes... he didn’t know if it was fate or not, but his assistance did play a big role in stopping Bishop Na’thir from reaching his quota of refined blood... Twice, no less!

This forced him to delay the promotion scheme until the next Silent Convergence.

As those thoughts roamed through his mind, he remained silent while Bishop Va’ren laid out the rest of the plan slowly so as not to scare him off... he had no idea that Levi had already figured out his ploy.

”The next Silent Convergence will be held in a decade... this means that’s all the time you have before your eyes are forever gone,” Bishop Va’ren said calmly. ”I doubt it’s anywhere near enough time for you to get strong enough to retrieve them on your own.”

Although he said ’he doubted,’ Bishop Va’ren was certain... it wasn’t that he didn’t believe in Levi’s strength or potential.

He had watched the Faction Event and seen what he was capable of... however, this didn’t change the fact that Bishop Na’thir was a Tier 8 powerhouse, and evolving into an Ecliptic Daywalker (Tier 7) alone should take Levi decades, if not more.

After all, the higher one climbed, the more time spent in a single rank... some Nightcrawlers remained in Tier 6 or 7 for centuries, even thousands of years, incapable of moving an inch.

”Just out with it already...” Levi frowned. ”What’s my part in this?”