The Glorious Evolution

Bishop Va’ren considered the consequences for a few seconds... if Levi discovered their involvement, securing his cooperation would become troublesome.

Yet, how much cooperation did the boy offer them lately?

He ignored their calls, pursued his own interests, and left them waiting without the courtesy of an explanation.

Va’ren understood the need for preparation, but Levi seemed awfully comfortable deciding when their partnership deserved his attention.

The Bishop indulged him because of his value... meanwhile, Levi confused that indulgence with permission to dictate their next move.

And Bishop Va’ren wasn’t someone who liked being dictated to.

”Proceed,” Va’ren agreed indifferently. ”Is your target still there?”

Darius nodded.

”He hasn’t left Cruor, the First Vein Plane, since he joined the Blood Arts Academy.”

A dimensional display materialized above the table, showing several recordings of none other than Idriss Morningstar!

Shia’s father and the Leader of the Blood Hunters’ Agency!

One followed him through the academy’s outer courtyard, where towering basalt walls enclosed training grounds large enough to accommodate hundreds of students.

The Blood Arts Academy occupied a sprawling castle built atop a sheer cliff, its outer walls rising almost directly from the precipice.

Far below, a blood-red sea battered the rocks, sending spray into the crevices worn through their base.

A crimson moon hung above the castle’s towers in an equally red sky... its reflection stretched across the sea, breaking apart with each passing wave.

Covered galleries connected the castle’s wings, their narrow arches overlooking the water.

The sea breeze reached even this height, carrying the salt into the courtyard, where students practiced around shallow reservoirs of blood beneath the moonlight.

Most shared the pallor and prominent fangs of Cruor’s native inhabitants, though outsiders mingled among them... some possessed horns, others scales, and Idriss hardly attracted a second glance as he passed.

He seemed more interested in the lesson taking place nearby.

Above one reservoir, a student divided a mass of blood into thin rings, struggling to maintain their shape as they revolved around each other.

Idriss slowed to observe before continuing toward a training hall.

The next recording caught him from an upper gallery... another showed him battling against another student, their strength more or less equal.

The recordings’ dates differed, along with their angles... whoever gathered them followed his movements on more than one occasion.

Bishop Va’ren enlarged one recording until Idriss’s face filled the display.

”You sure chose a good one.” Bishop Va’ren smiled coldly.

Darius nodded... unmoved.

He knew the man commanded one of Heliodor’s strongest agencies, his daughter belonged to Levi’s team, and the boy’s relationship with the Morningstars extended well beyond their expeditions.

The first stage of Darius’s revised proposal was to have Levi use Lord Idriss as the bait instead of him to pull out Na’thir’s three elites and ambush them... but since they knew there was a chance of him rejecting their proposal, he already had plan B ready.

If they couldn’t involve him directly, then they were going to do so indirectly.

”If Na’thir traces this back to us, he’ll suspect the bait before he even considers Idriss,” Va’ren cautioned solemnly. ”You know how that bastard thinks.”

All too well.

Darius spent years serving him, satisfying his demands while concealing ambitions of his own... and when those ambitions interfered with the Bishop’s interests, Na’thir executed him without hesitation.

Fortunately, his former position also introduced him to the people who supplied Na’thir’s watchers with information... in fact, he was so trusted by Bishop Na’thir that Darius was considered his right arm within the Organization.

The Hound, Rain, and Fang were the exceptions.

”The broker already trades with his intelligence network,” Darius explained. ”I used him during my time under Na’thir. His people still buy from him.”

With a gesture, he replaced the recordings with a collection of transactions.

Va’ren recognized many buyers.

Their dealings preceded Idriss’s departure, Levi’s rise, and even Darius’s death... no sudden contact or suspicious generosity connected this report to tonight’s dinner.

Darius explained the arrangement as the Bishop examined it.

Through an intermediary, he commissioned an assessment of Heliodor’s surviving agencies, including their absent leaders and prospects of recovery.

Idriss’s name naturally appeared among them, giving the broker a reason to investigate his whereabouts without anyone pointing directly at him.

Darius knew where that investigation would lead.

Long before his exposure as the mole, Idriss mentioned his interest in the Blood Arts Academy within their former circle.

However, he never left due to his responsibilities as the Morningstars’ head and Blood Hunters’ Agency leader.

Confirming his enrollment took little effort after his absence around the time of Seraphis’ funeral.

However, arranging for someone else to uncover it without recognizing the purpose required patience... extreme patience.

The broker’s own sources supplied the recordings and verified his attendance.

They also obtained records of his mandatory service against Cruor’s nightcrawler invasions, as it was one of the obligations outsiders fulfilled in exchange for access to the academy’s teachings.

Everything concerning Idriss checked out.

There was no fabricated breakthrough for Na’thir to disprove, no convenient return date, and no anonymous warning begging him to act before an opportunity disappeared.

Just a capable blood specialist studying ways to advance before eventually returning to his family and agency.

Bishop Va’ren moved through the commission’s terms, searching for the part that connected the broker’s profit to their desired outcome.

He found none.

Darius paid for the research at the man’s usual rate... the agreement granted the buyer first access, after which the broker could resell his findings... including to the watchers who already purchased intelligence concerning Heliodor.

The man stood to earn twice from the same work.

Better yet, he didn’t need to lie about any of it.

”He doesn’t even know who commissioned the report,” Darius added. ”As far as he’s concerned, another client paid him to investigate a region worth watching... nothing more, nothing less.”

Va’ren abandoned his meal entirely.

”You sure have done your homework.”

The care surprised him... Darius accounted for more than whether Na’thir believed the information.

He considered what the Bishop might uncover if he distrusted it and started questioning its source.

A broker pursuing profit.

Genuine academy records.

An ordinary commission concerning a region that recently attracted outside interest.

Even Idriss’s entry occupied its proper place among the other agency leaders, without exaggerated warnings drawing unnecessary attention to him.

Na’thir could verify the report, investigate further, and discover the value of taking Idriss alive through his own efforts.

After all, a suggestion from an intelligence broker might provoke suspicion... an opportunity Na’thir uncovered himself would appeal to his confidence in his own judgment.

In simpler terms, Darius had crafted a convincing setup for Na’thir to believe that hunting down Idriss and using him as bait to lure out Levi was a plan he had come up with entirely on his own!

Bait within bait... Na’thir would be fishing for Levi without realizing he had already swallowed Darius’s hook!

’How shrewd...’

Va’ren reassessed the human sitting opposite him.

Darius suffered two failures, and the second cost him his life.

Now, he endured the humiliation of occupying Demetris Bane’s decaying corpse, struggling with movements he once performed without thought.

Death did wonders for his attention to detail.

The Bishop almost found it amusing... until he considered how little room Darius possessed for another mistake.

This time, failure threatened whatever remained of him.

Darius finished checking the release terms, then contacted the intermediary... his instruction ended the waiting period and allowed the broker to offer the report to his regular buyers.

Only after the message went through did he dismiss the display.

”Now we wait for Na’thir to take the bait... and send his elites after Lord Idriss while we prepare to use the boy as the bait for our larger scheme against Na’thir.”

For once, Va’ren felt no urge to call Levi again.

The next call would give the boy something worth answering.

He smiled sinisterly... certain of it.