"How cute... he thinks our relationship can be severed."
Bishop Va’ren chuckled as he hopped onto the couch, leaning against it with one leg over the other... then he moved a plate of red grapes with his finger and had one hang in the air to his mouth, feeding himself casually.
"Are you threatening me?" Zhang Wei-Lan narrowed his eyes coldly, "We have a contract signed... Your threats mean nothing to me."
"Wei-Lan... I thought by now you should have already figured out that our contract binds you, not me..." Bishop Va’ren smiled lazily, "I know you signed it when you were young, hot-blooded, and filled with so much ambition you could move mountains... but you’re an old man now, and you can’t be excused anymore."
"..."
Zhang Wei-Lan was left silent, gazing at Va’ren with murderous intent buried deep within his pupils.
He had already figured out that Va’ren had cheated him during their contract signing by using one of the few loopholes to avoid the soul bindings... but it was already too late to do anything about it.
When he was a teen, he was desperate for success and achieving the Eternal Daywalker Rank... it was everything to him... a dream to become the strongest human on the planet and single-handedly save it.
With heavy emphasis on single-handedly.
Alas, the dream of being a hero wasn’t a path for everyone... and Zhang Wei-Lan realized it when he first signed his contract with a mere Tier 3 nightcrawler due to his average Light Affinity.
Although he had come from a decent lineage of Daywalkers, their support wasn’t enough to help him achieve his dream.
As the days went by... Zhang Wei-Lan’s dream was slowly corrupted and twisted by the reality of his talents’ mediocrity.
At this sensitive, impressionable age, Zhang Wei-Lan was cursed to meet Bishop Va’ren by chance during an international rescue mission in Europe.
Everyone was killed but him... all because Va’ren saw the tint of darkened ambition slowly being born inside him, and he felt like he could use him in the future.
He offered him a contract to sign... an actual, reasonable, and beneficial agreement for both parties that punished them equally if one of them spilled the beans. Of course, on paper it was good, but Bishop Va’ren knew what he was doing.
The terms were:
Zhang Wei-Lan would offer his body and soul for Va’ren’s alchemy experiments meant to increase one’s talents and strength... if he managed to survive and grow stronger, he would have to fulfill ten orders from Va’ren regardless of their nature... the sole exception was requests related to his life and family.
Anything else was fair game.
On the other hand... Zhang Wei-Lan’s talents and strength would be improved at last, and in turn push him forward toward his dream.
His first major success that truly put him on the map was being the first Daywalker to win the Great Campaign on Earth... but no one knew that if it wasn’t for Va’ren’s experiments, Zhang Wei-Lan would have been found in a random ditch just like any unfortunate and talentless Daywalker.
His legacy kicked off from there, and Va’ren allowed him to continue his climb... understanding that the higher he went, the harsher his requests would become.
So far... he had spent around six requests... every single one of them was enough to chill a person’s soul.
"Wei-Lan... I own you until the day you fulfill the remaining four orders or the contract period ends after a century." Va’ren showed a wicked grin and then asked, "Now... be a good partner and tell me what’s on your mind?"
Zhang Wei-Lan spoke with a cold glare... he told him about the problems he was having with his son, and that what he needed from him required a level of strength he could not tap into on his own. In simpler terms, he was requesting the same kind of enhancements that were experimented on him.
"I know you have already perfected the process and reduced most of the mental and physical issues I had to struggle with... Considering our relationship and the great atrocities I had to commit for you, I want to buy your services for my son at a heavy discount." Zhang Wei-Lan requested, his tone still frigid.
"Purchase my services? I doubt you can afford even the materials. Wei-Lan, you whine a lot about what I have done to you, but you have no idea what kind of opportunity I bestowed upon you, even if you have served as a test subject. Many would kill to be in your place." Va’ren said.
"Stop patronizing me and give me a price."
Zhang Wei-Lan wasn’t in the mood to hear any of it... to call the torture he went through an opportunity was a sick move.
"Price... hmm... I don’t want your money, but... I do believe you can help me with something." Va’ren’s smile widened, "But first, tell me why you want to enhance your boy’s strength? The Body Reforge potion might have become easier to swallow, but... some side effects are still there. Are you truly willing to put your son through the same experience as you? No one knows better than you how it feels."
Zhang Wei-Lan spent barely a second before replying with a stern nod.
"He was born into everything and yet... he can’t even claim the number one title in his generation from a kid who had his eyes ripped out at seven years old. Levi has the hunger from childhood to achieve greatness, while my son cared more about what I think of him than growing for the sake of his own greatness."
Zhang Wei-Lan showed deep dissatisfaction and disdain as he spoke about his son. Va’ren merely smiled, realizing that Wei-Lan was envious of his own child.
He was born with immense talent and a father who paved his perfect evolutionary path for him. Meanwhile, Wei-Lan had to sell his soul to the devil just to obtain even half of what his son was born with... the atrocities he committed, the nightmares he lived through, the pain he suffered daily from failed experiments.
He went through hell and ensured that his son wouldn’t have to, so he could focus on maintaining their lineage’s legacy and even build upon it. Yet, he dared to be defeated by someone lower on the evolutionary path.
How could he not be pissed?
"He is pathetic, and it is my job as his father to fix him."
As Bishop Va’ren listened to him vent his frustrations, he could see the buried madness and hatred within him release with each word.
’Unbelievable... the side effects are still apparent even after he became a Blazewarden...’ He thought, ’I should fix the dosage... my clients won’t be pleased to see their mental state continue deteriorating even after decades. I might lose my Alchemist license for this.’
Bishop Va’ren might be the leader of the European Eternal Empire, but in the Boundless Expanse, he had to respect Nocturn’s administration... it forbade Alchemists, Array Masters, Artifact Crafters, and similar occupations from hiding the full truth about their products... if there were side effects, they had to be shared with exact details. Then, it would be up to the clients to decide whether they still wanted them or not.
It seemed Zhang Wei-Lan also realized that he had allowed his emotions to make a fool of himself, losing control like a child. Such reactions weren’t foreign to him. He had battled the demons residing in his heart every day since the moment he went through with the experiment.
The one behind it all stood before him, and yet... he didn’t curse him nor assault him.
Without another word, he took a deep breath and opened his cold eyes.
"What do you need from me?"
"Bishop Na’thir."
Wei-Lan was caught by surprise... startled to hear the name of another Bishop. He knew that the Duskbound Order had intense competition amongst them to climb the hierarchy ladder. Everything was allowed as long as they didn’t get caught... that’s their motto.
But still...
"I don’t follow." Wei-Lan frowned, "Why are you asking for my help when dealing with the Bishop of Africa... I don’t have much sway in that continent, and even if I did, how much use would it be when dealing with a Bishop? I think you are overestimating my authority... I can get you test subjects like before, but this... It’s outside my scope."
Wei-Lan might be the leader of the strongest agency and lineage in the world, but when it came to dealing with Bishops... it meant nothing. After all, each Bishop was a Tier 8 powerhouse with enough strength to level entire continents. If it weren’t for seeking S-grade evolutionary materials and above from the platform as rewards for corrupting the planet, they wouldn’t set foot on Earth.
"Believe it or not... our goals aligned." Bishop Va’ren smiled, "I want that bastard’s empire, so my final reward will be doubled when your planet goes down... You want your kid to be strong enough to reclaim the number one spot from Levi."
"How are they aligned?"
Wei-Lan narrowed his eyes, not too fond of the way Va’ren kept talking about his planet like it was already doomed... he might be working for him and even had done some inhumane tasks for his sake, but the big picture in his head was still clean and flawless.
The picture of saving the entirety of Earth from the Shadow Dimension’s corruption... he started with that dream as a child, and he still hadn’t given up on it as an adult, as much as he had gotten twisted along the journey.
Because he knew deep down... if he were to give up on it, nothing would settle his heart anymore about all the horrible things he had done for the sake of this ’noble’ quest.
"Believe it or not... the key to the fall of Bishop Na’thir is none other than..." Bishop Va’ren grinned, "Levi Larson... the enigmatic blind prodigy."