Brand New Life Online: Rise Of The Goddess Of Harvest Chapter 2027: Death Apostle, Player, Black Hand

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Elayne had thousands of questions swirling through her mind, yet she could not seem to find the answers to all of them for the time being. She forced herself to calm down, exhaled a long and steady breath, and then looked back at the Jester as memories of the Black Hand flooded her thoughts once more.

They were a dark cult and a ruthless organization that selfishly hunted down whatever they deemed powerful and necessary for their ultimate goals. Their singular obsession was to bring their Leader King Hasan back from death, no matter the cost. They had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and invaded her territory with no prior ties to her or her people, driven solely by their hunger for her power. They cooperated with the Demons and even with the Demon King of Death, exchanging information and coordinating their efforts just to locate her.

They were Curse Casters of incredible strength who had once spread their influence across vast territories and governed large regions of the world before the Awakening. Elayne knew little about what they might be doing in the present day after the Awakening, but she remained certain that they were still lurking somewhere, hungrily desiring everything she possessed. They were the worst type of enemy imaginable. Selfish and greedy to the core, they held no personal grudges against her for any past actions. They simply wanted to steal her Domain and hunt her and her family like prized trophies.

They were murderers and sickening assassins, monsters who enslaved souls and controlled Hollows without a shred of mercy. This was why Elayne felt so deeply conflicted and enraged by these sickening bastards. At least if they had targeted her because she had stopped them from committing some greater atrocity in the past, she might have understood their hatred. No, it was all driven by pure self-interest. They went out of their way to torture and make suffer people they had never even met, simply because they "felt" those people could somehow benefit their twisted ambitions.

They were the absolute worst kind of bastards.

But well, it had only "started" that way.

"Indeed, I am a Member of the Black Hand, one of the Five Malevolent Fingers," the Jester spoke, interrupting Elayne’s long and boiling train of thoughts and causing her anger to surge even higher. "I belong to the same Order that has chased you in Life... and now even in Death! Wonderful! Kaboom! Wow! What a twist! Isn’t it?!"

"..."

After the death of two of their members, especially after Nakuna’s demise within the Dream Plane where he had tried to ambush them in an attempt to take them for himself, devour their souls, and gain their power to shift between planes or travel worlds, everything must have become deeply personal for the remaining members. Luckily, she had learned that her daughter and her friends had traveled away from Canada and into England, and then onward to Japan. They were now more protected than ever before. Beyond that, the Black Hand’s activities had come to a sudden halt after Nakuna’s death, as if the organization had never existed at all.

Even now, their existence remained nebulous at best. She had learned they were a massive criminal organization that preyed on both the supernatural and innocent people alike, an oppressive force that simply desired to fulfill their own selfish desires for growth, expansion, and the revival of their king and god through endless slaughter and demonic sacrifice. The worst part was that each member was ridiculously strong and showed no hesitation in killing anybody. Even the most innocent person they had never met would be brutally slaughtered by them without the slightest trace of remorse.

Even with Demons, their actions were more understandable because they were feral creatures, monsters born from the flames of hell themselves. But the Black Hand? They were a Cult that did not even originate in North America. They had come all the way from East Asia. It was ridiculous, yet there must have been another greater reason why they had targeted her so relentlessly before.

Yes, Elayne knew there was something more. It was her nature, her power, her divinity. They wanted that. The power she possessed might open the way for their ultimate goal. Thus, they decided to commit these atrocities, killing dear druids and so many others, all for the sake of their selfish greed. Thus, there was nothing in this world that Elayne hated more than these bastards.

"We sure have a long history together, don’t we?" Jester asked with a loud and mocking laugh. "Hahahaha! But it’s all in the past! The Black Hand has been disbanded!"

"What?"

"Or rather, separated. Half of our group has gone to Japan after your daughter. They want to flail her alive and tear her piece by piece, then eat her and gain her power," said Jester with sickening delight. "Oh, the other half came here. We’re playing this demonic game using modified headgear, and I became a Death Apostle. I transfer items between this world and the other using the modified Demonic Devices that— Ah, I shouldn’t tell you more, right? Hahahahaa!"

"..."

"..."

Elayne’s eyebrows twitched as she glared at the Jester. They were still after them. These sickening bastards, these evil monsters, still wanted to kill her baby. Even now... they still wanted her family to suffer. Why? They had never done anything to them before. Just why them?

"Why..." she muttered, her voice low and trembling with barely contained rage.

"Huh?"

"I understand now after I killed two of your members..." Elayne sighed heavily, the weight of everything pressing down on her. "But why? Why even target us? Why even put SO MUCH EFFORT into targeting complete strangers you’ve never met in your entire life before?!"

"Oh my," Jester covered his mouth in exaggerated surprise. "You don’t get it, don’t you? Hahaha! We were hired. It all started with the Demon King of Hell! Demons themselves hired us to catch you! Because they say you’re the revived goddess that ’survived the end of the world’ or whatever that means!"

"...?"

"I don’t know if that was true, but when you were alive you had god-like power, right?" laughed Jester. "Or rather, ALMOST! The Demon King of Death caught you before you could have ascended any further. Pity!"

"..."

Elayne stared down at the tiled floor in heavy silence. Her eyes grew redder and redder as her aura began to shift and swirl with growing intensity. Life and Death started devouring each other within her. The massive quantity of power she had absorbed from all her victims down below fueled her strength, yet Jester could feel nothing of it. It remained hidden deep within her very Soul.

To him...

She was...

"But a weak little zombie like you poses no threat anymore!" he laughed mockingly. "The Demon King of Death believes you’re dead anyway—wait, why did he even target you in the first place? Hahaha! Don’t tell me you played the game—oh right, he said you were Planta or something? Go figure! So that’s why you were so damn strong!"

"..."

"Awww, what’s wrong? Are you all upset? Aw, little babies!" laughed Jester with cruel amusement. "DON’T WORRY! I AM ON YOUR SIDE! IN FACT, I WANT NOTHING BUT FOR YOU TO LIVE! YES! YOU WILL LIVE FOR ETERNITY HERE, TRAPPED! I WILL TORTURE YOU, MAKE YOU SUFFER, AND YOU WILL GIVE MY VIEWERS FROM THE DEEP WEB ALL THE ENTERTAINMENT THEY WANT!"

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