Despite the good weather, sunlight was blocked by the gigantic black orb, which had now become as big as a planet.
'It's almost finished,' the Holy Mother thought to herself. Adam had tried to intervene but she would not let him. She wouldn't let anyone prevent her from receiving a revelation, witnessing the truth…
As she looked at the landscape in front of her, she felt like she had seen something similar to this a very long time ago.
Fire. Smokes. Ashes. And… Monsters. It was something that had to be done. She didn't regret what she did. Many people died because of it but she had to get rid of the hero.
The hero was too na?ve, and he trusted her. She didn't hesitate to blame it all on him, saying that he had become an ally of the monsters.
Convincing the people who were obsessed with power was easy. She just had to plant doubts in their heart.
'What if the hero turns against humanity?'
After that, she first sabotaged the hero, leading him to fail most of his missions.
And then, it happened… The capital was invaded by monsters and was devastated. Instead of the hero, she was the one who stopped the carnage. No one knew that she was the one who planned everything.
They all saw her new power as a gift from God. They said that she was the new hero. A saint.
No one was there to defend the real Hero. She had already killed all of his allies one by one.
Now, he was about to be executed.
He said something, not pleading, but asked about something… The Holy Mother remembered the face the hero made at that time.
He called her name, Eva.
But she didn't regret anything. For the sake of her goal, he was not someone that should exist.
The hero died, and the Holy Mother, and created the Holy Church.
It was said that the original light would always shine more brightly than a fake one. As such, the Hero had to be eliminated so that the Holy Church would be the only thing that brought hope to the world, but not too bright like the hero so that the darkness lurking behind it wouldn't be revealed.
From that day, the Holy Mother had only one mission. To make sure that Harvest would take place.
She had begun to increase her influence, creating churches all around her planet, then all around the universe.
During that time, she met someone who was the most ambitious human she had ever met…
He was fearless and so sure of himself, continuing to treat her as if they were equal. But he was useful… His power was one of the key elements she was searching for.
He then made a strange request. That in exchange for helping her, he would be permitted to meet her God. She agreed.
She would receive instructions from her God rarely, but apart from that time when he appeared inside her room, she never had the honor to be in their presence again.
Her God was waiting, she thought. And once the harvest was finished, everything would be revealed to her. She would know the reason why her God had asked her to carry this mission.
The knowledge she had acquired during all of these years was already a form of recompense, but she yearned for something more… A truth that mortals would never manage to attain. Something that God only knows.
But…
"Kuh…"
Eva looked down at her chest and saw that a sword had penetrated her heart.
"You were so sure that you would succeed, but then someone suddenly stabs you in the back. How does it feel?"
She knew this voice. She remembered. She turned to look at the owner of the voice.
How did he get behind her? She didn't let her guard down. And this sword… How can this be?
*****
The wind blew on the veil that covered Eva's face as she stumbled on the ground.
He was there standing in front of him. The same innocent face. The same clothes that made him look like a simple villager. The gentle smile on his face.
He, the hero. "Stephan."
"You didn't expect to see me, did you, Eva? You promised that we would go on a date so here I am," Stephan said. The smile on his face didn't waver. His voice was soft and gentle.
Eva glared at him, but the sword buried in her back prevented her from moving, or else her blood would start to spurt from the wound.
"How many years do you think I waited for this day? For this very moment when you would be so close to succeeding. When you wait for anticipation for your dream to finally come true," Stephan continued, but then the smile on his turned into a very twisted one. "Then everything gets crushed.
"That day," Stephan proceeded to recount what happened after that execution. "I remember that look on your face. I thought I had finally understood you as a person. But when I looked at that face, I knew that I expected too much from humans. They wanted my death. I used my body to shield them against these monsters. I failed to understand human nature. How respect and love could turn into hate and disgust?"
Stephan remembered clearly. The voice that made him feel like he was about to vomit. He swore to himself that he would kill every single of them…
"Do you want to know how I survived? I prayed… And whoever they were, they answered my prayer. When I saw that you became the Holy Mother, I found it so funny that I couldn't help but laugh. How ironic… My master may as well be a God like yours."
*****
At the moment when Stephan was about to breathe his last, time stopped. Everything around him became blurry, and only one entity sat on a chair in front of a round table that appeared out of nowhere, drinking tea.
"Do you like tea?" The being asked, as if the dying man in front of him wanted to talk about tea in that situation.
"…" Stephan was taken by surprise. He felt so much hatred in his heart and it showed on his face. He was not in the mood to talk about tea.
"If I gave you the chance to live. What would you do?" The being asked another question, not minding Stephan's attitude.
"I… I will kill. I will kill them all!" Stephan shouted in rage. However, he was still retrained to the ground, and the huge axe was so close to his neck that if time resumed its flow, his head would fall.
"I expected more from you. If this is all you are worth, then your life isn't worth saving," the being added, making Stephan feel more rage.
"Who are you to judge me!" He shouted, feeling like the whole world was against him, judging him the way they wanted. When they needed him he was a hero. But they quickly changed their mind just because of a rumor… He became the enemy to kill.
"Would it make you a different person if you could read people's minds?" The being interjected.
"What?"
"You say that you didn't understand how people could change their minds easily. However, the answer to all of your question are now inside their mind, isn't it? If you could read their mind from the beginning, wouldn't you be able to avoid this outcome? You would have known that that woman had never seen you as her companion, let alone a lover."
What the entity said was the truth. But Stephan didn't have such an ability. If only he knew what Eva thought of him all of this time. If he knew what these people thought when they looked at him. He would have indeed avoided this outcome.
But, that was all a hypothetical situation.
"I could give you this power. But in exchange, I want you to do something for this world. I want you to become the most powerful person in this world. And before that happens, you must not kill Eva."
"What?" Stephan was confused but he didn't think that the being was joking. The fact that he could appear there was already proof that he was at least more powerful than anyone he had ever met.
"When the time comes, you will understand."
After that, the being disappeared, and Stephan's head was cut off.
However, he opened his eyes again, inside a hospital. But then he looked at his face, he didn't recognize himself.
It was the first time his gift was activated. The ability to transfer his memory and also read other people's minds. He had forcefully overwritten the memory and the personality of a dying person.
"Hahahaha! Hahaha! This will be fun! I will make sure that you have the most beautiful expression of despair on your face when I kill you, Eva!"
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