Goddess Kaleidoscope

The targeted Brotherhood members were completely bewildered, because these "female psychopaths" who appeared out of nowhere were all wearing shiny, masked bodysuits. Before each attack, they would deliberately make a public appearance, shout "I'm punishing you on behalf of Hume," and then beat them to a pulp with overwhelming power.

This made the beaten fraternity members start to question their existence. Aren't we also believers in the god of thievery? What do you mean by representing Hume to beat me up?

In short, the appearance of the Night Angels further damaged the Black Hand Brotherhood's prestige in Flamewood City. Other forces that hadn't been attacked were watching the spectacle with amusement, while ordinary people, without realizing it, became less afraid of these villains who used to ride roughshod over them.

However, not everyone regards the "Night Angels" as heroes; the attitudes of local government agencies and religious forces are quite intriguing.

First, on Lord Crude's side, a proclamation was issued, characterizing the Night Angels Phantom Thieves as "rioters who disturb the peace." However, apart from the strongly worded proclamation, no reward was offered. The proclamation only urged the Phantom Thieves to repent and surrender to the city guards as soon as possible.

The situation in the religious sphere is even more interesting, with the three major religious groups reacting in very different ways.

On the side of the Church of War, the bishop echoed the Duke's announcement, but the second-in-command, Priest Nomon, publicly praised the Night Angels' righteous deeds and wanted to invite them to join the Church of War's Knights of Protection to fight evil together.

Meanwhile, Bishop August of the Holy Light Church, in front of his followers, vehemently denounced the Night Angels as wicked cultists who deserved to be burned at the stake!

The old man was so angry because the Night Angels had stolen a batch of "good stuff" that the Brotherhood had originally planned to give him. He was so furious that he even put aside his original plan to cause trouble for the Rainbow Dance Troupe.

As for the Four Seasons Goddess Church, the local old bishop is an exceptionally Buddhist old man who never expresses his opinion on anything. He neither nods nor shakes his head, neither takes sides nor expresses his stance, and faces everything with a smile!

With things escalating to this point, the Black Hand Brotherhood was in a state of utter chaos, beset by internal and external troubles, leaving its members in a state of panic. However, the immense crisis did not foster unity; instead, it led some to consider taking the opportunity to leave the organization.

Despite having the word "brother" in its name, the Black Hand Brotherhood has no brotherhood whatsoever within its organization. It is essentially a criminal alliance composed of dozens of gangs and groups of varying sizes, as well as a number of individuals with considerable power.

Some of these people joined voluntarily, while others were former rival organizations that were absorbed into the Brotherhood during its expansion. You can't expect much loyalty from these people.

Faced with such a difficult situation, Jed once again proposed at the meeting to promote the necromancer Dick to the position of the new elder. The Brotherhood was currently in a state of panic. The successive losses of Vernon and Leopold made them desperately need a powerful and ruthless figure to step in and keep order. Dick was just right, especially since he possessed the artifact of the Thief God. It would be a huge loss to send such a talent away just because of some old grudge.

So, after a round of voting, the three elders other than Terlin and more than 70% of the senior council members voted in favor.

However, just as the vote passed by a large margin and Jade was about to announce Dick's promotion to the new elder in public, a whirlwind suddenly swept through the hall, followed by a black mist gathering in the wind.

Those who witnessed this scene were momentarily stunned, then almost reflexively bowed to the black mist. After all, this was the old chairman's signature move every time he appeared; even though he had announced his retirement, his prestige within the Brotherhood remained unmatched.

Soon, the black mist coalesced into a human form, but to the slight surprise of everyone present, it wasn't just the guild leader who had arrived; he was accompanied by another person dressed similarly in black robes. The old guild leader was dressed in all black and wore a silver mask, while this unfamiliar fellow was completely obscured by darkness under his hood, with no face whatsoever.

Looking at this strange fellow, everyone exchanged glances, but wisely refrained from asking any questions.

At this moment, the old chairman spoke, his voice as hoarse and deep as ever, making it impossible to tell whether he was male, female, young or old.

"How have you managed to turn the Brotherhood into this mess since I announced my resignation?"

"..."xN

Hearing the old chairman's question, everyone present fell silent, even though they knew he was no longer the chairman, they were still terrified. The old chairman looked around and saw that the elders and senior directors standing around all had the expressions of elementary school students who had made a mistake, and he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

"You have disappointed me greatly."

"President, it's not that we didn't try, it's just that our opponents this time are too..."

"Jed, do you remember what I said before? The thing I hate hearing the most is... excuses!"

With just a few words, the old chairman's aura intimidated everyone. Jade opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

The old chairman tapped the table with his finger and spoke in an authoritative tone that left no room for doubt.

“You guys are utterly useless, you've disappointed me greatly! It seems I'll have to come back and manage the Brotherhood for a while longer. Jade, pass on a message to Dick: I agree to make him the new elder, and past conflicts with our own people can be forgiven. Tell him to bring his artifact to the next meeting. These are critical times, and our enemy is so powerful, we must unite every brother. Pass down my order: activate the Crimson Brotherhood, gather all our strength, and go to war with the enemy!”

End of this chapter

The return of the old guild leader, as swiftly as lightning, was undoubtedly encouraging news for the Brotherhood, which was currently in dire straits. Several elders secretly breathed a sigh of relief, believing that as long as the old guild leader could lead them in an attack, everything would be alright.

Although the previous series of riots dealt a heavy blow to the Brotherhood, resulting in the loss of top talents such as Vernon and Leopold, as the saying goes, even a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The Brotherhood has accumulated a wealth of experience over the years and is not lacking in elite troops.

Therefore, the first order issued by the former president upon his return was for all the clubs to put aside their past grievances and unite against external threats.

The reason why the enemy was able to succeed so often and make them look so bad, besides the fact that the enemy was in the dark while we were in the light, was mainly because everyone was focused on vying for the position of chairman. They were scheming against each other and even trying to use the enemy to eliminate their rivals, which gave the enemy the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

In light of this, the former president decided to make a decision that went against his previous vows: to intervene in the selection of the new president. Instead of having the elders and senior directors recommend candidates, he would personally appoint the successor.

"Treat this battle against the enemy as a competition! I am your commander, referee, and judge. Whoever contributes the most and achieves the greatest merit will be the next president. But let me make this clear: if I find anyone who dares to disobey orders or sabotage their own people, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Under the old chairman's command, the Brotherhood began preparing for a counterattack.

Their first target was the "Night Angels Phantom Thieves," who had been causing them trouble recently. The old leader judged that they were very likely the ones who attacked the mine before, so he planned to capture one of them alive, find out who the mastermind was, and then use her as a hostage to force the mastermind to reveal themselves.

After the meeting, Jade rushed back to his casino. The old chairman's sudden return startled him, and he had to inform Lude about it as soon as possible.

Thanks to Rudd's persuasion, Jade has been successfully turned against his cause. This man joined the Brotherhood to break the curse on himself, but after working for the God of Thieves for so many years, he has ultimately wasted his time.

So when Rudd appeared before him, extending an olive branch on behalf of the entire Pantheon and displaying unparalleled power, Jad made what he considered a wise choice without much hesitation.

Upon returning to the casino, Jade immediately arranged for his trusted confidants to deliver a message, and then began to mobilize his troops and gather his men.

Jade had been operating in Yanmu City for many years. Although he also had a large meeting place under the casino where he secretly sold Divine Wine, his main businesses were still casinos and trade. He owned more than a dozen caravans and a fleet of more than thirty merchant ships of various sizes. He himself didn't really care much for the Divine Wine business, but as an elder of the Brotherhood, he couldn't avoid it.

After the destruction of the Mil mine, he took the opportunity to temporarily close his own meeting place and distribute some of his stock to other small and medium-sized gangs, thus winning over a group of people.

But Jade never expected that the old president, who had disappeared after announcing his resignation, would suddenly return. The brotherhood, which had been leaderless, immediately reversed its decline, and morale was restored. This left Jade feeling quite conflicted.

After taking stock of his resources, aside from money and property, Jade actually had quite a few troops at his disposal. He had over five hundred men in Yanmu City alone, and if he could bring back all the men stationed elsewhere, it wouldn't be a problem to gather over a thousand.

The most elite among them were naturally the "suicide squad" who had followed Jade out of the Empire. More than twenty years had passed, and apart from the dead and wounded, fewer than a hundred of these old subordinates remained, but they were still loyal to Jade, and not one of them had ever betrayed him.

Although they, like Jade, are generally over forty years old, practicing advanced martial arts can effectively delay aging, so their combat strength is still no less than it used to be. Among them, the elites with the best aptitude have reached the "super first-class" level, only slightly inferior to top experts like the old butler Sarkin or the skinner Vernon. They are Jade's trump cards.

However, anyone who can become an elder either has top-tier or elite subordinates or is a powerful figure in their own right, and each of them has some trump cards that they don't easily use.

The message from Jade quickly reached Lude. Upon learning that the mysterious former chairman had suddenly appeared, Lude became even more certain that the other party's true identity was the fake Thief God. His series of actions had broken her faith, so it would be strange if she wasn't anxious!

Interestingly, the other party also instructed Jade to deliver a message to the "necromancer" saying that they would forgive past transgressions and acknowledge Dick as the new elder if he returned to the regular meeting. Lude saw this as a golden opportunity, a chance to directly behead the imposter.

Currently, the necromancer Dick possesses both his "soul" and "body," but they are separated. His soul is inside Old Huen's body, while his body contains Trin's soul.

These two are constantly bickering in the tavern's safe house, and Dick always loses more than he wins because Trillion has two backers: his mother and his grandmother. Three generations of them are fighting against him, and the fact that he hasn't lost all of them is already a testament to his exceptional fighting ability!

However, after careful consideration, Lude was not at ease letting Trillin impersonate Dick to attend the meeting. Although the kid had indeed improved slightly recently, his acting skills were still no match for a seasoned undercover agent like Lude, and he didn't have the ability to protect himself.

So after much deliberation, Lud decided that he had to personally take charge in this crucial moment. He would gather all the able-bodied members of his family and have them stand by outside the venue, ready to charge in and wipe out the imposter and the entire Brotherhood leadership as soon as he gave the signal to smash the cup.

This could be said to be the routine that Lude was most familiar with in his previous life.

Now that it had been decided that this was the final all-out attack, Lud immediately began to make pre-battle arrangements. He first sent Kanna back to the Void Forest to call her parents, and then wrote a letter to the Red Dragon Amy to deliver to the Three-Person Tower, inviting Hamilton and Debra, these two big shots, to come and help.

The two had stayed in Pine Town for nearly a month, setting up a magic branch at their Brewster Academy, before returning to the Three-Person Tower before winter, agreeing to come back again next spring.

Hamilton is easy to talk to; that old bald man is actually very loyal and always ready to fight for his friends. Debra, on the other hand, has always wanted to take the snake girl as her apprentice, so Lude went along with her wishes and proposed an "exchange student system" to increase communication with the three-person tower, which he thought would be very welcome.

End of this chapter

While Ludwig was still trying to gather reinforcements, the regrouped Brotherhood had already launched a counterattack. They assembled a group of elite soldiers and deliberately set a trap in the city, ambushing the Spirit Squads that were attacking from all directions. Brunhilde and Guna of the Spirit Squad unfortunately fell into the trap.

Fortunately, the heroic spirits have a telepathic connection like radio, so after realizing they had been ambushed, the two fought back-to-back against the enemies surrounding them from all sides while decisively calling for reinforcements.

The ambush quickly escalated into a chaotic melee, with nine heroic spirits joining the battle. The Brotherhood also deployed over two hundred members, using heavy military weapons such as ballistae and trebuchets in the bustling city center, causing considerable damage to surrounding buildings and injuring many civilians who were watching the spectacle. The commotion even alerted the city guards.

As the battle raged on, Shanis arrived to reinforce the team. Her large-scale group energy absorption caused the men of the Brotherhood and the City Guard to fall unconscious, successfully leading the Heroic Spirit Squad out of the encirclement.

All nine heroic spirits who participated in the battle were wounded, but fortunately, they all managed to break through the encirclement and were fully healed after a set of healing spells upon returning to their base. On the other hand, the Brotherhood suffered heavy losses; more than two hundred elite soldiers, two-thirds of whom were wiped out, were killed, and not a single prisoner was captured.

After this incident, Duke Krud was furious. He had previously turned a blind eye to the Brotherhood because they were willing to be his lambs, giving him 100,000 gold coins a year to subsidize his military expenses. But that did not mean that the Duke would completely condone their misdeeds in his territory. This incident clearly crossed the line.

So the Duke summoned Marcy, the leader of the Beast Mercenary Group, that very night and gave the orc giant a thorough dressing-down.

Massi was also very frustrated. After all, his mercenaries had participated in the ambush, and they were the ones who brought the heavy military weapons. In the end, they smashed everything, including the soldiers and their equipment, to pieces. The failure of the operation and the loss of men and soldiers were enough to annoy Massi, but now he also had to be scolded by the Duke.

Massey originally wanted to "argue with reason," arguing that it was that phantom thief gang that started the fight, but the Duke didn't care about that. In short, the Duke's message was simple: if you've done someone a favor, go fight them outside the city; if they dare to cause trouble inside the city, don't blame him for being impolite.

Finally, the Duke didn't forget to give Massi a private warning. This half-orc giant was very "ambitious" and was not content to be just the leader of a mercenary group or an elder of a criminal organization. The Duke also admired his bravery and ability and wanted to give him a helping hand.

Faced with the Duke's olive branch, Massi naturally understood the meaning behind his words, and his face clearly showed hesitation and struggle.

It must be said that the Duke's words carried weight. The day after Masi sent the message back, he delivered an apology letter and a gift from the old chairman to the Duke. Secular rulers would never have dreamed that a mere mortal like himself could successfully threaten a god high above them.

In fact, the fake god of thieves was not really afraid of the duke. A god at the peak of the third tier was already stronger than the top mortals. If she wanted to, she could make the duke wake up the next day completely confused. But the problem was that doing so would be neither beneficial nor necessary.

The Duke may not pose a direct threat to her, but he can threaten the Brotherhood and the followers maintained by the Brotherhood. At least until she becomes the True Thief God and breaks through to the fourth level, it's best for the mortal rulers not to provoke her.

This is generally the humility and bitterness of lower-ranking deities.

However, the Brotherhood was forced to back down, but Ludwig, who had not received a warning, did not. He only knew that his men had been attacked and injured, and he would take revenge immediately without waiting for a day.

So Ludwig also unleashed a powerful weapon, launching "terrorist attacks" on several of the Brotherhood's properties. His method involved using clones to sneak in with high-powered alchemical bombs and detonate them, specifically targeting toilets. While the casualties were minimal, the horrific effect was immense!

"Damn it...who on earth have we messed with?"

On the top floor of the Silver House, Snake Granny Shirley, her brow furrowed, puffed on her pipe. Even with her extensive network of information, she still couldn't figure out who was targeting their Brotherhood. Their opponents were clearly no ordinary people; their attack methods and weaponry were completely unprecedented, as if they were a newly emerged force that had appeared out of nowhere. They truly couldn't get any information about them whatsoever.

As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated." Shirley disliked encountering such an opponent. But she vaguely felt that the old chairman, who had suddenly returned to take charge, must know something but refused to reveal it to them.

"Sigh! They either don't say anything or only say half of it. Are they playing riddles with me?"

In the recent battles, Shirley has also lost quite a few people. She was the weakest of the four remaining elders, with only the Silver House as her business. On the surface, she was a brothel madam, but in reality, she was an information broker. She had more girls than thugs under her command. If she continued to lose like this, she might be overthrown by some of the more powerful senior directors.

So during this time, Shirley also had a lot of ulterior motives. She did not wholeheartedly respond to the old chairman's call, but secretly preserved her strength, and did not send out the most capable children.

However, what bothered Shirley was that although she hadn't obtained any intelligence about the enemy, she couldn't hide the subtle actions of her own people. "Little" Jed and "Big" Massy were also secretly preserving their strength, just like her. In addition, Jed seemed to be in close contact with the young playwright named Hugo from the Rainbow Dance Troupe.

Intelligence suggests that this playwright is not only a skilled writer but also a highly capable magician, who is said to have crippled his unfilial son, Doug.

Talented people are treated with respect wherever they are. So, after Doug became their "role model," all the harassment against the Rainbow Dance Troupe disappeared overnight. The Flying Rainbow Dance Troupe was completely silent. Katie seemed to have been traumatized and stopped performing for almost a week, claiming to be sick.

In the subsequent kidnapping incident, Jade also took the initiative to act, but unfortunately he was a step too slow and was intercepted by the elusive necromancer Dick.

Based on these two incidents, Shirley concluded that Hugo was definitely not an ordinary person. The necromancer Dick had a close relationship with him, though it was unclear whether it was a normal collaboration or a superior-subordinate relationship. Furthermore, this guy had also won over Jade.

Shirley was very curious about what kind of shady dealings were going on between these three men, and even considered getting involved herself.

End of this chapter

With the decisive battle imminent, the Brotherhood members were all harboring their own agendas, with several elders secretly making arrangements for their own escape routes and preparing for both possibilities. Meanwhile, Ludwig's side seemed to lack a sense of tension.

After all, Lud's "nibbling away" tactics have been very effective. The Brotherhood and the imposters have been weakened by them. With six goddesses on their side against one on the other side, they really don't know how they can lose.

However, Lud was not complacent. He knew very well that while he had many goddesses on his side, only Shanes was truly capable of fighting at this stage. Aina and the three sisters were mainly responsible for logistical support and served as his personal "power banks." As for Hume, he had temporarily fallen off the front line due to health reasons and was now on the bench.

Hume knew that in his current state, forcing himself to go on stage would only hold everyone back, so he reluctantly stayed at the tavern to watch over things.