Apocalypse Forecast

Watching himself with that silly look, Huai Shi suddenly felt like he was looking in a mirror.

But when he looked down at his sharp claws, turned back to see the blade-like scales and tail, and scratched his nose, creating a shower of hot sparks, Huai Shi finally realized.

——Oh my, I’ve turned into a dog again!

What the heck! What’s going on! How did this happen!

Huai Shi was not doing well at all!

It’s bad enough to transform into a dog, but the problem is the dog has turned into me!

Now, right in front of Huai Shi’s eyes, on the high tower, squatting in the Sun Caster’s seat, it raised its leg to scratch its ear, yawned comfortably, and then stuck out its tongue to lick the skeleton’s head.

Enough! Brother, enough!

Stop licking, for goodness’ sake!

Huai Shi watched his image rapidly deteriorate, feeling the dog’s tears almost welling up, heart aching.

"Tong Ji, save me!!!"

"Ah, this..."

Tong Ji was stunned for a long time, looked at him and the dog with schadenfreude, and couldn’t help but laugh and roll: "Fool, I’m powerless to help."

"What exactly is going on!"

"Isn’t this just the rule of the land?" Tong Ji wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes, "[Gains and Losses Reversed], is that what this is about? Hahaha... hahaha... I see..."

"Stop keeping me in suspense, okay!"

Huai Shi barked like a dog.

Immediately, the ’Huai Shi’ opposite also barked like a dog, seemingly cursing back...

"Well, to put it simply, you seem to... have hit the lottery again, hahaha." Tong Ji couldn’t stop laughing: "Three paths, labyrinth, night, mystery, and portals, I think I know what’s going on—Huai Shi, this is the Temple of Hecate, the goddess of roads and sorcery!"

Hecate, a hidden figure in Greek mythology, a goddess unknown outside the twelve main gods.

In reality, her origins are astonishing.

Many scholars and alchemists suspect that this goddess is just a vest of a bigshot from another pantheon. Tracing upward and analyzing downward, one can discover that this goddess once held authority over the sky, earth, and sea, and had a massive influence even subtly in Hell.

"Ah, now that I recall, she was a difficult woman, a social-phobic recluse, yet communicating with her was troublesome, refusing to listen no matter what, downright an ultimate obsessive. I even sympathized with her for quite a while after learning she died."

Tong Ji seemed to accidentally drop another bombshell, but the dog-transformed Huai Shi was no longer interested in listening.

"So, what does that have to do with me turning into a dog!"

"Though the explanation is long, let’s make it short." Tong Ji, after some thought, happily explained: "Do you know why the gods had to come together?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"In simple terms, why form a pantheon? Huai Shi, have you ever thought about this?" Tong Ji said: "Imagine, if you were a god spirit, born with power, untouched by the world’s smoke, though life has a limit, it stretches unseen in a short time... isn’t it better to eat and drink well, why bother teaming up to work with people?"

"Bored?" Huai Shi scratched his head, paws rubbing against the dog’s head, producing a sharp sound, and quickly realized the answer: "Sky’s Command?"

"Exactly, imagine you, Huai Shi, as a kindergarten teacher, having to take care of children every day, but simultaneously being the kindergarten’s guard, utterly occupied... Then someone comes to find you, saying they can help guard the kindergarten, but you’ll have to look after their kid, what would you think?"

"You’re saying, mutual benefits?"

"Bingo!"

Tong Ji snapped their tiny wing: "If there were a social history among the gods, then this is probably the embryonic form of the pantheon. Everyone has their strengths, takes what they need, chooses to unite to fulfill their destiny and desires.

A chef, a kindergarten teacher, a guard, and a janitor team up to form a kindergarten, going into competition with other kindergartens..."

Tong Ji laughed meaningfully: "The competition among god spirits is very fierce, there was a time they were overly competitive... This is getting far, ultimately, the existence of a genealogy relies on the union of the god spirits.

Like Olympus, everyone has a role, while internal struggles are fierce, from generation to generation, until the third was finally able to establish a stable framework.

After killing his father, Zeus teamed up with Poseidon to reach an agreement with their unfortunate brother Hades, Zeus became the lord of the skies, holding unparalleled authority. Poseidon got the biggest share, commanding the seas, while unfortunate Hades, alongside Nyx, restrained the revival of Chaos, after going to Hell, became the dirty work handler for the pantheon...

Simply put, Zeus became the CEO of Olympus Group, Poseidon handled finance; Hades was in charge of risk control, with internal suppression and audit department head Hera, equipment and logistics department head Hephaestus, information chief Hermes, Fate’s three goddesses handling human resources... And the head of technical research department was Zeus’s sister Hestia, but the real controller was this mysterious goddess, Madam Hecate."

Tong Ji finally unveiled the mystery: "In Olympus, what Hecate and Hestia controlled were the ancient sorcery and magic, which today is one of the sources of alchemy..."

After listening, Huai Shi was left in a long daze, for quite a while, unable to hold back his anger: "But what does this have to do with me turning into a dog!"

"We’re getting there, can’t you wait a little longer..."

Tong Ji calmly waved her little wings: "The authority that Hecate holds is sacrifice and dedication, if replaced by a term in alchemy, then it’s one of the fundamental rules of modern alchemy.

——To gain, something must be lost!"

"What she excels at is reducing losses while enhancing results, or achieving effects initially unattainable through multiplied losses—that’s the meaning of gains and losses reversed, Huai Shi."

Tong Ji said with a smirk: "Sometimes, the important thing is not what you gained, but what you lost..."

Huai Shi was dumbfounded, looked down at the dog’s head in the nearby mirror.

What did I lose?

Humanity!

But immediately, his expression stiffened for a moment, looked at his silly-looking self across, and sensed something obscure in his heart.

"Are you saying... that broken dog is the price I paid for what I lost?"

"In terms of Alchemy, that holds true, Huai Shi." Tong Ji chuckled softly, "Isn’t the current you the result of numerous sacrifices?

Everyone who wants to grow must experience setbacks and pain and must give up something.

That’s what it means to be an adult."

"From the perspective of Alchemy, isn’t it through the furnace of destiny that, after abandoning your former innocence, you’ve forged the current self?

In your Source Armament, what Behemoth represents is pain, combined with the beastly aspect of your nature, representing your solidified qualifications, you could say it’s the embodiment of your beastliness—though your beastliness, like you, is always adorably foolish, hahaha.

If another Alchemist were here, they would at most find the price paid by their Alchemy multiplied, making it uncontrollable. But it aligns with you... no, it’s precisely because it’s you that you can align with this field, isn’t it?

In the current Mystic Ritual of the divine duel, all causality will be magnified a thousandfold—perhaps you’ve been favored by Hecate’s Divine Nature, who can say?

’It’s all part of destiny,’ isn’t it?"

This is what it’s all about, [Gains and Losses Reversed]!

The achievements of Alchemy and its costs have been swapped.

Between Huai Shi, the achievement, and Behemoth, the cost, an incredible exchange has occurred!

Huai Shi felt as if he had vaguely grasped something.

But when he tried to think about it, he couldn’t figure it out.

However, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief—after all, this was merely the restrictions imposed by the field, and once the duel concludes, things will naturally revert.

But the problem now is...

How to fight?

Huai Shi looked up and met the eyes of ’Huai Shi.’

Just like the ferocity and cruelty in Behemoth’s eyes, in the Seat of the Sun Caster, ’Huai Shi’s’ eyes glinted with a bone-chilling cold light.

A dense aura of battle rose between the twin towers.

Stirring the clouds and skies.

In that moment, war, the war began!

.

Twenty minutes later, on the battlefield, the Paradise Guard roared, shouting at the Lizard Giant just a stone’s throw away. The Lizard Giant waved its hand, its heavy breathing loud, behind it, the formation of countless troops neighed furiously.

"Hallelujah!" (Snatch the landlord!)

"Hallelujah!!" (Don’t snatch!)

"Hallelujah!!!" (Double!)

"Hallelujah!!!!" (Super double!)

The Skeleton sitting in the middle with a confused expression looked at the cards in its hand, scratching its Mohican golden hair, its face already plastered with strips of tinfoil paper.

——This game is so complicated, how exactly do you play it?

Just like that, the tense and thrilling fifth round of the Helios Landlord Tournament resumed once again.

Nearby, the bored Incarnation of Anger lay on the ground, casting a sidelong glance at Pieta beside it, rolling its eyes as if to say: What an idiot?

Pieta’s White Deer, while gnawing on the toxic grass beneath its feet, thought for a moment and nodded.

Admittedly, quite idiotic indeed...

"I feel like someone’s cursing me?"

Atop the Giant Dragon tower, Huai Shi raised his paw to scratch his dog-like head, unable to comprehend.

Yet immediately after, his action paused in place, sensing the tremor that swept through all of Helios.

The earth roared!

A terrifying blast accompanied by brilliant light surged from the distant mist, tearing everything apart before rising into the sky.

Countless blood-red rays merged like burning flames, coalescing into an abstract, writhing giant hand stretching out toward the Cosmic Yuan An.

Bit by bit, challenging the sun wheel suspended in the sky once more!

The phenomenon instantly enveloped all of Helios.

Sudden mutation.

Huai Shi raised his head, stunned, his tongue lolling out.

"Mother, Tong Ji, hurry and come out to see God!"

Tong Ji didn’t speak.

However, her expression gradually became subtle.

What could this be considered?

Shouldn’t we say... just as expected of the Great Grandmaster?