Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1168: Chapter 894: Fighting a Legend to the End

”In that case, we’re finally evenly matched, aren’t we?”

Hercules grinned smugly, raised his hand, and blew a sharp, piercing whistle.

Once again, a warhorse’s neigh echoed in the void. Hooves stepped on cold wind and sea waves; that majestic warhorse was actually entirely azure, like the Sea itself.

The divine steed Arion, created by Poseidon, God of the Sea, and Demeter, Goddess of the Seasons!

Just like that, it lowered its head obediently, letting Hercules mount its back, brimming with battle lust!

Huai Shi felt as if facing a great enemy.

He sensed an unprecedented crisis and pressure!

Ever since becoming a Sublimator, this was the first time someone outclassed him in sheer style points!

This would not do at all.

Huai Shi also drew the Sword of Virtue, slashed at the air, and summoned the White Horse of Paradise.

They were now evenly matched, point for point.

See that? I’ve got one of these too!

The White Horse only shot him a sideways, disgruntled look, then turned its gaze toward the divine creation opposite. With a very human expression, it spat on the ground.

Ever since it started following Huai Shi, it seemed to have completely forgotten its original dignity and manners. Its weight and its personality had both started to swell, becoming more and more outrageous.

You could only say, pet like master.

After tagging along with Huai Shi, even the Prince’s White Horse had rapidly gone full punk; its elegance dropped straight off a cliff.

When it met its master’s eyes, the two of them were mutually filled with disgust.

The White Horse was utterly baffled: What’s wrong with you! How’d you provoke another one you can’t beat?

Huai Shi was even more baffled: What’s wrong with you! How are you just one single horse showing up! Since when is this the kind of problem that can be solved by bringing one more horse? I clearly told you to go find Xian, get the Buddha to send backup, okay!

The White Horse glared back in even deeper indignation: No signal, can’t get through! You think I don’t want to? Take a look where the hell we are! We’ve almost run out of the Solar System already—forget 6G! Is there even WIFI?

Man and horse stared at each other in speechless silence.

The same four words rose in both their hearts: [We’re screwed.]

Meanwhile, atop the divine steed Arion, Hercules, perfectly at ease, raised his head and asked, ”So then, are you ready now?”

No.

Give it a bit longer.

Next time, all right?

Huai Shi sighed, looked back, thought for a moment, and then asked seriously:

”To be honest, Brother Hai, you and I hit it off at first sight, and our hearts are as one; we could be called inseparable friends. But there’s one thing I don’t really understand. Could I trouble you to explain it to me?”

Hercules nodded calmly, but his pupils locked firmly onto Huai Shi’s position.

Like a hawk before it begins the hunt.

He did not relax in the slightest.

”——A great Hero, a mighty champion like you, why serve Publius?”

Huai Shi spread his hands and asked curiously, ”Look, I don’t see you lowering yourself to be some puppet on strings. If you want to realize your ambitions, why not forsake darkness for the light and join our Astronomical Society?

The benefits are super good, the money’s super plentiful; we safeguard the world, protect peace—how is that not better than being some Alchemist’s lapdog?”

”It does sound nice, but I won’t consider it.”

Hercules shook his head and calmly refused. ”What I obey is not Publius, but the will of the Gods. Since the Gods have allowed me to descend here, then there must be a mission for me.”

”The Gods?” Huai Shi was puzzled. ”Weren’t you once one of the Gods yourself?”

Hercules smiled. ”Isn’t it precisely for that reason that I cannot bring myself to like this current era?”

”Is it the divine side of you that dislikes it, or is it the human side that cannot accept it?”

Huai Shi stared at his face and asked again, ”Or is it that you simply don’t want to go on any longer, Hercules?”

”Aren’t they all the same?”

Hercules laughed loudly. ”Huai Shi, I understand what you’re thinking, but there’s no need. My era, my adventures, my wars—they all ended a thousand years ago.

Since Fate has allowed us to meet in this solemn divine realm, all I need do is offer my gratitude, and treat this as the reward for a lifetime of toil!

As for everything else, don’t bother yourself with it—”

Just like that, he tugged on the reins, no longer hiding his battle lust. ”In this illusory, dreamlike brief rebirth, come slaughter with me!”

”Then there’s no helping it.”

Huai Shi shrugged regretfully. ”But at least I finally heard a line spoken from your heart.”

In that instant, the light shining on the Sword Blade lit up his pupils.

A thunderous boom.

For a gale and raging waves howled toward him.

The deafening roar of a rising sea erupted from beneath the iron hooves of the horse blessed by the Sea God; a freezing wind slammed into his face, and right after that came a Sword Blade burning with boundless heat!

In the instant they crossed, half of Huai Shi’s body was engulfed in flames, which quickly went out.

His right hand, gripping the sword, had almost lost all feeling. The metalized web of his thumb split open with a crack and was twitching uncontrollably.

On the other side of the battlefield, Hercules laughed loudly, pulled the reins, wheeled around, and Arion neighed as it once again sprinted toward him!

Death Perception flared up.

Huai Shi’s eyes widened.

Originally, he had thought that after mounting the divine steed, although Hercules had grown stronger, he could no longer use his unpredictable footwork to display the Sacred Oath that had slain the Hydra, and thus might not be impossible to handle.

But only now did he realize... having abandoned those eerie techniques, Hercules had become even more troublesome and difficult to deal with!

Because after putting away his Dagger, Hercules finally drew from his waist a Longsword that Huai Shi had never seen before.

Malfadwas.

A peerless Treasure Sword, burning with eternal flames and battle, forged by the Fire God for a legendary Hero!

Its radiance walks with war, its edge endures alongside legend!

Countless divine weapons in later ages were forged because of the legends it left behind, just as countless heroes and champions appeared while gazing upon the departing back of Hercules...

It is the miracle inscribed into history alongside Hercules.

The proof of the legendary Hero’s invincibility!

”Come then, warrior!”

Hercules laughed bold and hearty, rolling up towering waves, driving his warhorse and the flood, cleaving down with his Sword Blade to collide with the burning Axe Blade.

Darkness flashed before Huai Shi’s eyes, as a violent tremor burst forth within his Soul.

A crack actually appeared on the Axe of Anger.

This is... the second Extreme Interpretation?

Sacred Oath · Crushing!

No... it should be the third, actually...

Because the second one, he had already experienced.

This panic constantly welling up from his heart, this heavy premonition, even the shrieking roar of Death Perception, all came from the opponent’s all‑round suppression— even his Soul began to waver.

He was suppressed by such a bold and heroic stance.

From the bottom of his heart, he feared his opponent, feeling that he could not win...

Sacred Oath · God‑Slaying!

”Truly despicable, Hercules.” Huai Shi sighed, dodging the Sword of the Fire God’s cleaving strike, seeing only a crack extending from where he had just stood, all the way into the distance.

”Hey, what kind of man relies on mental attacks!”

”Hahaha, sorry, but I can’t claim to be any noble soul, and a battlefield’s no place for morals—once the war’s begun, as long as I can win, I’ll use any underhanded method with a clear conscience!”

Alioth screamed, rearing up; Hercules smiled without the slightest shame, laughing aloud: ”Come, come then, warrior of the new age—let us, fair and aboveboard, by any means necessary, settle this once and for all!”

Huai Shi couldn’t help but laugh.

What was he supposed to say at a time like this?

He thought for a moment, then said seriously, ”In that case, I can stop pretending to be some upright gentleman.”

In that instant, the gate of the Ruins opened behind him, eternal darkness and unending nightmares erupting forth along with despair, torment, Grudge, fury, and Sorrow.

When the phantom of the burning Banner appeared, everything was shrouded in the Domain of the Great Priestess.

An invisible Hell, forged from the furnace, descended here!

The high, piercing cry of Extreme Intent · Symphony burst forth!

The gallop of the divine steed Alioth paused for a split second, the floodwaters were swallowed by darkness, and even the assisting winds of the four seasons vanished without a trace—briefly, they were suppressed!

And Huai Shi, atop the White Horse, charged forth.

Once more, they crossed paths.

Sparks flew.

Hercules sheathed his sword, took down the longbow from his back, and loosed arrows steeped in Hydra’s venom in rapid succession, only to have them casually knocked aside by Huai Shi’s Short Spear of Seishui.

The deadly poison fell into the shadows and, in an instant, disappeared without a trace; only clusters of pure white Iris flowers blossomed.

Amidst the virulent toxin, the legendary Hero’s expression did not change; his smile remained bright and carefree as he galloped through this hopeless darkness, the Sword of Flame in his hand shining brilliantly!

This paltry Grudge could not halt his strides; the enemy’s fury only made him stronger.

The arrival of adversity only made his fighting spirit burn all the higher!

This was the fourth Extreme Interpretation, condensed from absolute confidence and absolute valor tempered in countless battles!

Sacred Oath · Unbeaten!

The Sword of the Fire God crashed down once more, shattering the projection of the Long Spear in Huai Shi’s hands; and this time, the divine steed suddenly halted in place without warning, then wheeled about without any buffer or build‑up of strength, as if it toyed with the very space beneath its hooves, charging at Huai Shi once more!

The White Horse widened its eyes and rammed forward, unwilling to show weakness.

Ignoring its own body being sliced open by the flood, frost crystallized and spread over its wounds; the White Horse opened its mouth and actually bit toward Alioth, the incarnation of the Sword of Virtue screaming, urging the guy on its back to hurry up and give it some real effort.

Show me the backbone befitting a Prince of Paradise, damn it!

Huai Shi roared.

He gripped The Hammer of Sorrow with both hands and brought it crashing down against the Sword of the Fire God once more. Extreme Intent · Symphony gathered all lingering echoes around them; the Power of Resonance and vibration erupted from Huai Shi’s hands, meeting the boundless Power from Hercules head‑on.

The light in Hercules’s eyes grew even brighter. Controlling Alioth, he pulled away again, preparing for the next charge.

But this time, Huai Shi actually clung close in pursuit!

Without warning, the darkness beneath Alioth’s hooves suddenly boiled over; a Python that had long lain dormant shot upward, coiling around it, the pitch‑black Python opening its jaws to tear at the divine steed’s flesh, even binding Hercules along with it!

This is...

Hercules’s eyes widened in astonishment—he had never expected this.

The Sorrow of Index!

This was the Sorrow of Index, which had long since undergone Metamorphosis again, the hidden trump card Huai Shi had kept in the shadows all this time!

The Axe of Anger swiveled, carving a vicious arc through the air as it hewed toward Hercules’s head.

At this moment of utmost peril, Hercules suddenly drew in a deep breath and roared to the heavens. Beneath his bronze skin, a searing crimson light emerged as he forcibly tore open a gap in the Python’s binding!

Such a restraint was certainly terrifying, but the one here was no Laocoon!

The Sword of the Fire God blocked the cleaving strike of the Axe of Anger.

And in that very instant, he heard Huai Shi’s full‑throated cry:

”Beelzebub!!!!”