Greece brings evildoers.

Chapter 677 Can you even drive on this lousy road?
The next morning, a series of chattering noises came from outside the door, waking Lorne from his sleep.

"Has it still not been untied?"

"Oh dear, Xiao Hong, don't move around, you've made it impossible for us to find the knot."

"Ugh! No, no! This rope seems to be under a curse; the more force you apply, the tighter it gets! If this continues, I'll suffocate before you can untie it."

"What should I do?"

"Let's just go for it! I refuse to believe that the four of us working together can't break this thing!"

"But what if the teacher finds out..."

"Three months, no, three years! I'll cover all your snack supplies for three years!"

"make a deal!"

Three sounds of swallowing saliva rang out from outside the door, and a divine light surged forth.

However, the next moment, a scream rang out:

"Why has this thing gotten longer?"

"It can split again?"

"Oh no! It's a trap! Run!"

In the end, the exclamations turned into cries of sorrow and sobs.

Lorne opened the door and saw the four "doorbells" hanging from the lintel, now numbering from one, swaying in the wind. He couldn't help but sneer:

"You dare to collude with this wicked disciple for a few bites of food? Are you asking for trouble?"

Caught red-handed, the three children of Destiny immediately wore bitter faces and begged for mercy:
"Teacher, we won't do it again."

"Hmph, you're all talk. Go talk to my whip!"

With a cold snort, Lorne raised his hand and pulled out a thick, large whip from the magic circle.

This object is entirely red and black, made from twisted monster sinews, and also incorporates special runes.

It's incredibly painful to whip someone, but it doesn't leave scars; it's known as the "nemesis of little devils."

Back then, Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, used this very thing to subdue Stheno and Euryale.

Seeing the thick, heavy whip about to fall, the pale-faced Third Child of Destiny hurriedly spoke:
"Wait! We have very important intelligence!"

"explain."

"The Egyptian fleet has ceased operations, the enemy situation along the Celtic and Northern European borders has eased, and the number of Persian scouts roaming the Roman borders is also decreasing!"

The three little ones chattered away, giving their reports one after another.

Lorne rolled his eyes at the three little ones, his expression softening slightly:

"You should have said you were here to deliver a message."

Immediately, he slightly raised his hand and withdrew the beast tendons that bound the three children of destiny.

These three little girls are just a bit greedy and playful, but they're nowhere near as bad as little devils.

He never intended to really hurt the three girls; he just wanted to scare them.

Having achieved its goal, it's only natural to take the opportunity to back down now.

The three terrified little ones immediately scurried out of the courtyard gate as soon as they landed, fearing they would be left behind to be beaten.

But before they could successfully escape, a voice called out to them from behind:
"Wait a minute..."

"W-what's wrong, teacher?"

“Send a letter for me too.” Lorne paused and added, “The three of you go to Heath Island, Mount Ares, and Avalon respectively, and summon the three Norn goddesses, the three Grace goddesses, and the three Lake Sisters. Have them gather at the Kabbalah Tree of Life and tell them that I have something important to discuss with them.”

The three boys, who had been trembling with fear at the door, breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

It turns out it was just delivering a letter. I thought the teacher had changed her mind.

However, why do these recipients all seem to be goddesses of fate from various divine eras?
The three children of destiny seemed to be deep in thought, then raised their little hands and pointed to themselves:

"Are we going too?"

"Of course! You are one of the three Fates of Rome, and you need to represent Rome at this meeting."

"Is it related to this intelligence report?"

"That's right!"

"Is it a celebration? Because the enemy has retreated?" The three Destiny children couldn't help but feel excited and overjoyed.

Lorne looked at the three innocent, almost foolish, little faces before him and sighed.
"Let me test you. In the ring, why would a boxer pull back his fist?"

"I know that, it's to better prepare for the next strike!"

The lively Tian put her hands on her hips and answered triumphantly.

"The answer is correct, but not entirely. You've wasted your time in class; go back and copy the Bible!"

Lorne flicked Tian on the head as he leaned in to claim credit, and then punished him with a dark face.

The little girl immediately clutched her head and wailed, her face filled with sorrow.

The Bible, that thing that Cassandra and the Pantheon just compiled, it has so many words.

Having learned from their previous experience, the more composed Tining and Tibao pondered for a moment, then seemed to have realized something, a serious expression appearing on their faces:
"Teacher, are you using your fist to represent those bad guys who have designs on us?"

"They...are they about to make their move?"

Lorne nodded, a hint of seriousness appearing in his deep eyes:
"Therefore, I need to rely on your strength to predict the course of this war before it officially begins, so that we can make the decisions that are most beneficial to us."

That's it!

The three children of Destiny suddenly realized what was happening, and their little faces all turned serious.

Immediately, the three little ones bid farewell to Lorne, activated the power of [Gateway], and flew to different eras of gods to deliver messages.

After the three Fates left, Nero, who had been hanging there all night, rolled his eyes and immediately declared with righteous indignation:
"Teacher, a great battle is imminent, I request permission to go and prepare for the war!"

Although he understood that the girl was probably just using the opportunity to slip away, Lorne always knew how to prioritize important matters.

He rolled his eyes at Nero in mid-air, raised his hand to retract the beast tendon, and said:

“Very well. Caesar and Alexander are recovering from their injuries, so you will take charge of the Praetorian Guard and the Companion Cavalry during this time.”

After successfully escaping, Nero first stretched his somewhat stiff limbs, then asked with a grin:

"If I achieve good results, will there be any reward?"

"How about I give you another set of YZ bondage?"

Seeing his teacher's forced smile, Nero shuddered and immediately rushed out of the yard as if his pants were on fire.

Lorne shook his head and strode towards the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

~~
At dusk, in the Garden of Eden beneath the Kabbalah Tree of Life.

An ancient stone altar stands on a lush green lawn, surrounded by megaliths sculpted by time.

As night fell, stars, like tiny diamonds, were set in the deep sky. The silvery moonlight shone on the altar, elongating the twelve figures of varying heights and builds.

They are the twelve Fates from the four great pantheons of Greece, Norse mythology, Celtic mythology, and Rome.

The stars are in the right position, and the timing is perfect.

let's start.

The twelve goddesses of fate exchanged glances and nodded, then raised their arms in succession to embrace the starry sky, chanting together the solemn verses of destiny:
"We are Alpha, we are Omega."

"We are the first, we are the last."

"We are the beginning, we are the end." "We were, we are, and we shall be forever!"

"We are here to support the world, here to connect destinies."

"—Let us inscribe our questions here, and seek our answers here!"

Accompanied by chanting, the berries of the twelve shrubs under the Kabbalah Tree of Life decay and regenerate in turn, and the meadow sometimes withers and sometimes flourishes.

The stars in the sky danced and intertwined, forming patterns that foreshadowed the future.

Streams of light representing countless possibilities descended from the rising curtain of night, intertwining and converging on the figure surrounded by twelve goddesses of fate at the center of the arena.

Let me see what kind of future we will have.

As he murmured to himself, Lorne tossed his right hand slightly upwards. A bronze dodecahedron die traced a graceful arc and fell into the star-studded astrolabe, where it spontaneously disintegrated.

The twelve facets of the die reflect different folds of time: the first cry of a baby, the last sigh of a dying man, the glory and fall of the Titans, the death and rebirth of Norse mythology, the steadfastness and glory of a knight, the rise and fall of an empire—all intertwined, superimposed, and overlapped at different angles, on different sides, and at different times.

Ultimately, countless possibilities collapsed into a single point, emitting a shockwave like a supernova explosion, instantly annihilating the figure in the void.

"call!"

Lorne, standing in the magic circle, suddenly opened his eyes, knelt on the ground, his eyes overflowing with golden-red blood tears, and gasped for breath, seemingly extremely exhausted.

Upon seeing this, the twelve goddesses of fate hurriedly stopped the ceremony, disregarding the backlash they were suffering, and rushed forward to help the god of origin up.

"It's okay, I'm okay..."

Lorne waved his hand, declining the goddesses' offer of assistance.

He then wiped away the blood and tears from the corners of his eyes, stood up from the ground alone, and a warm smile appeared on his face:
"Gentlemen, I have found the answer I was looking for. However, I need to organize my thoughts first. You all look exhausted today, so go and rest for a bit. I will let you know as soon as I have any insights or takeaways."

The twelve Fates nodded in agreement and, supporting each other, walked toward the temple in the Garden of Eden.

As he watched the twelve figures gradually disappear into the distance until they vanished from his perception range, Lorne's smile vanished instantly.

"It seems that the results of the observation are not ideal."

A faint sound came from behind the tree. Hecate crossed her arms and stepped out of the shadows.

Lorne nodded, a shadow falling over his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "In that instant, I observed 14000605 possible futures."

Hecate asked, "How many times have we won?"

Lorne slowly extended a finger.

"Once? So few?" Hecate frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the result.

However, Lorne shook his head and said:

"Not even once!"

Hecate gasped, her face filled with shock:

"None of the 14000605 possible futures are ones in which we will win? How is that possible?"

"Don't be so surprised, that's just the truth."

Lorne sighed and explained,

"Putting aside everything else, just comparing the highest combat strength of both sides: Zarwan, after merging with the world source of Canaan, should be able to match me; Shiva, Nzambhi, and Nun are all relatively ancient origin gods, while Artoria and Venus have just stepped into the origin, and Tiamat has lost the foundation of the Babylonian world. If it comes down to a direct confrontation, you may not be a match for those three."

In addition, the number of gods, land area, cities and population size of the various systems of gods in Persia, Egypt, West Africa and India far exceed ours. We are at a disadvantage in all aspects in terms of data, which is an indisputable fact.

Winning is the exception; losing is actually logical.

Hecate was taken aback, and a wry smile appeared on her face.

These words did wake her up.

The repeated miraculous victories and seemingly impossible successes made her almost forget the gap in their strength and the ironclad rule of the strong surviving and the weak dying.

What breaks these "inevitables" is the die in front of us, representing "chance" and "possibility".

Hecate looked at Lorne, a glimmer of hope in her eyes:

"Even you can't do anything about it?"

Lorne shook his head and sighed helplessly:
"I had a feeling we would lose. But what I didn't expect was that we didn't win even once out of 14000605 possible futures."

In his mind, as long as the win rate is not 0, there are infinite possibilities.

Even with only a one in ten thousand chance, he might still achieve 100% success.

But this time, the odds of winning are 0.

In other words, even if all the power and means of the five great European gods were used, it would be impossible to defeat the overwhelming Persian army on the future battlefield.

Lorne sat beneath the Kabbalah Tree of Life, his thoughts a jumbled mess.

Like a gambler sitting at the table.

He can win countless times, but eventually he will face the moment when he loses everything.

Perhaps this impending battle of the gods is the end for this gambler.
Frustration, pain, confusion, and a host of other emotions surged through Lorne. He felt an unprecedented exhaustion, his body and soul sinking deeper and deeper into darkness...

Until, a pair of arms reached out from behind and hugged him tightly.

Just like before, just like when we first met.

“You have done enough. Whether as a king or a god, no one is better than you! If even you choose to give up, then we and our world are truly beyond saving.”

Hecate held her grand-disciple in her arms and whispered a soft yet firm word.

Feeling the strong support behind him, Lorne felt some comfort, but his tone was still somewhat dejected:
"But I really have no other choice now, and I see no hope at all."

"Then let's wait a little longer. As long as the cards haven't been dealt and it's not the last moment, the outcome is still uncertain. We might still have a chance!"

Hecate answered with a smile, showing no sign of disappointment at the defeat.

Because their own grand-disciple, their king, will surely bring about a miracle at the last moment.

Feeling that fervent and pure trust, Lorne's gloom was dispelled considerably.

He suddenly stood up from under the tree, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and said:
"That's right! I'll go and reorganize the intelligence to see if there are any other factors that could increase our chances of winning!"

"No rush. There's still a long time before the Persians officially make their move. You've just glimpsed too much of the future and suffered a significant backlash. What you need most now is rest and relaxation."

Hecate answered seriously and pressed Lorne back to his original position.

Resting? Here?

Is this awful place even a decent place to rest?

Lorne looked around at the empty surroundings, somewhat puzzled.

However, the next moment, looking at Hecate, who had tied her long hair back and lowered her head, he understood what "relaxation" meant.

Wow, you can actually drive in this crappy place!
Just as Lorne was experiencing a bittersweet moment, several disgruntled complaints came from behind him:
"They're hiding here to steal food? That's outrageous!"

"Why aren't you calling us yet!"

"That's it!"

Looking back, one could see beams of light opening behind the Kabbalah Tree of Life, from which Athena, Thetis, Hestia, and other Greek goddesses emerged.

How should I put it? They truly live up to their Greek heritage.

Their thought processes are all the same.

In that case, let the storm rage on!

Lorne steeled his resolve, and a massive magical barrier unfolded.

(End of this chapter)