My Days As a Wizard in Marvel
001. A Slightly Different Marvel World
My name is Duke. If I'm not mistaken, I should be the protagonist of this story.
My mom gave me this name, saying she hoped I would be as successful as a 'Duke' in the future. My dad wanted to name me 'Du Kang', saying Du Kang was the God of Wine and would be even more successful.
My mom slapped him, saying Du Kang was just a drunkard and what success was there in that? So, I ended up being called Duke. Sometimes I wonder, if I had been named Du Kang back then, would I really have been successful?
After wasting half my life, today I finally achieved something!
To save a girl I didn't even know, I fell from the seventh floor!
To be precise—'I am currently in the process of falling'.
I finally got to be the protagonist for a while; I just hope that when the newspapers report it, they give me a positive image.
I also hope that girl remembers me. From a quick glance, she seemed quite pretty.
I should be hitting the ground soon. In the final moments of my life, what I'm actually thinking is—'I hope my face doesn't look too ugly after the fall'.
However, this final extravagant hope seems quite difficult to achieve, because I'm falling headfirst...
'???'
The feeling is a bit strange.
Although my physics grades weren't great, I know that falling from the seventh floor only takes a few seconds. So why does it feel like I've been falling for a whole century?
My eyelids are so heavy I can't open them at all, until—'Splash!'
A large mouthful of water poured into my mouth—fishy, salty, astringent, and bitter!
My first reaction was: Damn it, I fell into the ocean!
I fell off a fishing boat once, and it felt exactly like this.
But my second reaction was: How the hell could there be an ocean below the building?
My third reaction was a strong sense of dizziness.
The massive impact of the seawater, combined with the icy feeling of suffocation and choking on a large gulp of saltwater, left my mind in a blurred state. Although I knew I couldn't 'pass out' now, I... I really had no strength left.
In a semi-conscious state, I seemed to see a mermaid swimming toward me through my hazy vision. In the next instant, I completely... 'blacked out'!
At the very end, I felt my lips covered by something 'warm and soft'.
————
...
"Warning! Warning! Host, your life is under severe threat."
A cold mechanical voice echoed in my head, mixed with various chaotic noises, like... the blaring of horns, the thundering of hooves, the whinnying of horses, gunshots... and some whistling sounds of I don't know what.
Damn it, why is it so noisy? Can't a guy get some sleep?
"Electrical stimulation will be administered in 10 seconds. Countdown begins: 10, 9..."
Electrical stimulation my ass.
"...3, 2, 1—0!"
Zzzzt—it felt as if I had been struck by lightning!
"Waaah—it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
Bolting upright from his deathbed, Duke woke up abruptly, and then...
Looking at the epic battle scene before him, his mind was a bit dazed, and the three great philosophical questions of life involuntarily popped out: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?!
"Congratulations, Host. You have successfully crossed countless light-years and spatial barriers to transmigrate into the Marvel World of a parallel Universe. As a one-in-a-billion successful lucky individual, you will receive technical support from the [Strongest Talent System]."
Marvel?
Duke froze for a moment, then pointed at the stunningly beautiful Gal Gadot, who was fighting a bloody battle against invaders on the distant beach, and shouted, "System, can you be a bit more reliable? This is the Marvel World? Tell me, who is that?"
Transmigrated?
Never mind that for now!
The Talent System or whatever, ignore that too!
I just want to know, in which Marvel World would Wonder Woman pop up?
Moreover, the scene before him was clearly the defense of the Themyscira beach from "Wonder Woman 1".
The same beach, the same giant rocks, a group of female warriors dressed like'Spartans' fighting a group of foreign soldiers in old-fashioned military uniforms holding rifles.
(Forgive the protagonist; he can't tell the difference between'Spartan' attire and 'Amazon' attire. Anyway, they're all from that Aegean Sea area.)
Then he spotted a familiar figure. Wasn't that Gal Gadot, with that 360-degree flawless beauty?
He didn't react like those other idiot transmigrators whose first thought is that they're on a movie set.
Because he had fallen from the seventh floor; it was impossible to have a transnational fall, right? And to fall exactly onto the Wonder Woman set? Besides, when he fell, the movie had already been out for years.
So, either he had transmigrated, or he was dreaming!
He slapped himself. It hurt, it hurt a lot, it hurt very much!
He had definitely transmigrated. It seemed to be a DC movie, so why wasn't it Marvel? I'm not familiar with DC, even though I've only seen the movies in Marvel too!
The System still says it's Marvel. Is it messing with me?
"Detected a movie memory in the Host's memory that is very similar to this world... Analyzing... Analyzing... After preliminary detection, this world has a 30% overlap with the DC Cinematic Universe in the Host's memory and a 60% overlap with the Marvel World. Therefore, this system names this world the Marvel Universe. Host, please explore the specific details yourself..."
Duke was dumbfounded: "Fine! You're the system, you're the boss!"
Just say this is a Marvel Universe + DC Universe fusion, why waste so many words!
Wait, thirty plus sixty is only ninety. Where did the remaining 10% go?
But now was not the time to dwell on that.
"What kind of system are you?"
"'Strongest Talent System'"
"Give me a specific explanation..."
"The Host's life is under threat. Please prioritize activating the Newbie Gift Pack!"
A 'Newbie Gift Pack'?
Duke didn't agree immediately. Instead, he poked his head out slightly from behind the rock to glance at the fierce battle on the beach, then quickly ducked back. Arrows were whistling back and forth—swish swish swish—and bullets were going Pew Pew Pew. There was even a dead female warrior hanging from a rope on the cliff behind him, swinging back and forth, looking a bit comical.
This is a battlefield!
This is death!
Duke was a bit panicked!
PS: First of all... I've started a new book. As a writing dog who has struggled for N years, I will keep working hard, stay true to my original intentions, and forge ahead!
Secondly... this is not a pure Marvel Universe; it is a story that merges N movie worlds. Of course, Marvel is the main course, DC is the side dish, Transformers and such are the garnishes, and the rest are appetizers, seasonings...
Do you want to see Iron Man VS Transformers? Is an alien mechanical life form more powerful, or Earth's strongest genius brain?
What if a lost Dr. Banner runs into the teenage mutant ninja turtles—green vs. green?
Avengers VS Justice League?
In a contest between Duke and Superman, who would win?
In this unified and brand-new merged world, there will likely appear the "Marvel" series, "X-Men" series, "DC" series (those movies with Wonder Woman), "Transformers" series, "Kong: Skull Island", "Godzilla" series, "teenage mutant ninja turtles" series, "Rampage", etc...
(PS: Because the timelines and worldviews of the DC Cinematic Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universecannot be accurately unified, the locations, times, hero ages, and plots of the story will be based on the author's arrangements. Of course, they won't be excessively different. Therefore—please do not criticize based on these small changes.)
The difficulty level of a merged world is relatively high, so small errors may occur. New and old friends are welcome to point out unreasonable parts, and I will make appropriate adjustments.
This time, Ant has learned from the shortcomings of the previous failed Marvel book and will strive to write a masterpiece to give back to the readers.
Oh right, the author's name is now Monk.
Ha—
002. S-Rank Orange Card
'Newbie Gift Pack'
Heh heh, as everyone knows, the Newbie Gift Pack is all about luck and karma. As long as your luck is good enough, drawing a 'Red Card' isn't even an issue!
As a lucky survivor who beat one-in-a-billion odds, if this isn't considered a maxed-out luck index, then what is?
As for this 'Strongest Talent System,' I'll study it later. Now is not the time for academic research.
Arrows are whizzing by, bullets are going 'pew pew pew.' Even if he's hiding behind a rock, what if a ricochet happens? It was hard enough to transmigrate; if he got killed by mistake before even activating the system, that would be incredibly unlucky!
Looking at the drag marks on the beach, plus his soaking wet clothes and the messy footprints behind the rock, there was no doubt he must have been saved by Wonder Woman and dragged behind this boulder.
Recalling that touch of 'warmth and softness' on his lips right before he completely blacked out... hmmm... could Wonder Woman have given him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?
OH, NO... No, please don't let it be that man!
In the next instant, something appeared before his eyes...
"A slot machine?!" Duke was dumbfounded. "What kind of 'Newbie Gift Pack' is this?"
"Please press your hand onto the handprint, Host."
"Uh... is it here?"
Duke noticed a flashing palm print on the bottom right of the slot machine's screen and immediately pressed his hand against it. Then, countless 'options' appeared on the screen, scrolling at high speed.
He couldn't see them clearly.
It was too fast—
But Duke could vaguely make out a few words: magic, Totem Warrior, Hunter, Bard, Assassin, Paladin, Greatsword Warrior, and so on...
"Based on the Host's constitution, IQ, knowledge, comprehension, etc., a comprehensive evaluation will determine the most suitable talent ability. Of course, it's also possible... that the Host has no 'talent' at all."
Damn, I'm the protagonist; how could I possibly have no talent!
When the 'options' stopped scrolling, the one resting in the center of the screen was—'magic'?
"My talent is 'magic'?" Duke was stunned. He had thought it might be Hunter, since his first magic game character was a Hunter.
However, this wasn't wrong either; his favorite things to watch were Western-style fantasy anime.
He wasn't sure about his constitution, IQ, or knowledge, but in terms of 'comprehension,' his 'Foundations of magicTheory' should be pretty good.
"Congratulations, Host. Your talent is a 'Generalized Talent'."
"Generalized?"
"Yes, Host. The probability of a Specialized Talentappearing is 99%, while a Generalized Talent is 1%."
"Generalized and specialized mean...? Oh, I get it. Does 'generalized' refer to the broad category of magic, like a wide scope, while'specialized' refers to things like Ice magic or Fire magic?"
"Yes, Host! Since your talent is 'magic,' you will be able to learn all elements of magic. But if the Host's talent was Fire, the Host would be unable to learn other elements!"
"Alright, I get it." Duke nodded. Like he said, he was the protagonist. "So... this 'talent' isn't my gift pack, is it?"
If it was, that would be a total rip-off!
"This was only used to determine the Host's talent."
The slot machine's screen began to scroll again. This time it was clearer; on it were various 'magic' themed movies, games, manga, anime, and the like.
world of warcraft—One Piece—Fairy Tail—Harry Potter—The Lord of the Rings
Does One Piece count as magic? Oh right, Logia types.
Give me a Glint-Glint Fruit or a Rumble-Rumble Fruit. They're fast, have powerful attacks, and most importantly, you're basically unkillable.
—Bleach
Eh...?!
One Piece is one thing, but Bleach counts too? Oh, some of the fight scenes really do... count, I guess?
The screen finally stopped on Fairy Tail.
"Fairy... Tail?" Duke was a little disappointed, but he quickly got over it. After all, it was one of the big four Shonen manga. If he pulled a Lost-tier Ancient magic, that would be awesome.
Then he saw... with a'swish,' countless character portrait cards split off, almost filling the entire screen. Dukerecognized them; these were all characters from Fairy Tail, ranging from D-Rank to SS-Rank character cards.
He seemed to understand now: his magic ability would correspond to a character card.
Whatever magic the character on the card knew, he would know.
Immediately after, a cursor began to move, just like picking a hero in a video game.
The cursor moved rapidly, then gradually began to slow down.
"Ah... it's the Young Lady... Stop, stop—Agh!" Seeing the cursor slowly pass over his favorite character card, Dukewas incredibly frustrated.
Minerva, the Young Lady of the Sabertooth guild. Not to mention she's cold, elegant, and beautiful, the main thing is her magic is 'Territory,' a high-level spatial magic that allows her to manipulate space at will. Her most broken move is 'Hidden Space,' which can hide opponents or herself within space.
The enemy can't hit you; it's the ultimate life-saving and sneak-attack magic.
She also has the Lost Ancient magic of the Eighteen War Gods of Yakuma, but now, it's all gone...
"Zeref..." Seeing the cursor continue to slow down, potentially stopping on this card, Duke got excited again, but quickly turned to terror. "Dammit... move on, move on, move on—GO, GO—Oh, thank god, whew...!"
That's right, Zeref could be called one of the two strongest bosses in Fairy Tail. His magic is certainly the strongest, but... that's freaking 'Forbidden Black Magic of Death'.
A magic that, with one slip-up, could make everyone around him drop dead!
He didn't want to be cursed!
"August, OH, NO... Mystogan... Could it be... Gildarts... Uh, never mind, looks like it's Natsu. Natsu is fine too; he's the protagonist of Fairy Tail, after all. Since I'm a protagonist, it's a pretty good match!"
Unfortunately, the cursor ultimately passed over Natsu's character card and stopped on—
"What... Fairy Tail Guild's 'Thunder God Tribe,' 'A-Rank Mage' Freed Justine?"
"OH, NO—"
Although it was an S-Rank Orange Card, this character's presence wasn't very strong; he was in the ranks of the supporting characters' supporting characters. Even though he was an A-Rank Mage, he had S-Rank level skills, even if his magic was also quite broken!
003. Saving Antiope
As a web novel writer who often wrote transmigration stories, the moment Duke opened his eyes, he was already adapting to this world.
The battle on the beach was brutal!
The moment a spear pierced a chest, blood gushed out, unlike in movies where it looks like stabbing a doll!
Bullets whizzed by, and one by one, the Amazon Warriorsslowly fell.
In his subconscious, Duke felt that it was time for him to act.
Perhaps he didn't want to see that Steve, who died in an explosion after having his fun, acting like a hero, or maybe he wanted Wonder Woman to think highly of him. After all, she was the 360-degree flawless goddess he had watched countless times in his past life.
And this was a real goddess!
After Freed Justine's magic integrated into his mind, he mastered it almost instantly.
His magic consisted of 'Spell Formula' and 'magic: Dark Script'.
'Spell Formula' — A type of barrier magic where one writes 'Rules' and 'Ranges' to trap those who step inside. It imposes a rule on anyone entering the barrier; if the target does not comply, they cannot leave, and the rule can also be used to strip the target of their power.
For example: by writing the rule 'Those who use magic will lack oxygen,' the target will suffocate after using magic just once.
And so on.
'magic: Dark Script' — This allows the user to write 'Dark Characters' on a target or themselves, turning the written words into reality.
For example: writing 'Fear' or 'Pain' on a target can cause mental damage; drawing 'Darkness' on oneself can transform one's body into a demon-like form.
Looking at the faint black light flickering on his hands, Duke felt it was miraculous, as if he could touch the rules themselves.
The system was right; 'Spell Formula' is a type of barrier, and in the realm of magic, it belongs to the very top of the Pyramid — 'Rules'.
It falls under the category of Domain-type magic.
So its growth potential was indeed very high...
Barriers are a bit troublesome to set up, and it was too late to carve one now, so he could only use Dark Script magic.
First, he would buff himself for protection. Swish, swish, swish—he rapidly wrote on his own body...
'Wings': Grants the user wings to fly.
'Reject': Can reflect the target's attacks.
"Hiss... hot, it's burning me up—!"
Performing magic for the first time, he felt as if his entire back was being scorched. The blood in his back seemed to reach a hundred degrees in an instant... boiling hot.
Immediately after, a pair of massive, black, fallen-Angel-like wings, glowing with a dark light, unfurled.
The battle was intense, and no one noticed this side, except for the Amazon Queen Hippolyta, who was arriving with her troops on horseback.
"!"
Of course, before she could even react, Duke spread his wings and... took to the sky.
Whoosh—a strong wind blew.
Steve, who was fighting hard, was startled to see a massive Shadow flash across the ground, and he instinctively ducked: "Holy crap, what was that?"
He nearly got his head blown off by a bullet.
"Whoa—awesome—so this is what flying feels like! It's so damn good!" Having flown into mid-air, Duke finally experienced the so-called 'dream of humanity.'
Biu, bang!
Just as he was enjoying the thrill of flight, a very mood-spoiling bullet slammed into his chest. Luckily, he had 'Reject,' which reflected the bullet; otherwise, that hit would have sent him straight to hell.
Being hit by the bullet left Duke a bit dazed.
"Alright, let's end this battle first."
Straightening his body, he took a plunge and dove down!
"Damn it!"
The soldier was also terrified and had accidentally fired his gun. Seeing Duke diving toward him, he hurriedly raised his rifle and fired—'Bang!' Unfortunately, it was a bolt-action rifle that could only fire one shot at a time; if it had been a submachine gun... Duke, who hadn't fully mastered flight yet, might have actually kicked the bucket.
Diving down, Duke grabbed him with one hand and flew back into the sky.
"Aaahhhhh—"
"'death'!"
A Dark Script was written onto the soldier's body.
"Aaah—ugh!" The soldier's eyes suddenly bulged, and his mouth hung open as his screams stopped. His rifle fell as his hands gripped his chest tightly, his expression one of extreme agony.
'Death': Causes the target's heart to stop beating, resulting in Death.
"This really is damn useful." Duke smiled and let go. The German Army soldier fell with a thud, hitting the beach and spitting blood as he died.
"So that's what it looks like to fall from the seventh floor?"
In reality, he was already dead before he hit the ground!
"It seems Dark Script can be used for ranged attacks?"
So Duke stopped moving, hovering in mid-air by flapping his wings. He pointed his index fingers at the German soldiers, a ring of dark purple magic characters slowly rotating at his fingertips, and then... BiuBiuBIU—they struck the German soldiers.
Immediately after, a comical scene unfolded.
Every soldier hit dropped their rifle. They either clutched their heads or sat on the ground, scuttling backward in terror. Most were shouting things like 'Get away!', 'No, no, no!', 'Don't come near me!', 'Ah... I don't want to die!','Spare me!', and similar cries.
'Fear': Makes the target see the most terrifying images in their heart, causing them to lose all will to fight.
"This...?"
Steve, the Captain America namesake, was stunned for a moment, but he continued to fire his gun, pop pop pop, bursting heads one by one.
Wonder Woman was also stunned, looking up at the sky, shocked at what 'thing' she had just saved. This gave a German soldier an opportunity; he raised his rifle and fired—'Bang!'
Duke remembered this plot point, so he had been keeping an eye out. Seeing the soldier aim his gun, he instinctively cast a Dark Script.
'Absolute Defense': Blocks all damage.
Based on Duke's current Hero Level strength, 'Absolute Defense' could block a full-strength strike from a Hero Level opponent, though it couldn't stop an attack from the Legendary realm.
Unfortunately, Antiope didn't know that.
She was in front of Wonder Woman, while the Dark ScriptDuke had drawn was behind her. Besides, even if she had seen it, she wouldn't have known what it was.
"NO—"
She lunged forward. 'Bang!' The bullet hit.
"NO!" Wonder Woman was terrified. She rushed over to hold Antiope's bleeding body, looking at the large pools of blood on her hands, feeling small, pitiful, and helpless. "No... no, no, Antiope... Antiope... *gasp*... *gasp*..."
She tried to cover the wound, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't stop it. The blood kept flowing. She could even feel Antiope's life slipping away, her blood turning cold.
"Diana... it's... time... you must..."
"What... Antiope, what are you saying...?"
Fuck!
Duke, up in the sky, was frustrated; he had forgotten this plot point. But even if he had remembered, he wouldn't have cared—that Antiope person wasn't nearly as important as Wonder Woman.
If she hadn't lunged forward, wouldn't Wonder Womanhave died? He didn't know if Wonder Woman's self-healing could even mend a bullet wound.
Wait, this seems like an opportunity?
So he retracted his wings and dove down again, his feet forcefully snapping the neck of a German soldier, then he hurriedly ran to Wonder Woman's side.
"Uh... I... I... can..."
Huh?
How do you say 'I can save her' in English?
Duke was a bit confused. After all, the situation was critical, and he forgot that Wonder Woman knew hundreds of languages, including Chinese. Since this was a U.S. movie, he subconsciously assumed English was required here.
"Uh, forget it!"
Duke scratched his head and quickly began writing Dark Script on the sand around Antiope...
004. So I Was the One Who Crashed Into His Plane?
Without a doubt, now was the best time to bestow a favor upon Paradise Island, befriend Queen Hippolyta, and raise Wonder Woman's favorability.
As long as he saved Antiope, he would become an honored guest of Paradise Island instead of being expelled.
After all, the system had just informed him that there were two people on Paradise Island who could kill him. One was Wonder Woman, and the other was Wonder Woman's mother—though the latter would need certain special equipment to boost her combat power to do so.
Therefore, he wasn't absolutely safe right now.
Although based on the movies, Wonder Woman's mother wasn't a murderous woman, his origins were difficult to explain.
What if...
Furthermore, since Steve, who shared the same name as Captain America, had appeared on Paradise Island, it should be the World War I era now—most likely 1918, barring any surprises.
In the movie, they were preparing to sign the armistice, so it was probably around October; after all, the agreement to end the war was signed on Singles' Day (November 11th).
Staying in the World War I era and being somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, the closest places to Duke were foreign-speaking countries like Britain, Spain, Portugal, and France, yet he didn't even know English! Moreover, this was the ancient era of World War I without international aviation. He didn't know when international aviation first appeared, but the first transatlantic flight was in 1927, while international flights already existed during World War II.
Of course, whether this world was the same remained uncertain for now.
Besides, he had no identification, so he basically couldn't go anywhere. Money was easy enough; he could just extort some. Getting onto an ocean-going vessel wouldn't be hard either, but the key was...
'Where to go?'
To China? At this time... it should still be in the midst of the Warlord Era, right?
(PS: For those weak-hearted people who insist on forcing the author to write a China arc, thinking that not giving an explanation makes one a traitor, or those with other ulterior motives, please look ahead to Chapters 44 and 65. Thank you. If anyone else uses such groundless matters to pointlessly criticize or abuse the author, don't come complaining about why you were muted. Thank you!)
He decided to stay on the Island of Women... ahem, Paradise Island for now, and take things one step at a time.
Therefore, saving Antiope was a matter of extreme urgency.
"What are you doing..."
At this moment, Wonder Woman was flustered and at a loss. She raised her hand to push him away, but her hand was caught. The moment he grabbed Wonder Woman's hand, Duke's heart skipped a beat; this hand didn't have the roughness one would expect from a female warrior!
"If you don't want her to die, you'd better not move!"
Though it felt nice, he let go and continued inscribing the Dark Script.
Strangely enough, as those black runes were written around them, Wonder Woman felt Antiope's breathing stabilize.
"Done!"
Once the Dark Script was connected, Duke stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Damn, luckily it worked. If it hadn't, that would have been incredibly embarrassing.
The Amazon Queen, Hippolyta, ran over with large strides. Before she could ask, Duke explained first, "This is called a 'Spell Formula,' a type of Barrier magic. You might not understand it, but you can think of it as a rule. As long as she doesn't leave this area, she won't die."
The Queen was truly a queen, calm and composed; she said nothing, only nodding to Duke before kneeling on the sand to check her sister's breathing. Gradually, her shock grew; her sister's wound was still bleeding, yet she simply would not die.
A Forbidden technique? Resurrection of the dead?
"...???" Just then, Duke realized something. "You understand Chinese?"
He had only explained out of habit just now.
"We know hundreds of languages," Wonder Woman said as she slowly stood up, providing the answer.
Duke: I'm a freaking idiot.
"Antiope... will she not die like this?"
"You're overthinking it, girl. The rules of the 'Spell Formula' don't work like that!" Duke waved his hand.
Wonder Woman: Girl???
"The rules of a 'Spell Formula' require a prerequisite before a result can be achieved. It's a [Because]-[Therefore] pattern, not just [Therefore]. Do you understand?"
Wonder Woman frowned slightly and shook her head. "I don't understand."
"Uh..." Duke scratched his head and pointed at the magical script on the ground. "Let's put it this way: the magical script has bound her life to this area; if she leaves, she dies. The rule I set in the 'Spell Formula' is: 'As long as the wind blows on her, she will not die.'"
The rules of a 'Spell Formula' were like that; only with a pre-set condition could a result be achieved.
It couldn't simply be: people in this circle won't die.
That's impossible!
For example: a person who uses magic once will suffocate, rather than just suffocating by standing within a boundary!
"Then Antiope..." Wonder Woman was stunned. Wouldn't she still die then?
And she can't leave the beach?
Duke was speechless. "You must have 'doctors,' right? Hurry up and treat her! I've bought you some time; if you still can't save her... then you might as well go bang your heads against a wall. As for this magical script, don't worry, it's not actually written on the sand. This is the 'Power of Rules'... well, you wouldn't understand even if I explained it."
Damn it, I don't understand it either!
His rough understanding was that it had a hint of'Space' to it; the script was written in space, not truly on the sand. Even if the sea breeze blew the beach completely clean, the script would not disappear.
"Then... can this 'Spell Formula'... be moved?" Wonder Woman asked.
"No! Once the 'Spell Formula' is written, it can't be moved unless it's dispelled and rewritten, but I can't guarantee she'll last until you move her into a house."
The 'Spell Formula' wasn't truly capable of making Antiope immortal; it only delayed the inevitable for a while, roughly a week or so. After all, Antiope didn't have Wonder Woman's self-healing ability. Although her physical functions were strong, she had been hit in the heart; it was already impressive that she had managed to finish those few sentences.
The 'Spell Formula' kept her alive by overdrawing her life force; only in this way could it ensure that her bodily supply could keep up after losing a significant amount of blood.
Therefore, this consumed her vital functions.
If her heart wasn't sutured, once her functional potential was completely exhausted, even a god wouldn't be able to save her!
As Queen, Hippolyta acted with swift decisiveness, immediately giving orders: "Bring the physicians at once! Also, build a simple wooden hut to shield her from the sand and rain, and arrange for someone to fan Antiopewithout stopping for a single moment!"
"Yes!"
The female warriors obeyed and set to work—some clearing bodies, some fetching people, and others bringing over woodworking tools!
As for Antiope, she fell into a coma due to the sudden surge in life force.
To repel the foreign, one must first stabilize the internal; now that the internal was settled, it was time to deal with the external.
Hippolyta coldly swept her gaze over Steve, the Captain America namesake. "Are you together?"
"What did she say?" Duke asked Wonder Womanfamiliarly.
"She asked if you are together."
"Together? No! Of course not, I don't even know him." Dukehad no desire to be associated with this Steve; he was actually looking forward to seeing the guy suffer and get burned by the Lasso of Truth!
The Captain America namesake also denied it: "NO, @&#%...%￥...#...&#%"
"What did he say?" Duke only understood 'NO' and 'I'; the rest sounded like gibberish to him.
Wonder Woman looked at Duke with some curiosity. "He said he can't tell us his name and that he didn't enter this place on purpose. He said... you fell from the sky and crashed into his plane, and that's why..."
What?
Wasn't he shot down by the German Army, causing him to crash on Paradise Island?
So it turns out I fell from the sky and wrecked his plane?
Emmmm...
005. You, a Mere Rope, Actually Dare to Say I'm Not Handsome?
"Is that so?" Hippolyta turned her head to look at her daughter.
"Perhaps... I'm sorry, I actually didn't see any of that." Dianahad originally wanted to nod, but she shook her head instead.
She had indeed seen a person and a plane both fall into the sea, but as for anything else, she truly hadn't seen it.
"Your name?" Hippolyta looked at Duke again.
"Duke!"
"Who exactly are you, and why would you betray your own people?" Hippolyta nodded, no longer looking at Duke, but instead staring coldly at Steve, who shared the same name as Captain America.
As for Duke's background, it could be questioned and verified later; the urgent matter now was the soldier in front of them. Although the beach defense battle had killed those invaders, the warships behind them had already retreated. In other words, the enemy was very likely to attack again. Although it would be difficult to find the exact location of Paradise Island again after leaving, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Duke chuckled inwardly. After saving Antiope, he had indeed received courteous treatment, causing his reputation on Paradise Island to upgrade from 'Cold' to 'Neutral'.
This was only because these were reclusive, highly vigilant Amazon Warriors; anyone else would have already reached 'Friendly' or 'Respectful'. Well, Wonder Womanwas 'Friendly'. As for Steve Trevor, he had dropped from 'Cold' to 'Hostile' because this invasion incident was clearly brought about by him.
"I'm not with them," Steve replied quickly while backing away warily.
He felt that he was quite unlucky.
While flying along, he had narrowly escaped being blown out of the sky by the enemy's cannons, only to be knocked down by a person falling from the sky!
Falling from the sky...
And it was a person.
His worldview had been completely shattered.
He was already unlucky enough, and then he ran into this group of formidable Amazon Warriors... he was doomed.
"Then why are you wearing their clothes?"
"...I can't tell you."
"Speak!"
"What is your name?"
"I can't tell you that either."
"Kill him now to prevent future trouble."
Diana, who was translating for Duke, immediately grew anxious. This person had, after all, worked with them to defeat the invaders. Just as she was about to say something, someone objected.
"If he dies, we will have no way of knowing who they are and why they came."
Duke only understood the single word 'name'; the rest was still ambiguous to him. Forgive someone who hadn't even passed Level 2. However, he remembered this plot point—it was where Steve refused to say anything and was finally taken to the council chamber to play with the Lasso.
The one who claimed she wanted to kill Steve must be the legendary Victoria's Secret model, right?
Venelia!
Duke glanced over but couldn't tell at all that this was Doutzen Kroes. He hadn't recognized her the first time he watched it; only after hearing that she had been identified did Duke watch it again, but he still couldn't recognize her. It made sense; they all had the same attire and makeup, so it was impossible to tell that she was a Victoria's Secretmodel.
However, her figure was indeed very good. After all, she was said to be the second highest-earning model at Victoria's Secret!
As for the name Venelia, how the heck should it be translated? At the time, Duke had used Baidu Translate and the result he got was actually 'Venice'. Venice is clearly [Venice], okay?
While he was spacing out, he heard a wail from beside him. Turning his head, he saw that this guy with the same name as Captain America had still been restrained. How pitiable!
"Diana, you stay here and look after Antiope," Hippolytacommanded, then gave a slight bow to Duke. "I must trouble you, sir, to look after her here. Lodgings will be arranged for you shortly."
Before Duke could even answer, Wonder Woman shouted, "No, Mother, I want to go too!"
"Then... how about I go along to take a look too? To be honest, I also want to know what he does. After all, I did crash into his plane," Duke knew Wonder Woman was worried her mother would execute their 'comrade-in-arms' behind her back, so he gave her a hand. "To be honest, I haven't studied medicine. The 'Spell Formula' has already been set; you just need to suture the wound in time. After the wound is bandaged, she can probably be moved out in a day or two."
As long as her life-threatening crisis was resolved, the 'Spell Formula' would no longer overdraw her vitality but would instead help the wound heal faster.
Hippolyta hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "Very well, the gentleman may come along."
"Thanks," Diana nodded to Duke, who smiled and said nothing.
Sure enough, it was that somewhat familiar scene, looking like the Senate of an ancient Greek city-state council. The Amazon Warriors surrounded Steve, who was bound by a rope emitting a warm yellow light.
Duke's eyes sparkled with curiosity. This thing must be the Lasso of Truth!
"I... I am Captain Steve Trevor, pilot, American Expeditionary Forces, serial number 8141921. That's all I have to say..." Steve looked completely bewildered. What the hell? Why did I say that voluntarily?
"What kind of ghost thing is this?"
Duke had no interest in this; it was just some explanation anyway. He was much more interested in the 'Lasso of Truth'.
This part of the plot was very boring. Taking this opportunity, Duke began chatting with the System.
"You're saying that after killing an enemy, I'll obtain 'Talent Points'? The points vary depending on the disparity in strength between me and the enemy, and Talent Pointscan be exchanged within the system for different talents... as well as skills and items?"
"Additionally, when coming into contact with 'Elite' or higher targets, I can also randomly obtain Talent Points(fewer than from a kill), with a low probability of obtaining one of the opponent's 'Talents'. And killing an 'Elite' or higher target gives a low probability of obtaining multiple talents from them?"
These were the basic capabilities of the [Strongest Talent System].
"Yes, Host. However, only magic-type talents, skills, and items can be exchanged. Talents obtained from the outside world do not have this restriction."
"Got it!"
Only magic-type could be exchanged, while those from the outside were random; it was possible for warrior-type talents to appear.
"Take him away."
A soft shout woke Duke. Seeing that the Lasso of Truthwas about to be put away, he immediately grew anxious.
"Chotto matte—er, no... wait, wait! Can this thing really make people tell the truth? Can I try it?"
Diana was a bit confused.
Hippolyta was even more confused. There were actually people who rushed to try it? Since a moment ago, she had been thinking about testing Duke's background, but since the other party was their benefactor, it wasn't convenient to use this method.
But if the other party requested it himself, then there was no problem.
Seeing Hippolyta nod, Duke hurriedly reached out and grabbed it, wrapping it around his wrist. "Hmm... I don't feel anything."
"Host, an 'Absolute Will' has been detected descending. Do you wish to enable Signal Shielding?"
"No need... let me play with it first." Duke coughed lightly and said slowly, "I am a very handsome guy!"
Thump!
The female warriors all rolled their eyes in unison. They understood Chinese, so they naturally knew what he meant. Who calls themselves a big handsome guy? Wait... he's holding the Lasso of Truth, which means... this sentence is the truth?
Just how narcissistic do you have to be?
This thing was just like a lie detector. For example, in 'Go Fighting!', when the host asked Xiao Yueyue who was more handsome between him and Daniel Wu, Xiao Yueyuesaid he was more handsome, and the lie detector's reaction was that it was the truth.
The Lasso of Truth was the same.
However... here came the twist.
Wisps of light smoke directly rose from his hand, although they were very faint.
Duke's expression changed instantly, and he jumped up. "Holy crap, it's hot, it's hot... hiss..."
The female warriors immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, thank goodness.
I'm actually not a handsome guy?
Duke was unconvinced. "I am very ugly."
This time, nothing happened.
Hurt!
His self-esteem was very hurt!
"..."
The atmosphere suddenly became a bit subtle. Duke's forehead was covered in black lines, feeling as if a crow were flying over his head at this moment, leaving behind several large black dots—Idiot, idiot, idiot... caw, caw...
Duke was so angry he slammed the Lasso of Truth onto the ground and pointed at it, cursing loudly, "How insolent! You're just a tiny piece of rope, and yet you dare to question your brother's handsomeness!"
This time, even the usually composed Hippolyta couldn't quite control herself, feeling like her smiling muscles were about to collapse.
No, I must maintain my poise!
I am the Queen!
006. Fallen Angel
Just as Hippolyta was about to lose her composure, a doubt flashed through her mind, causing her to quickly cool down.
???
That's not right!
The Lasso of Truth isn't used this way!
It is meant to make people tell the truth, not to punish or sanction you after telling a lie. When bound by the Lasso of Truth, you can only involuntarily speak the truth; you cannot tell a lie. It only punishes you when you resist, making you feel a burning sensation—the more you struggle and resist, the more painful it becomes.
But it doesn't burn you when you lie; it makes it impossible for you to tell a lie in the first place.
This...
Could the Lasso of Truth be malfunctioning?
That's unlikely, isn't it?
Duke was still playing with it, seemingly never tiring of it.
"My name is Duke... eh, this part is fine... I'm 20 years old this year... hiss-ha... holy crap, it's hot, it's hot!"
It started smoking again!
Although it was smoking, Duke's hand wasn't actually scarred by the heat; it felt more like the rope itself was smoking after reaching a certain temperature.
"Where's the lie in that? I say, rope... you're a bit unreliable."
The female warrior responsible for holding the Lasso of Truth rolled her eyes; she'd lived a long time, but this was the first time she'd seen such an eccentric person.
Duke seemed to realize the problem and whispered, "I'm... negative... negative eighty years old? Eh... damn!"
This time, the rope didn't react.
Duke's forehead was covered in black lines. So this rope is a science student too? It actually calculated it that way! It was 1918 now; counting back from the year he was born, wasn't it exactly negative eighty years?
Now it was the Amazon Warriors' turn to be bewildered. What did "negative eighty years old" mean?
Hippolyta frowned. Had it really malfunctioned?
"I'm not playing anymore, this is boring!"
Hippolyta's heart twitched. "Take the gentleman down to rest first!"
"Yes, My Queen."
Oh, it was her, the Victoria's Secret supermodel Doutzen Kroes.
"Sir, please follow me."
Duke glanced at Diana and nodded, then followed. From behind, her legs were... really long.
"Beautiful, might I ask your name?"
"Venelia!"
"V... that name is too much of a tongue-twister. How about I call you Doutzen Kroes?" Duke pushed his luck.
"Why call me that?" She felt it was strange.
"It's strange to say, but I feel like we've known each other for a long time. In my dreams, that's what I called you," Duke said shamelessly.
"Are you trying to hit on me?"
"Cough, cough, this... I really wasn't." Duke's face turned red; he really hadn't thought of that.
Transmigration plus a system plus a protagonist's halo, and suddenly becoming incredibly powerful, had made him a bit carried away, but... he was still a virgin. Being teased slightly by a female warrior, he instantly revealed his true self. Of course, the main thing was that he was starting to wake up. This was still the Island of Women... Paradise Island, a world from a century ago, which made him feel lost again.
Although he had a Victoria's Secret supermodel look-alike by his side, he truly lost his previous excitement.
Suddenly the atmosphere grew quiet. Although she didn't know what had happened, the female warrior could see a hint of sorrow in Duke's eyes.
"Suit yourself. Names are just labels to us."
"Ah?... Oh."
Duke was also a bit stunned. He didn't know much about DC; he only knew that this place was supposedly molded from clay by the gods. Hippolyta had once lied to Diana, saying she was molded from clay, but later Diana learned the truth from Ares, the God of War—that she was born of Zeus and Hippolyta.
If you calculate it that way?
Didn't that mean Zeus... did it with a piece of dirt?
(⊙o⊙)...
Forget it, Zeus was a total Casanova anyway.
However, Paradise Island only had women and no men, which meant there were no 'fathers', so their names really were just 'labels'. Even on Paradise Island, the women didn't have families or surnames.
"This is your room. If you need anything, just use that to contact us."
"Oh, okay." Duke noticed the object looked like a conch. Was it for voice transmission?
————
On the other side, after Duke left, the crowd of women erupted.
"Are we going to let him go, that soldier?"
"So he can bring more people here?" Hippolyta countered.
"We cannot detain him indefinitely, My Queen."
"Mother, please listen to me. After everything that man said, this must be Ares's doing." Diana chased after her, ready to ask for battle.
"What are you saying, Diana?"
"Forgive me, Senator, but that man said this is an endless war. Millions have already died; he has never seen such horrors. Only Ares could do something like this." After a pause, Diana continued, "We can't just let him go; we must follow him."
Hippolyta refused outright: "I will not send our people to fight their war, leaving Paradise Island unguarded."
"This is not their war! The humans Zeus created are just, wise, strong, and passionate..."
"That's just a story, Diana. There are many things you don't understand yet; humans are easily corrupted."
"Exactly! But all of that is Ares's doing. It was Ares who incited the Germans to start the war. Stopping the God of War is our mission! As Amazons, it is our duty."
She seemed to be the one who was just, strong, and passionate.
"But you are not like us Amazons, so you are to do nothing. As Queen, I forbid it!!" Hippolyta issued a stern command. "If you want to help, you'd better find out Duke's identity."
"Duke?" Diana was taken aback; this person was indeed very mysterious.
"I suspect he is a Fallen Angel!"
The Queen's words completely stunned everyone.
"What?"
"A Fallen Angel?"
"How is that possible... why would a Fallen Angel come here?"
Angels are not exclusive to God.
The word 'Angel' originates from the Greek 'angelos', meaning [messenger]. In almost all theologies, Angels often play the roles of messengers, attendants, agents of the gods, and so on.
Zeus also has 'messengers' under him.
"A Fallen Angel... how... how is that possible? He..." Dianawas in disbelief.
Naturally, she knew about Fallen Angels—from her'storybooks'.
Hippolyta pulled out the Lasso of Truth: "The answer lies in this. That Duke, he can resist the power of the Lasso of Truth."
"What?"
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
"The Lasso of Truth was forged by Hephaestus, the 'God of Fire', using the Golden Girdle of Gaea, the 'Mother Goddess', as material. It was personally tied to a divine arrow by Artemis, the 'Goddess of the Hunt', and shot down from Mount Olympus. If he can truly resist it, doesn't that mean..." As the Senator spoke, her face filled with terror.
Hippolyta's expression was equally solemn. "If he truly is a Fallen Angel, then before his fall..."}],
007. There is Only One Path
Only a god can resist the will of a god; that makes sense.
Hippolyta had tried just now; she was unable to tell a lie, yet that mysterious Duke could. This made her suspicious.
Sending her daughter away?
Of course not!
She keenly sensed that on the entire island of Themyscira, only Diana could defeat Duke. If he truly was a Fallen Angel, and truly harbored hostility...? Even if she were fully armed, she wasn't sure if she could defeat him; at best, it would be a fifty-fifty chance.
That was why she assigned the task to Diana.
If she went to test him personally, it would likely provoke Duke's vigilance, but Diana wouldn't. Because even a god... would find it hard to resist Diana's beauty.
One must know that her beauty, which even the gods marveled at, was a gift from Aphrodite, the 'Goddess of Love and Beauty'.
It was a good thing Zeus kicked the bucket, otherwise he probably wouldn't have let Diana off; he was a total stallion.
What was Duke doing at this moment?
He was researching 'Dark Script'. He discovered that there was no upper limit to the development of Dark Script, and different arrangements of characters yielded completely different effects.
For example, 'Darkness' and 'Darkness'.
Darkness: A forbidden magic that transforms one's body into a demon-like form with a physical entity.
Whereas Darkness transforms one into an existence like a'Shadow'—ethereal, without a physical form, feeling somewhat like the elementalization of the Dark-Dark Fruit.
Additionally, because they were Dark Script, he couldn't write 'Light'. For instance, writing Light on his body wouldn't turn him into an Angel.
In short, anything of the darkness element worked, as did neutral characters without a clear distinction between darkness and light.
For example: Fire.
Furthermore, 'Spell Formulas' were actually written using Dark Script. Different sequences would achieve different effects. And they weren't just for preparing traps before a battle; as long as your speed was fast enough, you could write and use them during a fight to restrict an enemy's abilities.
However, this required considerable writing speed; generally speaking, they were best used for traps.
After a period of research, Duke collapsed onto the bed—a hard wooden bed... he hadn't felt this in a long time. Looking at the room's decorations, this should be a female warrior's room. Could it be Doutzen Kroes's? Since Themyscira was closed off, it was impossible for there to be outside tourists, so naturally, things like 'guest rooms' didn't exist.
"The year 1918, huh."
He began to plan his way out.
Obviously, as a man, he couldn't stay on Themyscira, which was full of female warriors. The Amazons certainly wouldn't agree, and the Amazon Queen even less so. Besides, what would he do staying on this isolated island? Just wait around to die?
Watch the sun rise and set, and then die of old age?
He had finally transmigrated; he had to strive for something, right? Although what to strive for... or how to do it, he didn't have a goal yet, but at the very least, he had to go see this Earth from a hundred years ago.
"Do I really have to go to the battlefields of World War Iwith Wonder Woman?"
Undoubtedly, Wonder Woman wouldn't stop her march toward the battlefield just because of his arrival. Steve, the namesake of Captain America, was a key figure who couldn't be bypassed. Her heart, filled with justice, wouldn't allow her to be an ostrich.
Thinking it over, it seemed his only path was to follow Wonder Woman away from here.
Because he didn't know English; only Diana could speak with him.
The Amazons wouldn't allow him to live on Themyscira, and he himself didn't want to rot away, so leaving was the only option. For now, besides Diana being able to talk to him... he was essentially deaf. Even if he had the ability to extort a fortune, how would he get to China?
Without knowing English, you might not even find a translator, let alone an ocean-going vessel to Hong Kong Island; he couldn't read English. Moreover, it was currently World War I, and it was uncertain if there were even ships going to Hong Kong Island, even though Hong Kong Island had already become a colony of Britain by this time.
So, the only choice was to follow Wonder Woman.
And Wonder Woman was going to step onto the battlefields of World War I. If he didn't follow her there, wouldn't it be the same as 'not following' her at all?
But World War I...
The gunfire there was relentless; it wasn't a movie where bullets only hit the shield and never the legs.
However, if he didn't follow Wonder Woman, he would be as good as deaf.
...What a dilemma.
Just then, the 'conch' on the table rang.
"Is this... Mr. Duke?"
"???" At first, Duke didn't react. He looked around before realizing the conch was ringing. This thing really was a 'phone'. "I—I am. You are... Miss Diana? Inviting me out? Okay, I'll get ready and come right over. Um... a very obvious giant rock? Okay, I got it!"
Wonder Woman invited him! Although he knew it wasn't a date, he... still having the mindset of a college student, was a bit excited. After all, having just gained power and the destiny of a protagonist, he hadn't yet shed the humble mindset of a minor character.
This was a real goddess, not the kind of 'goddess' seen in movies.
After leaving the room, he wrote 'Wings' directly on his body, and once again, Dark Archangel wings sprouted as he took to the sky.
He first confirmed the direction. The giant rock was very obvious; he saw it immediately.
Flapping his wings, he flew over like a shooting star.
"Hello, Miss Diana." He landed slowly and retracted his wings, trying his best to maintain a gentlemanly demeanor, even though he didn't quite understand what it meant to be a truly elegant 'gentleman'.
"Hello, Mr. Duke." Wonder Woman nodded and then smiled slightly. "Just call me Diana."
"Then you should just call me Duke too."
Diana smiled and didn't reply, but instead walked toward an open space nearby. Although Duke didn't know why she had called him out, he followed her.
"Have you gone to see that Steve yet?"
"No, why do you ask?" Diana felt very confused.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just purely interested in his identity as a spy."
Duke breathed a sigh of relief. Good thing she hadn't. He didn't want Wonder Woman to walk into a cave and see that thing on Steve, the Captain America namesake. Along with 'I... am above average.' Ugh—. Well, actually, Dukewas self-conscious; Easterners are generally shorter than Westerners. Duke naturally knew his own assets; while not weak, compared to Westerners... they were far behind.
That was a lifelong stain on Wonder Woman.
As for Steve, the Captain America namesake, Duke disliked him precisely because of this. Damn it, after being seen, he didn't even quickly squat back into the water or hurry to put on clothes; he just stood there stark naked, showing off his 'assets'!
"I'm very interested in your abilities. Who exactly are you, and... what did that 'minus eighty years old' mean?" Dianaraised an eyebrow and asked curiously.
If the Amazon Queen Hippolyta had asked this, Dukewould have immediately become wary. However, the person before him was 'Wonder Woman' Diana Prince. Not because Duke liked her, but because he knew very well that at this stage, Diana was a simple blank slate. As the Queen said, 'There are many things you don't yet understand'; she was a person completely without guile.
"Uh... it's a type of magic."
"magic...?"
008. Sent Flying by Wonder Woman
"You're asking me what magic is... this...?"
Duke scratched his head. How could he know what magicwas? He had no choice but to make something up based on what he had seen in anime.
"magic is a Legendary mysterious power. Actually, I don't understand it very well myself; I've only just come into contact with it. The saying goes... everything around us possesses a certain power, and mages can extract that power to achieve attack, healing, defense, or other effects."
"Like this."
As he spoke, Duke extended his palm. A fiery red Dark Script character began to rotate in the center of his palm, and in the next second—surging flames erupted from his palm like a fire dragon.
The area hit by the attack instantly turned charred black.
In fact, Dark Script can be written through thought alone, and the same goes for Spell Formulas; after all, Spell Formulas are composed of Dark Script. It just needs to be manifested through the act of 'writing.' You can manifest it while writing, or you can condense it first and then manifest it in an instant.
It's just that complex ones are difficult to cast using only thought, but simple ones are possible once you become familiar with them.
Diana's eyes sparkled with interest.
"This is one type of magic. The atmosphere contains violent fire elements, and a mage can extract these elements to gather them into flames for an enhanced attack," Duke'explained.' "Of course, there's also this."
Then, he wrote 'Absolute Defense' on his chest.
"Rocks, soil, and metal contain the power of the earth, which are earth elements. Once extracted, they can be used to strengthen defense. You can try giving me a punch!" After Duke finished, he added, "Remember to control your strength."
The system had said that the current Diana possessed the strength of the mid-Legendary level, but she hadn't fully unleashed it. Because the Amazon Warriors on Themyscirawere all very weak, she had never exerted her full strength, instead suppressing it at the peak of the Hero level. With her divine artifacts equipped, she could reach the late Legendary level.
At the end of the battle against Ares, the God of War, her strength awakened to reach the peak of the Legendarylevel. Combined with the power of the God of War's lightning, she briefly entered the Demigod realm, which allowed her to slay Ares, who was also a demigod.
But after the kill, she immediately dropped back to the peak of the Legendary level.
As for Duke's current strength, it was also at the Hero peak, so Diana wouldn't hurt him.
Strength Levels: Cannon Fodder → Mortal → Elite → Hero → Legendary → Demigod → Sovereign God.
Cannon Fodder refers to those with just a bit of flashy skill.
Mortals are at the level of an Agent.
Elites are at the level of Captain America or Black Widow.
Heroes are like Wolverine or Sabretooth.
Legendary includes Wonder Woman, Magneto, and Professor X.
Demigods are Superman, the Ancient One, and Odin.
As for Sovereign Gods, they won't be written about for the time being.
"Are you serious?" Diana suddenly smiled.
"Of course, come on." Duke also wanted to test his own strength level.
As a result, Wonder Woman threw a punch, and he was spectacularly sent flying, flying far, far, far away...
"Holy crap!"
Spinning in mid-air, Duke was a bit dazed and disoriented. Of course, he wasn't injured, but 'Absolute Defense' was still broken. This proved that Wonder Woman had used strength at the peak of the Hero level to shatter it in one blow.
It was almost like Superman—super strength, super speed, super reaction, super defense. The only difference was that Diana didn't have Superman's Kryptonian heat vision.
After flying out over a hundred meters, Duke finally reacted. His black Archangel wings unfurled again, and he flew back. Although his landing looked dashing and handsome, his... hair betrayed him.
It was blown into a mess by the wind, just a tiny bit away from being a bird's nest.
Wonder Woman smiled faintly.
Although her expression was steady, her heart was very surprised. She had a very clear understanding of her own strength; there was absolutely no one on all of Themyscirawho could withstand one of her punches.
She was a terrifying existence who could blow up tanks.
If this punch had hit a normal person, they wouldn't have been sent flying, because she would have punched right through them.
But Duke was only sent flying and flew back unscathed. She murmured, "Is this the power of 'magic'?"
"So you're a mage, not a... Fallen Angel?"
It was said that the current Diana was very naive.
"Fallen Angel?" Duke was stunned for a moment, then seemed to understand something. Was it the fault of the wings? "I'm sorry, my magic is called 'Dark Script,' so the wings are black. Actually, I also want to make them white and become an Angel, but unfortunately..."
As he spoke, Duke shrugged, looking helpless.
"The power of darkness?" Diana frowned.
Oh no.
Amazons are naturally on the opposite side of evil. Could it be...?"
"There is no absolute evil; the power of darkness can also be used for good. Diana, in this world, there has never been such a thing as evil power, only evil people," Dukesaid.
"No! The humans created by Zeus are righteous, passionate..."
Duke waved his hand. "Diana, your mother was right; humans are very easy to corrupt. Because they are a collection of good and evil, they are easily lured by external evil temptations, thus falling into becoming bad people. Falling is easy, but climbing back out is hard."
"Feel the 'Dark Script,' and you will understand."
Evil and justice, darkness and light?
Although his magic was said to be based on Dark Script, in reality, there was no distinction between evil and justice. Of course, the phrase 'there has never been such a thing as evil power in this world' was just Duke bluffing Diana. In this world, there really was evil power, the kind that couldn't be redeemed even with boundless Buddhist teachings.
'Wing' was silently written onto Diana.
"Watch out. When I first cast it, I felt like the blood in my entire back was about to boil. It might..."
Shua—black Archangel wings spread out.
Uh...
"...How does it feel?" Duke asked.
"It's fine, I didn't feel my blood boiling." As she spoke, Diana flapped her wings and soared into the sky.
Duke was stunned. Was this because of her divine bloodline? After all, with the bloodline of Zeus, on a purely DNA level, he was indeed far behind Diana.
Many, many, many levels behind.
He also spread his wings and gave chase.
In reality, Diana could fly. The messenger of the gods, Hermes, had bestowed Diana with super speed and the ability to fly, but she had never flown before, only doing the kind of big jumps like Dr. Banner.
"How about it? Does this prove I'm not a Fallen Angelnow?" Duke asked with a smile after catching up.
"I never doubted it from the beginning." Diana shook her head. She had never seen a Fallen Angel, but instinctively, she didn't think Duke was one.
"Heh." Duke also smiled.
"Shall we see who's faster?" Diana asked.
She suddenly felt a sense of liberation, that refreshing feeling of breaking free from shackles, slavery, and constraints to freely master her own life.
"Sure!"
The two of them accelerated and raced around Themyscira, one running and one chasing, sometimes ahead and sometimes behind, never tiring of it.
Duke suddenly felt like reciting a line from Old Bai's poem: "In the heavens, we wish to be birds flying wing to wing; on the earth, we wish to be trees with branches intertwined."
The Amazon Warriors below were all looking up, dumbfounded.
Holy cow, what is that?
Queen Hippolyta's brow furrowed even more tightly.
009. A Full 100 Years
Finally, I've managed to get rid of the 'Fallen Angel' persona.
In a certain cave, Steve Trevor was happily playing in the 'bath'. The water here was light blue and shimmered with a strange glow.
What was strange was that the water... was actually flowing upwards???
Just as he climbed out of the bath, a figure walked in from the corner of the cave. It startled him, and he hurriedly tried to crouch down.
"Holy... crap!"
As soon as Duke walked in, his eyes were assaulted by the scene.
Damn, he's actually just standing there?
Trying to show off to me, are you?
Duke walked in with a dark expression, made a gesture like pulling up pants, and then pointed toward the cave entrance. He had no choice; he didn't know English. He was worried Wonder Woman might barge in recklessly and see something she shouldn't. He hadn't expected this'stain' to be imprinted on his own eyes instead.
Steve knew the man in front of him named 'Duke' didn't understand English, and he didn't understand Chinese either, but he could still make out the meaning from the gestures. He quickly stepped out of the bath and tied on an 'apron'.
Duke then shouted toward the outside, "You can come in now."
Diana walked in.
On the way there, Duke had instilled in her some traditional ideas about the differences between men and women—Chinese style. For example: a woman shouldn't just take a man to watch football, shouldn't just kiss a man, shouldn't just hug... and so on. Although Diana was European, she was like a blank slate; she knew nothing about the relations between men and women, and this was her first time seeing a creature like a man.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the first man she saw was Duke, not Steve.
Because Duke fell closer to the shore, Diana swam to him first before going to rescue Steve, so he was the first man Wonder Woman ever saw!
Duke didn't like Steve. He knew perfectly well that Dianawas a blank slate who understood nothing and was curious about everything in the outside world.
After all, to her, everything was fresh.
She wanted to try everything.
It was precisely because of this sense of novelty and curiosity that Steve was able to...
￣へ￣.
A real ruthless guy!
"Can I ask you a few questions?" Steve said.
Wonder Woman nodded.
"Where is this?"
"Paradise Island."
"You've said that. I mean, where is this? What kind of place is this? Who are you? Why is the water like this? Why is your English so good?"
Duke remembered this plot point. Although he didn't quite understand all the English vocabulary, he could catch a few words here and there.
"This is Paradise!"
"What?" Steve frowned.
"Heh!" Wonder Woman smiled; she naturally knew what Paradise meant. "We are the bridge that promotes peaceful coexistence for mankind!"
"...OK!" Although still a bit dazed and not getting the answer he wanted, Steve nodded. "Thank you for saving me from the water. Um... are you here to let me go?!"
"I tried, but it's not my call! I even asked them to let me go with you, or any of the Amazons... but my mother won't allow it."
"Actually, I can't blame her. I wouldn't want those I care about near a battlefield either."
"Then why do you want to go back?"
"I don't think anyone 'wants' to go back to a battlefield, right? But, one must try! My father once told me, 'If you see something wrong happening in the world, you can either do nothing or you can do something.' I've already done nothing!"
Wonder Woman fell silent and turned to leave, with Dukeslowly following.
"Hey! Thanks for crashing my plane so I could see a different world!" Steve shouted at Duke as they were about to exit the cave.
After Wonder Woman finished translating, Duke gave a playful reply: "I just hope it wasn't my butt that hit your propeller!"
"Hehe." Wonder Woman couldn't help but laugh and shake her head. She didn't translate it, leaving a bewildered Steve behind as they left.
Steve (O_o)??: "???"
After leaving the cave, the two didn't go back to rest.
"So you've still decided to go to the battlefield?" Dukeasked.
Diana didn't answer, simply saying, "Protecting worldpeace is the responsibility of the Amazons."
"So, you're going to get your gear now?"
"How do you know?" Diana was puzzled.
"Your eyes are full of determination." Duke held up two fingers in a V-shape and pointed at Wonder Woman's beautiful eyes.
"Aren't you going?"
"Go... go where? The temple... you mean the battlefield?"
Duke sat on a rock with a smile and patted the space beside him, gesturing for Wonder Woman to sit. Once Diana sat down next to him, he spoke again.
"You know, I'm not from this world."
He paused, waiting for Wonder Woman's reaction. He knew that the 'minus eighty years old' comment was definitely a pit. Even if Wonder Woman didn't ask now, she would once she remembered it later. It was like a thorn or a small pebble stuck in the heart, very uncomfortable. So Duke planned to speak up voluntarily—after some polishing, of course.
However, to his surprise, there was no expression of shock on Wonder Woman's face.
"You're not surprised?"
"Why should I be? This world is just a nexus in the multiverse. Because of an ancient pact, the god Odin of the Aesir left Earth to create Asgard, and now rules the Nine Realms!" Diana said as if it were common knowledge.
In her heart, she felt a bit of regret. If the Olympian Godshad also left back then, would they have... fallen like they have now?
But unfortunately, time cannot be turned back!
Duke scratched his head. So that's how it was. It made sense; gods came from various planets, so his situation wasn't strange at all.
"My world is very peaceful, but it also went through World War I and World War II. However, there weren't any gods like that. Oh, maybe there were, but I didn't know. After all, I was just an ordinary person in that world, even more ordinary than that spy. When I saw what that spy was wearing, I knew it was the World War I era, exactly 100 years apart from my world."
Diana then understood: "You are twenty, so that's why you said you were... minus eighty years old?"
"Yeah."
"Then how did you get here?" She was very curious about this.
"If you ask me, I don't know either. In my world, I was just an ordinary University Student, hadn't even graduated. I accidentally dug up a 'Law God's Notebook' in my ancestral home, and I got interested. I followed the instructions blindly, and who would have thought... I'd end up here."
At this point, Duke waved his hand.
"Don't ask me anymore, I really don't know. One second I was practicing, and the next... I was lying behind that giant rock on the beach."
Diana: "..."
"To be honest, that was my first battle, and my first time killing someone."
010. Passed on by the Aunt
"Me too." Diana nodded.
"Oh... it seems we have something in common." Dukesmiled.
Then, Duke didn't know what else to say, and the atmosphere became a bit stiff. After all, he hadn't been in many relationships in his past life and didn't understand girls very well.
Emmmm... although Wonder Woman's age was enough for her to be his great-great-great-great-great... ancestor, she was still technically a girl.
"I'm preparing to go to the temple. What about you... are you coming?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Dianasmiled and shook her head. "This is our duty as Amazons. What about you? Where do you plan to go after leaving?"
These words already hinted at the fact that Themyscira did not welcome men to reside there.
Duke scratched his head: "This is an unfamiliar era to me."
"To me as well." Diana turned her head and looked into the far distance; she had never left Themyscira before.
"Oh? It seems we have another thing in common."
Wonder Woman smiled but said nothing.
"Since we're so destined, and I don't have any plans for the time being, I'll accompany you on this journey. I can protect you along the way." Duke stood up and stretched his limbs.
"You... protect me?" Diana let out a charming smile as if she had heard a joke. "I wonder who it was that was just sent flying by my punch?"
"Ahem, that's not what I meant." Duke was incredibly embarrassed. "The world outside is full of sinister people. You've never been out there, so I'm afraid you'll be deceived. And that spy—I admit he's on the side of justice, but... he's hiding things from us."
"Steve? Why?" Diana frowned; she felt that the spy was a good person.
"I'm not saying he's a bad person! It's just... in my world, I've seen all kinds of people. Just by looking into their eyes, I can tell if they're telling the truth and how much of it is true! Even though I don't understand English, human eyes are the same." Duke pointed to his own eyes.
Although he intended to distance the two, his words weren't entirely meant to sow discord; this was indeed one of his special abilities. He was usually spot on when reading people; he could discern a person's character and nature just by their face.
Furthermore, Steve was indeed deceptive at the beginning. He only wanted to use Wonder Woman to leave Themyscira and deliver his notes. As for 'Ares, the God of War'... are you kidding? He didn't believe that some damn Ares actually existed, and even if he did, he didn't think the war would end just by killing Ares.
It was also a case of 'a hero being unable to resist a beautiful woman's charms,' which was why he accompanied her to the battlefield.
Diana frowned. She didn't believe Duke, or rather, she preferred to trust her own judgment when reading people.
"Forget it, whether he's good or bad has nothing to do with me."
Duke felt things were going south; he hadn't done something like this before. Speaking ill of another man in front of a woman seemed a bit classless, didn't it? Better change the subject quickly!
"By the way, you're... just leaving like this? Don't you need to go see your aunt?"
Just a reminder: I'm the man who saved your aunt, and that spy is the one who harmed her. We should be much closer, alright!
Diana paused for a moment, shook her head, and then looked at Duke expectantly: "She'll be fine, right?"
"Don't worry, I'll go check on her!" Saying that, Dukeunfolded his Dark Archangel Wings again. "By the way, where shall we meet?"
"To the southeast, there's a small boat."
"Got it!" Duke called out and then soared into the sky.
Diana watched him leave, then turned her gaze toward the temple and started running. With a few large leaps and bounds, she climbed into the temple with her bare hands.
Ding—
Obtained 'Lasso of Truth' × 1
Obtained 'Godkiller' × 1
Obtained 'Magical Shield' × 1
Obtained 'Cloak of the Gods' × 1
Inside the cave, Steve was trying to figure out how to escape. Unfortunately, despite having a map, his compass had malfunctioned, and he threw it aside in frustration. He didn't know if it was caused by the special environment of Themyscira or if it was damaged in the crash, but it had stopped spinning. When Diana appeared, she gave him a fright; he thought the Amazon Warriors had come and his escape plan had been discovered.
His heart was thumping!
"This outfit looks good."
"Thank you! I can tell you how to leave the island, but you have to take me to find Ares."
Ares?
Is there something wrong with this woman? She looks like such a beautiful person. However, this is an opportunity.
"OK, it's a deal!"
On the other side, Duke sped over and landed slowly on the beach, which startled the Amazon Warriors who were still there. After seeing him clearly, they all nodded respectfully.
"Mr. Duke."
"Hello, ladies." They were all beauties—well, the black one didn't count in his eyes—Duke smiled. "How is she?"
The small wooden hut they had built was very simple, just a square box. Only the top wooden boards were tightly fitted, while the sides had large gaps. The top was to shield her from rain, while the sides allowed the wind to blow over her.
The physician had already treated the wound.
To Duke's surprise, even if a wound that pierced the heart was stitched up, one should be in a coma for three to seven days. Even if the Amazons had powerful physical constitutions... waking up in less than half a day was truly incredibly strong. But thinking about it, Antiope was the sister of the Amazon Queen and the strongest warrior on Themyscira besides Wonder Woman.
She was already conscious and was staring at Duke. She still had a slight impression of him—that image of him spreading his wings and soaring into the sky.
"I heard from them... that you saved... *cough cough*... saved me. Thanks, *cough*... if not for you, I..."
Duke quickly stepped forward: "Alright, you're injured, it's better to rest more. Let me check your injury."
Although the wound was in the heart area, he didn't feel embarrassed. Moreover, the bandages were wrapped tightly, so nothing could be seen at all.
He sensed her condition through the flow of magic power.
"Hmm, the situation is even better than I expected. You can probably leave by tomorrow morning."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome!"
"Where is Diana?"
"She..."
"Is she about to leave?"
"Uh?"
"You don't have to hide it from me; I know her temperament. I've heard about what happened. My sister... *cough cough*... help me give this to her." As she spoke, Antiope slowly took off the Starlight Tiara and placed it in Duke's hand, gently patting his palm. "Take... good care of... Diana for me."
Duke was stunned, but he still nodded: "I will!"
Is this the aunt's send-off for her niece?
However, the Starlight Tiara still ended up in Wonder Woman's hands. In the original plot, Antiope died and Hippolyta gave it to Wonder Woman, but now it was being passed on through him.
"Rest assured, as long as I am here, no one will harm her."
He acted like a real man for once!
"Thanks... *gasp, wheeze*..." Although her heart had been stitched up, Antiope was still panting heavily after saying those words.
She needed rest.