After passing through what felt like an invisible curtain, Victor Kent finally found the legendary Paradise Island.
"The view really does live up to the name."
Especially after the miserable weather he had just crossed through—dark clouds, violent storms, and furious waves that battered the ocean outside. The moment he stepped past the barrier, everything changed. The sky inside was completely clear, the sea mirrored the heavens, and the horizon shimmered with a calm, endless blue.
The contrast was so extreme that it almost felt unreal.
Seabirds glided effortlessly through the air while the breeze carried their crisp cries across the coastline. Gentle wind rustled through the cliffs and brushed over the calm water. Compared to the raging chaos beyond the island, the scene felt like another world entirely, a quiet paradise hidden away from everything else.
"Is that… a man?"
Standing on a nearby cliff, Diana blinked in confusion.
She had been resting lazily near the edge of the rocky shoreline when she suddenly noticed the figure appear out of nowhere. For a moment she even wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Outsiders simply did not appear on Paradise Island.
Yet the stranger was clearly there.
Boom!
Diana, wearing a golden battle skirt and a shining tiara, leapt from the cliff without hesitation. She dropped dozens of meters through the air and landed on the beach like a falling cannonball. Sand exploded outward from the impact as her perfectly balanced legs absorbed the force with effortless control.
Straightening up, she stared at Victor with undisguised curiosity.
"You really are a man?"
Her bright eyes studied him with fascination, as if she had just discovered a completely new species.
"Short hair, flat chest, a visible Adam's apple, and a strong jawline… That's exactly what the men in the old paintings looked like."
After thousands of years of monotonous life on the island, even the smallest novelty felt extraordinary. Seeing someone completely new standing on the beach sent a spark of excitement through her mind.
[Curiosity from Diana +85, Joy +81…]
Victor smiled faintly.
"Of course I'm a man."
He examined her appearance as well. The golden armor, the warrior's skirt, and the rope coiled at her waist gave her an elegant yet heroic presence. The resemblance was unmistakable.
He hadn't expected the first Amazon he encountered to be Diana herself.
Originally he had wondered if the timeline disturbances he caused might have altered her fate. There was even a chance she might have already left the island and experienced some completely different adventure somewhere in the world.
Apparently, that wasn't the case.
"Is that strange?" Victor asked.
Diana shook her head quickly.
"No. There are many men in the outside world, but this is the first time I've ever seen one in person. There are no men on Paradise Island."
She walked around him slowly, her gaze examining every detail.
"How did you get here?"
Her brow furrowed as she recalled something her mother had once mentioned during late nights while watching the distant ocean.
"Mother sometimes says that the power left behind by Zeus might be fading. The magic barrier protecting the island could weaken after thousands of years."
As she spoke, her eyes drifted back to Victor's face again and again, lingering on his throat and jawline with unconcealed fascination.
"Men look even better than the ones painted in the scrolls," she murmured thoughtfully. "But why don't you have a beard?"
Victor's mouth twitched slightly.
"Because I'm not old enough."
Being asked about facial hair like that was strangely uncomfortable. If someone didn't know better, it almost sounded like they were questioning whether he was missing something.
"How old are you then?" Diana asked curiously. "Three thousand years?"
To her, that was still considered relatively young.
The Amazons were immortal. Nearly everyone on the island had lived longer than the legendary immortal warrior Ra's al Ghul, whose lifespan depended on repeated immersion in the Lazarus Pit.
Victor's eyes flickered faintly.
Even for Diana—daughter of Zeus and the Amazon queen—thousands of years were nothing more than a short chapter of an incredibly long life.
"What an incredible race," he said softly with a faint smile.
If he could take control of the Amazons, the inhabitants of this island would provide him with a steady stream of emotional energy forever.
An inexhaustible source.
"Wait."
Diana suddenly narrowed her eyes.
"Are you strong enough to run across the ocean?"
For a brief moment, something about the man's gaze made a cold shiver run down her spine. She instinctively took a step backward, her posture shifting into a cautious fighting stance like a startled leopard.
"Mother always worries that Ares might find us if the barrier weakens."
Her expression sharpened.
"Are you Ares?"
Her innocent mind quickly formed what she believed was a logical explanation.
Victor stared at her for a moment, almost speechless.
The absolute lack of suspicion in her eyes was astonishing.
"Diana, stay away from him!"
Thunderous hoofbeats suddenly echoed across the shore.
A majestic woman rode forward on a powerful warhorse, followed by hundreds of Amazon warriors. Even from a distance, her presence carried unmistakable authority.
Queen Hippolyta had sensed the barrier being disturbed.
The reaction had been violent enough to make it obvious that whoever entered Paradise Island was far from an ordinary mortal. Treating the situation as a potential invasion, she immediately gathered a contingent of warriors and rushed to the coast.
When she arrived, she saw her daughter standing only a few meters away from the unknown outsider.
Her expression changed instantly.
"Archers—prepare!"
Amazon warriors moved in perfect coordination.
Muscular arms drew powerful bows while the elegant lines of their bodies reflected both strength and grace. The sharp creak of bowstrings echoed across the beach as dozens of arrows aimed directly at Victor.
More riders arrived behind them, kicking up clouds of dust as the formation tightened.
"Outsider!" Hippolyta shouted, drawing her sword and pointing it directly at him. "Tell me who you are!"
Since the intruder clearly wasn't mortal, the possibility that he had wandered here by accident was extremely unlikely.
There was only one explanation she could not ignore.
He might be a scout sent by Ares.
Two arrows suddenly shot into the sand beside Victor's feet.
They were clearly meant as a warning.
Victor glanced down calmly at the arrows, as if they were nothing more than twigs stuck in the ground.
[Vigilance from Hippolyta +10.1, Hostility +5.1…][Vigilance from Antiope +6.5…][Vigilance from other Amazons +2.2…]
A torrent of emotional feedback flooded his mind like a waterfall.
The emotional energy produced by this group of Amazons easily surpassed anything Clark could generate at the same time, even when Clark's emotions were at their most intense.
"It seems I really did come to the right place," Victor thought.
Paradise Island was perfect.
Not every Amazon was present here at the moment, but the number was already impressive.
Whoosh!
Diana suddenly swung the golden rope at her waist.
The Lasso of Truth sliced through the air as she hurled it directly at Victor. She intended to capture him first and allow the Amazons to interrogate him afterward.
"So this is the Lasso of Truth," Victor said.
His hand flashed forward.
He caught the golden rope instantly.
The glowing cord wrapped around his arm as he examined it with interest, curiosity flickering in his eyes.
According to legend, the rope had been forged by the god Hephaestus from the golden girdle of Gaia, the Earth Goddess. It was indestructible and impossible to break.
Even the mighty Hercules had once failed to snap it.
Anyone bound by the rope would be compelled to speak only the truth.
Diana's expression changed.
Originally she had planned to loop the rope around Victor's waist and pull him down, binding his hands in the process. Instead, the rope she had thrown had been caught effortlessly.
Shock filled her bright eyes.
"Since I was a child, no one on the island has ever been able to keep up with my speed," she said in disbelief. "Not even my mother."
"Outsider!" Hippolyta shouted again, seizing the opportunity. "Who are you?"
Her voice carried the authority of a ruler who had led the Amazons for countless years.
"What is your purpose for coming here?"
Diana pulled hard on the rope, trying to drag Victor toward her so she could pin him down.
But no matter how much strength she used, he didn't move an inch.
The Lasso of Truth felt like it had been tied to a mountain.
A strange sensation filled Victor's body.
The power of the rope urged him to speak honestly, pushing against his will.
"My identity?" he said slowly.
Diana pulled harder, muscles tightening as she struggled to move him. Victor glanced down casually and simply tossed the rope aside.
Then he looked up toward Hippolyta standing on the cliff.
Hundreds of bows were aimed directly at him, yet his expression remained calm.
"You don't need to know who I am."
The Lasso of Truth was one of Wonder Woman's most reliable divine artifacts. Even Superman's supposedly invincible body had occasionally been damaged in battle, yet the rope itself almost never failed.
Victor had no doubt about its power.
When Hippolyta saw him escape its grip so easily, her eyes narrowed.
She had already concluded that extracting useful information from him would be difficult.
But the next words out of his mouth made her expression change instantly.
The Amazon warriors surrounding her stared in shock.
"You only need to know one thing," Victor said calmly as he stood alone on the beach.
"I came here to conquer the Amazons."
Silence fell across the shoreline.
For a single moment, the world seemed to freeze.
Then the emotional reactions exploded like a raging flood.
Hostility surged from thousands of furious Amazons like a tidal wave crashing toward him.
"Arrogant!"
"Kill him!"
....
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