Without a doubt, this was the perfect opportunity to earn Paradise Island’s favor—win over Queen Hippolyta and raise Wonder Woman’s opinion of him.
As long as he could save Antiope, he would become an honored guest of Themyscira instead of being banished.
After all, the system had just warned him that there were two people on the entire island capable of killing him: Wonder Woman herself, and Wonder Woman’s mother.
Granted, the latter would only be able to do so after boosting her combat power with certain special equipment.
So he wasn’t completely safe yet.
Judging from the movie, Wonder Woman’s mother wasn’t a bloodthirsty woman.
But his own origins were difficult to explain.
What if…
Besides, since Steve—the man who shared Captain America’s name—had appeared on Paradise Island, this should be the era of World War I.
If nothing unexpected had happened, it should be 1918.
In the movie, they were preparing to sign the armistice, so it was probably around October.
After all, the agreement ending the war would be signed on November 11.
If he left Themyscira now, he’d be stranded somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
The closest places to Duke would be England, Spain, Portugal, or France—all countries where foreign languages were spoken.
And he didn’t even know English.
To make matters worse, this was the era of World War I, long before international commercial aviation existed.
He wasn’t even sure when international flights had begun, though he knew the first solo transatlantic flight was in 1927, and by World War II international air travel already existed.
Of course, whether this world followed the same timeline remained to be seen.
On top of that, he had no identification whatsoever.
There was practically nowhere he could legally go.
Money wasn’t a problem—he could extort someone for it whenever he wanted.
Sneaking aboard an ocean liner wouldn’t be difficult either.
But the real question was…
Where would he go?
China?
At this point in history…
Wasn’t it still in the middle of the Warlord Era?
In the end, he decided to stay on Daughter Island… ahem…
Paradise Island for the time being and take things one step at a time.
Which meant saving Antiope was the top priority.
“What are you doing…?”
At this moment, Wonder Woman was flustered and completely at a loss.
She reached out, intending to push him away, but her hand was caught.
The instant Duke grabbed her hand, a thought flashed through his mind.
These don’t feel rough at all.
Shouldn’t a female warrior have callused hands?
“If you don’t want her to die, you’d better not move!”
Though the touch had been nice, he let go and continued inscribing the dark runes.
Strangely enough, as the black symbols were written around them, Wonder Woman could clearly feel Antiope’s breathing gradually stabilize.
“It’s done.”
Once the dark inscriptions connected into a complete formation, Duke stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Damn… thank goodness it worked.
If it hadn’t, I’d have made a complete fool of myself.
Queen Hippolyta hurried over.
Before she could ask anything, Duke explained first.
“This is called a Technique Formula—a type of barrier magic. You probably won’t understand it, so you can think of it as a kind of rule. As long as she doesn’t leave this area, she won’t die.”
The queen truly lived up to her title.
Calm and composed, she merely nodded at Duke before kneeling beside her sister to examine her condition.
The more she checked, the more astonished she became.
Antiope’s wound was still bleeding.
Yet somehow…
She simply wasn’t dying.
A forbidden art?
Returning the dead to life?
“…???”
Only then did Duke realize something.
“Wait… you understand Chinese?”
He had explained everything instinctively without even thinking.
“We speak hundreds of languages,” Wonder Woman answered as she slowly stood up.
Duke: I’m such an idiot.
“Antiope… does this mean… she won’t die now?”
“You’re misunderstanding, miss. That’s not how the Technique Formula works.”
Duke waved his hand.
Wonder Woman blinked.
Miss???
“The rules of a Technique Formula require a prerequisite before the result can occur. It’s a ‘because… therefore…’ relationship—not just ‘therefore.’ Understand?”
Wonder Woman frowned slightly and shook her head.
“I don’t.”
“Uh…”
Duke scratched his head and pointed at the magical writing on the ground.
“Let me put it this way. These magical inscriptions have bound her life to this area. If she leaves it, she’ll die. The rule I’ve written into the Technique Formula is: ‘As long as the wind blows across her, she will not die.'”
That was how a Technique Formula function.
A condition had to be established first before the desired outcome could be achieved.
It couldn’t simply be:
‘Anyone inside this circle cannot die.’
That was impossible.
For example:
A valid rule would be ‘Whoever uses this spell will suffocate,’ not ‘Whoever stands inside the boundary will suffocate.’
“Then Antiope…”
Wonder Woman froze.
Wouldn’t she still die?
And… she can’t even leave the beach anymore?
Duke rolled his eyes.
“Surely you people have physicians, don’t you? Go treat her! I’ve bought you time. If you still can’t save her after this… Then you might as well bang your heads against a wall. As for these magical inscriptions, don’t worry—they aren’t actually written in the sand. They’re manifestations of the Power of Rules. Well… You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it.”
Hell…
I don’t fully understand it myself.
The closest explanation he could come up with was that it resembled a fragment of spatial power.
The words weren’t written on the sand.
They were written into space itself.
Even if the sea breeze swept every grain of sand away…
The inscriptions would remain.
“Then… can this… Technique Formula… be moved?”
Wonder Woman asked.
“No. Once a Technique Formula has been written, it can’t be relocated. You’d have to disperse it and write it again. And I can’t guarantee she’ll survive long enough for you to carry her indoors.”
The Technique Formula wasn’t truly preventing Antiope from dying.
It was merely delaying death.
About a week, at most.
Unlike Wonder Woman, Antiope didn’t possess powerful regenerative abilities.
Her physical condition was exceptional, yes…
But she’d been shot through the heart.
The fact that she’d managed to say those last few words before collapsing was already remarkable.
The Technique Formula kept her alive by burning through her life force.
Only by overdrawing her vitality could her body continue functioning despite the blood she’d lost.
In other words…
It was consuming her very life.
If her heart wasn’t stitched back together before that reserve was exhausted…
Then…
Not even the gods could save her.
As queen, Hippolyta acted with swift decisiveness.
“Bring the physicians immediately! Build a simple wooden shelter to protect her from blowing sand and rain. Assign someone to fan her constantly. The wind must never stop—not for a single moment!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The Amazon warriors immediately sprang into action.
Some collected the bodies.
Others ran to fetch the physicians.
Still others hurried off to gather carpentry tools.
As for Antiope…
The sudden surge of life force had caused her to lose consciousness.
With the internal crisis temporarily stabilized…
It was time to deal with the outsiders.
Hippolyta turned her cold gaze toward Steve—the man who shared Captain America’s name.
“Are you together?”
“What did she say?”
Duke asked Wonder Woman as if they were already old friends.
“She asked whether the two of you came together.”
“Together? No! Of course not. I don’t even know him.”
Duke had no desire to get tangled up with Steve.
In fact, he’d rather watch the poor guy suffer—and maybe get a nice burn from the Lasso of Truth while he was at it.
Steve quickly denied it as well.
“No! @&#%…%￥…#…&#%”
“What did he say?”
Duke had only caught the words ‘No’ and ‘I.’
Everything else sounded like heavenly scripture to him.
Wonder Woman looked at him curiously.
“He says he can’t tell us his name. He also says he didn’t mean to intrude here. According to him…”
She paused.
“…you fell from the sky and crashed into his airplane. That’s why…”
What?
Wasn’t he supposed to have been shot down by the German army before crashing onto Themyscira?
So…
I was the one who fell out of the sky and smashed his plane?
Emmmm…