56 Trials of Hera 1

[Arnold POV]

A few hours later

We arrived in Themyscira, an island hidden in the ocean between Greece and Turkey. It was actually a pretty beautiful place, with a gigantic, lush green forest and a grand castle complex built into a cliff with training grounds nearby.

As we landed, we were approached by a couple dozen women dressed in a variety of clothing, ranging from full battle armour, to basically no clothes at all. I wondered 'Do these Amazons not have a tailor or blacksmith or something? Is all their stuff hand-me-downs from previous generations.'

Of course I didn't mention this in front of them, otherwise they would have been out for my blood. But that's besides the point.

Anyways, moments after we exited our aircraft, which was an invisible jet, which is a fact that I still can't fucking help but be excited about. I mean how cool is that! Where was I, again? Oh yeah, a group of Amazons just raised their weapons as we came to greet them. This hostility prompted Kara to react with extreme caution, as she got prepared for a fight, only for her to be calmed down by Superman who explained to her that the warriors would not harm us unprovoked.

While that was happening, Wonder Woman began to converse with the Amazons. "My sisters! We come here, not with an intent to fight, but rather to extend a request. A request for your guidance, as this young lady joins our ranks to train and learn the ways of our world. So I request you, to accept her as one of your own, and to aid her in this new journey she has started."

This makes the Amazons calm down, as they drop their weapons, and they stand still, untila voice speaks out "And what part of this journey you speak of involves bringing men to my Isle."

At that moment, a woman looking like she was no older than 30 appeared on the scene. Her appearance made Diana kneel as she greeted her. "I pay my respects to the queen of the Amazons and my mother."

The woman, Hippolyta responded "The greetings can wait till later, but what made you bring three men to Themyscira. Even if two of them are acceptable, as they have passed the trials of Hera and gained the blessings of the gods, the third man has no right to stand on this land."

Wonder Woman replied "This man shall also undergo the trials to prove his worth and earn a place here. If he fails, I myself shall see to it that he leaves and never returns."

Hippolyta then stated "That you shall. But even still, not just anyone can be allowed to undergo the trials. One must prove their valour to even partake in the trials. The other two may have been acknowledged, but only for their contributions towards Themyscira. This one on the other hand, does not have such an advantage."

Her words sounded rather strange to me. 'Did-did she just put me on fraud-watch?'

Luckily, my agenda was saved, as Superman said "He was there, when Earth was invaded by Apokolips. He was the one who dealt the final blow to the Darkseid, leader of invading forces."

This made her pause for a moment, after which she asked Wonder Woman "Does he speak the truth, Diana?"

Wonder Woman replied "Yes mother, he speaks the truth. This man is the one who defeated the New God."

"Then he must prove it. He undergoes the trials immediately. Sisters! Prepare the grounds. We test this warrior's might." said the queen.

'Well, I'm glad this got sorted.' I thought as all of us moved inside the castle, where the Amazons resided. It was large and spacious, constructed entirely out of stone with white silk curtains adorning the halls. It had strategically placed balconies with steel metal fencing spaced throughout, which allowed one to enjoy the beautiful scenery, as well as act like archer posts, in case the island was ever attacked. How would I know that they served this function? Well the three quivers filled with arrows placed on every balcony were enough proof.

On entering the palace, the others were taken elsewhere, whereas I was taken straight to an arena. It was sort of like the Roman colosseum, only placed underground. There were numerous weapons spread throughout, adorning its walls. I waited for only a few minutes as the arena was soon filled with a large number of Amazons. Among them, I could also find Superman, Batman and Kara.

Soon, Queen Hippolyta entered the room accompanied by Wonder Woman. She then addressed everyone present "Sister and guests of Themyscira, today we find yet another stranger, a man at our shores who seeks residence in our Isles. We shall now decide, whether he deserves to stand among us or face death in disgrace.

This made me think 'Wait? The fuck does she mean by 'death in disgrace', isn't this a bit too high stakes all of a sudden?'

But unfortunately, my suspicions were confirmed as she said "This man, shall undergo the Trials of Hera, and if he succeeds, shall receive an honour given to the greatest warriors and gods of the highest order. If he fails, we shall cast him into the sea."

This made me glare at Wonder Woman through my mask, and although I couldn't see my face at the moment, I'm sure it screamed 'Well shit, you could've at least told me!'

Wonder Woman just looked at me with an apologetic look. Hippolyta then turned to me and said "Are you prepared, mortal man?"

Seeing no other choice I could only reply with a frustrated "Yes."

"Well then, let us go through the rules of the trials" she began.

She continued "You shall undergo three trials. In them we shall test your strength, wisdom and loyalty respectively. In this first trial, we shall test your strength. Your task is simple, from among everyone present in this arena, you must choose an Amazon and along with them, you must partake in single combat, as the others spectate. As we watch, we shall judge your strength and if we deem you fit to stay, we shall stand up. If you manage to make 2/3rds of those present acknowledge you, we shall consider you to have passed this trial. If your opponent defeats you before this occurs, you will have failed the trial. If you defeat your opponent, you will be considered the victor. If you have no further questions, choose your opponent from anyone present here."

After listening to her explain what exactly I had to do, I began to think about the best course of action 'Hmm, who should I choose? Well I could just choose some random person from amongst the crowd, that wouldn't be fun would it? Plus, I have to test out my cursed technique as well… In that case, I guess this is the best option.'

With that in mind, I made my decision.

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A/N:First proper fight of this arc. At this rate, the arc will be 60 chapters long atleast.