The Queen's Wager!

Queen Hippolyta's voice rang across the crumbling walls, calm yet carrying an authority no one could question.

"Stand down. Put away your weapons."

"Open... the palace gates."

An uproar swept through the crowd.

The queen's own sister, Antiope, the fiercest general of the Amazons, could hardly believe her ears.

"Sister! Have you lost your mind?"

Antiope strode up to the queen. Beneath her golden helmet, her eyes burned with anger. "You would open our gates to a man who attacked our home? That's surrender! An insult to thousands of years of Amazon glory!"

"We should activate every defense! Shoot him down with Hephaestus' Crossbow! Pierce his heart with the Spear of Ares! Not invite him in like a pack of cowards!"

Her roar ignited the fire in every Amazon warrior around her. They gripped their weapons tighter as the fear in their eyes gave way to outrage and a hunger for battle.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Their furious cries became a torrent that threatened to sweep away the queen's command.

Yet Hippolyta merely turned and calmly regarded her impulsive sister and the warriors raging behind her with eyes that had witnessed a thousand years.

The queen said nothing. She raised a finger and pointed at the sky.

At the enormous vortex Link had created, one that seemed ready to swallow heaven and earth.

"Do you see that, Antiope?"

The queen's voice was quiet, yet it rose above the uproar.

"That is no mortal power. It could tear continents apart and evaporate oceans. With that one strike, he showed us he can overturn the board."

"But he did not overturn it. He only punched a hole in it."

"And then he politely asked to speak with the person who owns the board."

Hippolyta's gaze passed over every warrior's face, her voice turning