I have 6 streams of consciousness.
One was fully focused on the battle with the League fighters. The second was dropping a hail of balls on the enemies' heads. The third was returning the items that had already reached the ground back into the inventory, and the fourth ensured that the cores and eggs did not harm me, removing them as soon as they crossed the danger line—one tenth of a millimeter from my body. In the surrounding chaos, I was the only one who could move freely.
Unfortunately, Sasha and Sandra were out of the hail's reach, which deprived me of the opportunity to help Bordeaux by causing obstacles to her opponent with the heavenly bombardment. It's easy to guess that with such a big advantage, I quickly dealt with Lady Shiva's remaining minions. They could not dodge the cannon rain and resist me at the same time—the outcome was inevitable. Only the last warrior fell after I sensed a threat behind me and quickly dodged to the side.
A girl of about fourteen, dressed in the combat attire of the League of Shadows, landed where I had just been standing. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes soulless, constantly fixed on me. She reminded me of Sandra Wu-San in some way, so after comparing all the facts and information stored in my head, I guessed who she could be. The miniature killer drew her katana and stepped toward me.
"Hey, stop! Don't!" I hurriedly retreated. "Girl, don't come any closer. I'm warning you—I've learned karate!"
I got into the kokutsu-dachi stance. I put my left leg forward and bent it slightly. My right leg went back; I directed my knee outward and bent it slightly so it was vertical above my big toe. My shoulders were in profile, and my body was straight.
However, the girl ignored me completely and charged as fast as she could, swinging her sword at my supporting leg. Luckily, I reacted quickly enough and stepped aside. But my new opponent wouldn't relent, swinging her sharp blade again and again. She fought with great skill, and most importantly, she wasn't bothered by the hail of cannonballs. Her fighting skills did not match her young age at all.
As a result, Sasha and I were cornered. Opposite us stood opponents clearly superior in skill.
"Heh, I never thought we'd get such a beating from a mother and her daughter," I chuckled, brushing the dust from my shoulder.
I stopped the heavenly bombardment to take a break—and to talk.
"Do you know she's my daughter?" Shiva asked, surprised.
"Of course." I looked closely at the girl's face. "She looks a lot like you. Hey, little one, your name is Cassandra, right?" I addressed the silent girl.
"Cassandra Cain… You can't speak, can you? That's sad."
"Shut up!" Shiva shouted, clearly unwilling to listen to me.
Cassandra Cain is the daughter of Lady Shiva and the assassin David Cain. Like her parents, she was trained to be the perfect warrior and assassin. Her father never taught her to speak, nor did he educate her in any traditional sense. Instead, she learned to read her opponents' movements as a form of "language." She is not mute by nature; she was simply deprived of the ability to speak and communicate with others so she could become the greatest killer in the world.
As far as I know, the League of Shadows nearly killed Sandra once, and then Ra's al Ghul made a deal with her. He spared her life, and she gave birth to a daughter by one of his ancient organization's members—David Cain. Ra's al Ghul wanted fighters in his service who could interpret body language to the level of reading complex thoughts. As a result, Shiva gave birth to Cassandra.
The girl was trained as an assassin from childhood, without any parental love. However, apparently maternal love still remained in Sandra herself. She loves her daughter, although by all appearances, she should hate her because Cassandra is not the fruit of love but the result of compulsion. Still, her harsh treatment of Cassandra is not whims; to rid her daughter entirely of unnecessary emotions, Sandra was punished not to show love openly. The sad fate of an unusual family.
"You're stalling for time," Shiva said, stepping toward us. "You hope the Dark Knight will come to your aid. But rest assured, it will not happen. I took care of it. No one will come, and no one will help you—even an outside observer will be powerless this time."
The jokes ended, and harsh reality took hold. The atmosphere changed dramatically. The air became heavier—it trembled from the murderous intent emitted by the strongest fighters in the League of Shadows: Shiva and her daughter.
"How did this happen?" I said quietly. "The plan went down the drain. I didn't expect she'd bring her daughter. I didn't calculate this variable. Sasha... run!"
"W-what? What are you talking about?!" Bordeaux screamed.
"Like I said, there's no chance! They need me, but they have no reason to leave you alive. Save yourself; I'll hold them off."
"No way, I'll stay! I'm a bodyguard—my duty…"
"Sasha, shut up…and run. That's an order."
Bordeaux looked at me and silently nodded.
"You know what to do. Forward!" I shouted and stood next to Shiva and Cassandra, blocking their path.
"Do you think you can hold us back?" Sandra asked mockingly, never taking her eyes off the running girl.
"There's no point in leaving her alive—she'll die!"
"No way!"
Suddenly, a giant wall of concrete blocks, about ten meters high and eighty meters long, appeared behind me. It would take time to go around it.
Even Shiva couldn't catch a professional fighter like Sasha with such a lead. Apparently, she realized this and made no attempt to pursue Bordeaux.
"Let's wait for this. You are more important than that girl. I won't chase her, entertaining a small hope of capture when my main prize is right here," the League Grandmaster stated emotionlessly.
"Today you did something stupid, which will bring a series of suffering and fear upon you."
"Perhaps… but I don't regret it. It's all life experience. You know what they say: we'll live and see, we'll live to find out, we'll survive and take it into account."
Our final battle began.
I defended myself against two skilled masters of murder, and I wouldn't say I was doing well. In this uneven fight, I was brutally suppressed.
It's not hard to guess how it all ended...
"My head," I groaned, clutching the back of my head, which had been struck hard by the hilt of a katana. "Apparently, this is the end? My consciousness... I..."
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