If Ra's al Ghul didn't want to take the sharp arrows head-on, his only option was to continue retreating, allowing the distance between them to widen further. It was the exact same tactic Thea had used against Malcolm Merlyn years ago.
But Ra's al Ghul was not Malcolm. He chose to swim against the current. His tall, lean figure weaved through the rain of arrows, utilizing his superior vision and masterful footwork to dodge by a hair's breadth every time. For the ones he couldn't dodge, he simply swatted them away with his gauntleted longsword. The distance between the two was closing with the naked eye.
"Amazing!" Thea felt her archery had transcended her usual limits in this moment. Even Green Arrow in his future prime might not reach this level. Her mental focus was at its peak, her gaze darting back and forth across Ra's al Ghul's footsteps. Her brain calculated his next landing point at high speed. Drawing the bow and nocking the arrow, she released it without even aiming.
This arrow seemed to be shot at empty air, but it made Ra's al Ghul extremely uncomfortable. His forward rhythm was interrupted; if he took that step, he would walk right into the arrow. He had to urgently retract his half-raised foot. Although it caused no physical damage, his imposing momentum—like a tiger descending a mountain—was instantly slashed in half.
Momentum was invisible and intangible, yet it couldn't be ignored unless there was a massive disparity in power. There was certainly a gap between Thea and Ra's, but it wasn't wide enough for him to ignore her. Limited by the nature of this world, Ra's al Ghul's hundreds of years of life had been spent polishing his skills, making his martial arts more refined and natural. Trying to accumulate time to achieve some world-shattering supernatural power was impossible here.
Thea pinpointed this exact weakness, constantly targeting his footing. After three arrows, Ra's al Ghul's momentum was completely gone. However, the man was truly formidable; he shifted his style from a thunderous strike to the crushing weight of a mountain, slowing his pace and attempting to build a new kind of pressure as he steadily advanced on Thea.
This old man's grasp of momentum was near perfect. He combined psychology and martial arts flawlessly. Added to the confidence bred over centuries, anyone facing his coiled, ready-to-strike blow would likely lose their nerve before the fight even began. Thea took two looks and knew she couldn't let him continue to build power; otherwise, she might not be able to catch his full-force strike with martial arts alone.
Dropping her bow, she drew a standard refined steel longsword. Automatically blocking out her surroundings until only the tall, elderly figure remained in her sight, Thea sprinted toward him.
With the distance closed, Thea didn't hesitate, slashing down directly. Ra's was forced to stop his accumulation of power, raising his sword to block the strike.
He had never feared close-quarters combat. His blade drew a semi-circle, shifting from a block to a stab, thrusting straight for Thea's face.
Naturally, Thea anticipated the change. She executed a backflip, kicking his wrist away mid-air, while her sword stabbed toward his lower abdomen.
This time, unlike Thea's previous sneak attacks using magical teleportation, the two were exchanging blows based on true martial skill. The changes in moves were incredibly fast. Thea successively switched between swordsmanship styles from three different regions and schools, while Ra's al Ghul's swordsmanship—perhaps self-created—was heavy, steady, and exuded the aura of the battlefield.
"Not bad, young one. Your swordsmanship is good, but still not comparable to mine." Ra's feinted with his right hand, then suddenly switched the sword to his left, catching Thea off guard. The blade sliced a hole in the clothes on her shoulder.
Although neither mentioned it, both tacitly understood that this was more of a sparring match. It was impossible for a standard steel sword to truly harm Thea's body, but the torn clothing spoke volumes. Without her divine physical enhancements, that strike would have surely injured her.
"Left-handed sword?" Thea was slightly surprised, but only slightly. Modern society wasn't like the ancient times where warriors sparred daily; attack methods were too diverse now. Would a left-handed pistol count? For Thea, her left hand was more important for casting spells; she hadn't practiced left-handed swordsmanship, as it wasn't truly useful for her.
But to continue sparring with this old man, she had to guard against his ghostly sword techniques. If she got slashed seventeen or eighteen times, she wouldn't be hurt physically, but she'd die of embarrassment.
She retrieved a small round shield from her spatial ring and gripped it in her left hand. That's right! This was a completely modern piece of equipment modeled after Diana's shield. When the two were together, it wasn't just rolling in the sheets every day; they occasionally exchanged martial arts tips, too. This sword-and-shield combo was Diana's specialty.
"A shield?" Ra's al Ghul's eyes instantly lit up. The era he was most active in was the late cold weapon period and early matchlock era; antiquated gear like shields had long since fallen out of standard military use. Seeing Thea pull out such a simplistic round shield, curiosity instantly surged in his heart.
He quietly slowed his offensive, wanting to see what was so ingenious about her sword and shield combination.
Thea had learned through constant exposure to Diana. Initially, she just learned a few moves for fun, but her fighting foundation was solid. Combined with Ra's al Ghul intentionally yielding, she managed to wield it with impressive vigor.
Originally thinking she was purely defending against his left-handed sword, Ra's soon discovered that Thea's coordination between sword and shield was excellent. Between offense and defense, there was a sense of classical aesthetic. This was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment improvisation; this woman had deep reserves.
"Good coordination. In my long life, I really haven't seen many people use a shield this well..." To see all her moves, Ra's defended without attacking, allowing himself to be suppressed. After Thea displayed everything she knew, he seemed left wanting more.
But as the battle dragged on, the combat between them trended toward a draw.
Thea struggled to hold on. To be honest, Diana's martial arts were just okay—not much better than contemporary Earth martial artists. She mostly relied on her high stats to crush enemies. Thea's imitation of the sword-and-shield style quickly became a bit scattered.
However, the divinity she inherited from Ares, the God of War, exerted its unyielding characteristic. Building on Diana's foundation, Thea slowly took things a step further.
"Huh? Are you improvising these variations on the spot?" As her opponent, Ra's felt it most keenly. He had clearly seen many moves before, but as the battle prolonged, the techniques in Thea's hands were undergoing subtle changes.
Originally, it was sword for attack and shield for defense, but with a slight shift, it became shield for attack and sword for defense. When Ra's changed his moves, she changed with him.
This made Ra's al Ghul uncomfortable. A mystic-side mage fighting to a standstill with him—someone who had practiced martial arts for hundreds of years? Are the physical stats of you mage types really this ridiculous?!
He didn't realize this was thanks to the War God's divinity. He thought Thea was improving her moves in the heat of combat, which he found hard to accept. Especially thinking about how Thea had abandoned her strengths to fight him with her weakness for so long, he started to lose his composure.
"I'm done!" Forcing Thea back with two or three moves, Ra's al Ghul sheathed his sword and stood upright. The old man kept his word; when he said he was done, he was done.