Deathstroke's Battle

The Talons had no real self-awareness. They were warriors controlled through hypnosis and cryogenic freezing. Whenever the Court of Owls needed them, they were thawed and assigned missions, most of which were assassinations.

Once their missions were complete, they returned to the Owl Maze to be frozen again, awaiting their next awakening.

Perhaps the Talon before Su Ming was several centuries old, but she absolutely could not be underestimated.

They were enhanced humans, stronger even than the assassins of the League of Assassins. Along with their brainwashing, they were instilled with the Talons' inherited combat techniques. Every one of them was an expert in cold weapons.

Moreover, since their leadership consisted entirely of Gotham aristocrats, they had no use for burdensome things like honor. Thus, all their weapons were coated with lethal poison.

Ordinary people who encountered a Talon would basically have no chance of survival.

When disguised as others, they could easily imitate anyone's mannerisms and voice, playing the role flawlessly and making them impossible to guard against. In their Talon state, they rarely spoke, preferring to make ah-ah or cooing sounds, as though imitating owls.

Their numbers were always kept at one hundred: ninety-nine ordinary Talons and one meticulously cultivated Talon Zero, the strongest of them all.

Some ordinary Talons were replenished every year to replace those badly damaged during missions. The Court of Owls selected promising children or youths and deceived them into undergoing brainwashing rituals to restore their numbers.

The one Su Ming needed to keep here seemed to be only an ordinary Talon, but if he let her fly off to report back, things would likely turn out as badly as he had imagined.

As long as she returned to the Owl Maze, the Court of Owls would know what had happened here.

He had to make her come down and fight him, then take the chance to kill her. Provoking her was the most reasonable choice. As for how to provoke a Talon, Su Ming had a theory.

"The Court of Owls eats shit!" he suddenly shouted, raising both middle fingers at the Talon.

Cindy covered her face, while the other three looked at each other. What was he doing?

"Eats eats eats shiiit shiiit—" The echo carried his words back and forth through the wreckage of abandoned cars. Not even the wind and rain could stop the insult from reaching the Talon's ears.

The Talon, perched high above and about to take flight, stopped and turned her gaze back toward the figure below.

Yes, as assassination tools of the aristocrats, it did not matter how the tools themselves were insulted. But the aristocrats were different. One of the Talons' hypnotic commands was to obey the Court of Owls forever and uphold its prestige.

Su Ming's actions had directly triggered that command.

"Loyalty to the Court!"

A dark figure dove straight at Su Ming. The powerful gust made the Talon's cape flap wildly, as though she had merged with the rain falling from the sky.

Su Ming did not grow complacent just because he had achieved the first step of his goal. He only relaxed after an enemy had been completely eliminated, but he remained vigilant at all times.

Swish! Swish!

Two bright white streaks edged in black slashed before his eyes. They were the Talon's claw gauntlets, incredibly sharp and coated with deadly poison, made to rip open a target's throat.

Just as an owl, after catching a mouse, always tore its neck apart before pulling out its innards.

Su Ming nimbly dodged, knocking the claw gauntlets aside with his blade and sending a trail of sparks flying.

Then he shifted his footing and moved to the Talon's side, keeping his distance. At the same time, he made a mental note.

Skilled with claws. Likes tearing open throats and bellies. Matches the comics.

Because the Talon's hood was fully enclosed and paired with thick round goggles, like telescopes attached directly before her eyes, he guessed that her field of vision was limited.

Although Deathstroke had lost one eye, he could rely on his brain's memory and calculating power to fill in his surroundings. In fact, his helmet affected him less than anyone else.

So Su Ming chose to stand to her side, testing whether his opponent had a blind spot.

A man without long-term worries would soon face immediate troubles. He planned to use this opportunity to find her weaknesses as well, so that if he ever faced multiple Talons attacking together, it would be easier to deal with them.

Sure enough, like an owl, the Talon did not move her body, but twisted her neck and head around at a strange angle. This further confirmed Su Ming's assumption, and he added another note in his mind.

Everything was silent. Even the rain seemed to slow, drifting gently down from the sky as the scarlet single eye and the round lenses stared at each other from afar.

Then Su Ming burst forward. One of his blades chopped down vertically while the other slashed horizontally, both striking toward the Talon.

She performed a backflip, nimbly avoiding both blades, then immediately pounced forward. Pulling two long daggers from her waist, she engaged Su Ming in battle.

Clang clang clang clang!!!!!

The sound of metal colliding rang out continuously between them. Sparks flew in every direction, while rainwater was flung into strings of pearls by their arms and bodies, splattering against the wrecked cars around them.

Their footwork constantly shifted, but the Talon's lower body was relatively weak, and she rarely attacked with her legs. Yet she always used her uniform to glide short distances, making her exceptionally agile.

Su Ming recorded the Talon's strengths and weaknesses one by one.

Excellent weapons, poisoned, agile, but physically weak. Her equipment is light, and her defensive capability is almost nonexistent.

He switched to his shotgun and fired at close range. She dodged that as well. In fact, the moment he moved to reach for the grip, she was already drifting sideways, preparing to evade.

In truth, the entire battle was under Su Ming's control. After exchanging only a few moves, he realized that this Talon was not nearly as strong as those in the Main World comics.

He could have kept her here immediately, but he could also gather information on her without letting her escape.

Against an all-around warrior like Deathstroke, with his vast experience and physical abilities beyond those of ordinary humans, she had no chance.

Su Ming took the opportunity to test nearly every weapon on his body. He even pulled out the rope and grappling hook he used for climbing buildings and exchanged several moves with her using those.

A minute later, he had finished gathering the information.

From this day onward, the Talon assassins of Earth -11 held no more secrets or trump cards for him.

The rain began falling faster. Su Ming knocked the Talon away, but she showed no intention of fleeing.

They were both enhanced humans, with equally deep reserves of stamina. They had exchanged hundreds of blows, yet neither was breathing heavily. But Su Ming had already obtained what he wanted, and his brain had automatically formulated the optimal solution based on the information he had gathered.

"It's over!"

He drew his dagger and no longer avoided the Talon's attacks. He merely twisted his body slightly, allowing her dagger to slice across his side, while he drove forward with his own dagger and crashed into her embrace.

Hiss— It sounded like a basketball deflating.

The instant the sound rang out, he violently yanked the dagger backward. A huge hole opened in the Talon's chest, and her heart was cleaved in two, split into upper and lower halves.

Blood gushed forth like a small red fountain, strangely beautiful. Amid the spray of blood and rain, the Talon slowly collapsed, splashing into filthy mud.

A distinct white mark appeared on the chainmail at Su Ming's side, but the attack had not broken through his defenses. Everything had been precisely calculated: from the angle of force to the pressure borne per unit area of the armor, from friction to the effects of the weather, from his opponent's actions to her possible responses.

Through the instincts of his body and the calculations of his brain, Su Ming had perfectly achieved his goal.

This was a victory he had expected.

But he was still waiting to confirm one final thing. He wiped his dagger on the corpse, sheathed it, and stared intently at the wound and exposed organs without blinking.

A few minutes later, he pulled out a grenade, stuffed it into the corpse's chest cavity, pulled the pin, and walked toward Cindy and the others without looking back.

BOOM!!!

Severed limbs flew everywhere. Hands and feet might have remained relatively intact, but at least on this pitch-black night, the Court of Owls would have no chance of putting the corpse back together.

He had also gained the answer to his final question. On Earth -11, the Court of Owls did not possess Amber Gold.