Chapter 73: Reshaping Shadows

Chapter 73: Reshaping Shadows

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"If we were normal, we might not be alive today. And that, my friend, is what gives us the edge we need."

– Makoto Shishio, (Rurouni Kenshin)

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<[One Month Later]>

<(Omniscient POV)>

"Are the weapons here? And what about the food, water, and medicines? We need the last shipment here by tomorrow for the remaining wounded who still haven't recovered completely." Talia asked the masked female ninja beside her as she walked through the streets of the partially destroyed League of Assassins city on Nanda Parbat.

"All of those resources are here my lady. They arrived this morning. Mistress Nyssa has even already started administering the medicines to the injured who have pledged their loyalty to the new Demon's Head." The masked assassin said in a stoic voice.

"My sister huh? It seems that she is taking her role as part of the newly established High Table quite seriously. Good for her. The sooner she grows up, the less worried I will have to be for her... How about our numbers? How many of our generals still haven't betrayed us?" Talia enquired with a calm voice.

"Surprisingly most of them didn't rebel and instead decided to join us after our new leader sent personally written letters to each of them. The only ones who didn't listen and completely cut off all connections after the recent attack were the divisions led by Lady Shiva, The Swiss, and The Magician. The Dragon has also been quiet and hasn't made his stance clear but again he was never a major force. Even the assassins under him could be counted on one hand.

However, the most dangerous of them all for us right now would be The Swiss or David Cain. Despite not being the strongest or the most influential among the generals, he is definitely the most cunning. Also, he currently occupies our oldest and second-biggest stronghold after Nanda Parbat, the Eth Alth'eban with the highest number of assassins among all of our generals under him numbering more than four hundred whereas we ourselves barely have two hundred of them left after we called in all of our reserves directly under our control. An all-out war with him right now would be... difficult." The female assassin said with a slight hesitation.

"David Cain? That man sure is ambitious. Even Father barely maintained his control over him. It was only because of Father's absolute ruthlessness and brutality, that the man had never dared to cross him. But it seems that the moment he has gotten a wisp of our disadvantage, he has started showing his true colors... But still, I am positive that he won't attack, not until he is absolutely sure that Father is dead... permanently. Instead, he will be biding his time and using it to increase his resources and soldiers." Talia stated confidently as she breathed out a tired sigh.

She had been working way too much the last month than she ever had in her life. She had always been a princess, a shadow warrior, and sometimes a tool for her father. But, this was the first time she had become a leader after Bruce gave her exactly what she wanted and made her one of the three founding members of the High Table beside her younger sister and Bruce himself.

Of course, at first, Talia was elated that she finally had the power she always desired and the chance to prove herself better than her father but after about a month of managing the League's activities, she finally understood why Bruce had included her in the High Table instead of just having the complete league to himself as the New Demon's Head while reducing her to a mere pawn.

It was because of the workload. The bastard didn't want to work at all. He liked making plans and preparing for the future but when it came to the actual execution of those plans, he liked to dump the entire thing on either Cortana, herself, or her sweet innocent sister Nyssa. Despite having power over the League 'almost' equal to Bruce, at least on paper, Talia didn't have any time to enjoy it at all. She had to work almost all day, especially with Bruce still supposedly recovering from his wounds and her sister not nearly being as adept in politics, leadership, and management as her.

But still, she had to admit that Bruce delivered on everything he promised, from control over the League to getting rid of her father, and he did all that too without trying to trick her even once.

'What the hell happened here?' I mentally thought to myself as I pushed a few random books in a unique combination after which the fire dimmed down and a small hidden locker behind the fireplace could be seen.

I had to further verify my identity by giving my iris scan and fingerprints as well as a unique voice-activated password (it may or may not have been 'I am Batman') to the locker, only after which did the secret vault completely open.

'It seems my mind has changed a lot after I absorbed all of Ra's Al Ghul's memories. It has become bigger and...stronger but it also revealed something I had no idea about before.

It showed me that the parts of Ra's Al Ghul's soul or... mind or whatever it was, weren't the only things that had been absorbed inside my mindscape. No, there was something else in here, something that had been present in my mind from the very start but had remained hidden.

It was broken pieces of the mind of the old and original Bruce Wayne, who had died before I even came to this world. His ego was gone, but parts of his soul and mind had been left by him in his body, something I had unknowingly absorbed into myself, the moment I took over this body.

The black dimly glowing crystals were proof of that. They were parts of his broken soul which had been passively strengthening the core of my mind and soul, giving me some additional protection.

I had always carried a part of the old Bruce within me, a hidden shield that acted as the final barrier to my mind and soul even without my knowledge. It was his legacy, his gift to me, that allowed me to survive the pit's soul-corrosive effects longer than Ra's Al Ghul, who succumbed to death wayyy before me. But when I absorbed the memories of the ancient assassin through the ritual, I also ingested some of his shattered soul fragments, which triggered a reaction in my own psyche. The pieces of Bruce that lay dormant and hidden in me awakened and emerged to full view, finally giving me access to them.

But as much as I was glad to have that protection, this also begged another question. Did I just get a minor protection against mental and spiritual probes and attacks from these fragments or did I inherit something else as well? It was a curious question, one whose answers I would find real soon.

"There it is," I whispered to myself in awe as I took out and opened the laptop from the secret vault in which I had previously stored all my personal memories except my future knowledge of DC and saw a file titled 'Unknown Life' which was heavily encrypted just beneath the newly downloaded file named 'Ra's Al Ghul's Amazing Experiences'.

"Should I decrypt it?" I thought out loud as I wondered about the implications that could result from this if the file somehow affected my ego and suddenly changed who I am, something that would be akin to a mental death for this me. After all, you are only what your memories are, what your experiences make you.

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/God_Doom