DC: I am Bruce Wayne

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"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
- Rhett Butler, (Gone with the Wind)

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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>

"Seriously, how long is this tunnel? I have passed through three mini-sized Lazarus pits already. Did he store every Lazarus pit he ever found in his life in here?" I wondered aloud as I calmly walked through the dark tunnel, descending deeper into the monastery's massive underground chamber.

'Goddamn it, I should have brought my bat tool. Not only it would have been extremely useful, but using its plasma blade function and pretending like it is a red lightsaber in the dark would have been pretty cool. I am sure that if done well, even Ra's Al Ghul would feel literal chills after seeing me emerge from the dark with a red lightsaber, provided that he hasn't seen the movie yet. Well, next time I guess.'

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang* A sharp metallic sound suddenly began to echo from the darkness, like a metal banging against another metal, painting the eerie atmosphere even more ominous.

"So, it seems that you were waiting for me. Surprised that I came alone without Ubu?" I asked as I saw the silhouette of Ra's Al Ghul calmly standing in the dark with a pair of strange curved swords in his hands.

"No, I knew Ubu wouldn't be able to defeat you. If he was that good, I would have made him my successor, not you. He was only good enough to slightly delay you and serve as a small test to prepare you for what is to come now, but he even failed to do that, I assume. I guess he was more useless than I thought he was." He said without much change in his otherwise impassive expression while looking at my seemingly unhurt self.

"Well, yeah, guess what? I am not that easy to beat up, not even by my potential father-in-law." I joked back as I subtly glanced at our surroundings.

It was dark but with my enhanced sight, I could easily see through the darkness. The entire... underground chamber was an artificial cave with creepy symbols and figures painted all over the walls. The Demon's Head himself was standing in front of the biggest Lazarus pit I had seen till now, one that was almost half the size of an Olympic-sized pool. It was goddamn big. Even the ceiling was shaped weirdly like a big dome just above the center of the pit.

"You like bathing in fresh green chemicals, don't you?" I joked.

*CLINK* A loud shrill noise echoed all over the cave as Ra's Al Ghul struck his swords against each other at a particular angle, immediately lighting up the torch fixed beside him with the sparks generated from the sharp blades hitting each other.

"No, but I will soon. After all, the next bath in there is going to be life-changing... for both of us. And as for my daughters, I never really cared about them. They don't understand the greater good, they don't understand my true purpose and the responsibility that someone in my position has to bear. So, you courting them changes nothing for me. However, that also changes nothing for you because Bruce Wayne won't be leaving this place today, at least not alive." Ra's Al Ghul smiled menacingly.

"You have too many aspirations Ra's Al Ghul, just be careful not to choke on them. Anyway, now can we finally start, if you are done with all your theatrics that is? I am getting bored of having these heartfelt conversations with everyone every time I fight today."

"HAHAHA. Didn't you learn Bruce? The theatrics are part of the show. It's part of the illusion that an expert assassin casts on its target. Haven't you heard of the phrase, If you want to be the best, you must act like it FIRST." Ra's Al Ghul threw a bunch of kunai in my direction even before he completed his words while charging at me the very next second like a mad bull.

I too didn't bother to speak any longer and just took a fighting stance while my twin flaming swords came to life in my hands as I mentally summoned the All-blades and blocked the sword attack aimed at me.

*Clang* "Burning swords. It seems that sending you to that mission did quite some good for you. Shouldn't you thank me?" He laughed as he began to slash his sword at me, each of his movements calculated and precise. He looked like he was performing a complex dance with his sword instead of fighting a life-and-death battle. His swords too didn't seem to be affected much by the All-Blades.

"Your leg work is excellent and so are the movements of your wrists. Good, you might just be the best student I have ever taught. You were not the most diligent student but you always perfected each and every skill I ever taught you. That was what set you apart from the others, your sheer determination to be the best, your tendency to not only master everything but to improve on it too." Ra's Al Ghul complimented me as he used his strangely superhuman strength to remain on the offensive, even giving me a difficult time. "But what about your sense of surroundings?" He asked cryptically.

"What...?" I asked in confusion but I immediately understood the meaning of his words when the tile of the floor I stepped on while taking a backstep sunk into the ground and a hidden contraption in the wall shot a small arrow at me with a speed that even the eyes could not see.

If I was an ordinary human, I would have been hit by that arrow but as a proud super soldier, I was easily able to dodge it with minimum body movement. But it still created a small hole in my defenses, something that an experienced warrior like Ra's Al Ghul was instantly able to capitalize on.

With an expert blow of his sword, while sporting a green eerie glow in his eyes, he was able to slash the skin on my right thigh, creating a bloody gash.

"Tchh." I hissed my tongue at the stinging pain. It was a lot more painful than what I felt normally when a blade punctured my skin which was strange because it was only a flesh wound. I immediately created some distance between me and him while waiting for the wound to heal up.

But for some strange reason, the wound wasn't cauterizing, at least not at the superhuman rate I hoped it would, like all the rest of my injuries.

"Are you waiting for it to heal like all your other injuries always magically heal?... Sorry for the bad news but you see the sword in my hand is not exactly an ordinary sword. Just like yours, these ones are special too. They are called the Soulbreaker. They don't promise to kill immortals like the All-blades that you wield do but they too can have a peculiar supernatural ability. They can not only cut apart flesh but also damage one's very soul as well. So the immense pain you are feeling right now is not of your physical body but of your very soul itself." Ra's Al Ghul said with a sinister smile, his Liam Neeson look-alike face seeming like that of a demon.

'Shit.' I thought to myself. I was not afraid of a little pain or even the danger of death since I had enough confidence in my own abilities but a sword that could hurt my soul was dangerous since I didn't know just how much damage my soul could take.

I have hundreds of methods to protect my body and my mind but the soul was always a very sensitive topic. Till now, I had only found ways of evading ghostly and demonic possession by carving runic tattoos on my skin but I still hadn't found a safe enough method to protect my soul from direct spiritual attacks.

So, the biggest threat to myself that I was always worried about was an attack on my soul because a physical body could easily heal but was the soul capable of the same healing as well?

I didn't have an answer to that question yet. It probably required more research on the topic but that could be done later. Right now, I had to focus on winning this battle while taking minimum damage to my soul from those swords of his. Thus, I clenched the All-Blades tighter and started circulating my chi all over my body for some extra protection, while taking a deep breath.

I wanted to finish this as fast as possible by using my Darkness breathing style and going on full offensive instead of just defending against his attacks.

'Form 8: Oblivion Cyclone.' I recited the technique's name in my mind as I began to rapidly run around Ra's Al Ghul in a circle, hoping to confuse him and lessen his chances of blocking my attack or counterattacking. The dull light from the torch that wasn't able to completely drive away the surrounding darkness made it work even better.

Ra's Al Ghul wasn't a noob in swordfighting. He knew what I was doing but for some strange reason, he didn't bother to keep his eyes fixed on me. Instead, he appeared bored and overly confident, like he knew what was going to happen.

However, that didn't discourage me. So, when I had gathered enough momentum, I finally began attacking, striking him from multiple directions all around him. I was also using my own 'transparent world' ability to locate his weakest points and only attacking them along with his vital organs. But somehow, he was able to stop each and every one of them with calm movements of his swords, like he wasn't even trying. His eyes even though weren't actively following me, still always seemed to find me at the last possible moment whenever I was about to land the attack.

"This is hopeless Bruce, you can't hit me. Just accept that fact. You see, the Lazarus pit doesn't only just increase one's lifespan and bring them from the dead but when paired with certain other compounds can also have interesting magical effects. One such compound is something called Electrum. It is extremely rare but I found a group of people who deal with it. Quite coincidentally, they are from Gotham as well.

Anyways, you see when the water from the Lazarus pit is combined with Electrum in a specific proportion, it can give one almost godly magical abilities. A superhuman physique is just one of them, The other of course is the ability to predict the future. My mind is working at such an unimaginable speed that I see everything happening without it even happening yet. The moment you lift the blade, I know where you are gonna strike it. I know your technique even before you initiate it. Right now, I am God himself. Even death cannot touch me." Ra's Al Ghul exclaimed confidently as he blocked another attack of my sword.

'These types of shitty situations are when I realize how messed up the DC multiverse is. A planet-bursting alien can be driven mad by a guy in a Joker costume and a centuries-old assassin can suddenly develop future predicting powers just so that the playing field can level up.' I thought as I stopped my useless attacks and backed a few steps away from the smiling old man.

"All that strength in my muscles, yet I can't even figure out a way to get close to you and punch your head in without your swords tearing me up. Two immortal swords and I can't even land a single blow to permanently end you. Looks like I am at a real disadvantage," I laughed bitterly as I tore up a bit of my shirt and slowly bandaged it around the wound on my thigh while Ra's just observed me silently with a small frown.

'In fact, every Batman and Bruce Wayne around the multiverse is almost always at a disadvantage. But the thing is, they know how to turn that into their advantage, they are always prepared for almost anything and they ALWAYS find a way out..., just like I am about to.' I thought with a confident smirk as I unsummoned one of the All-blades while inserting my hand into one of my pockets and felt the thing that I needed at that moment.

"You talked about death to not even be able to touch you, right? It seems you have grown quite confident after cheating death for so many centuries. I think you have forgotten the fear of true death. But, don't worry, I'll help you remember it. So..., let's have a fucking fight to the death."

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(A/N: All the names of the forms of his breathing style will be mentioned only once, so if you see the name of an attack, then it's only mentioned because he hasn't used it before. Also, the reason why Ra's Al Ghul doesn't normally use Electrum with his Lazarus pit cocktail and possess powers all the time will be explained in the next chapter.)

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