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"As long as you laugh at people's suffering, your goal will always be out of reach. If you never want to be defeated, you must first learn your own weakness, and always be kind."
- Erza Scarlet, (Fairy Tail)
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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>
God, that was some adventure. Even the most classic spice-filled novels would probably fail at what I just had to experience in the last few weeks. I mean, a lot of people have fought zombies before in fiction but can anyone else claim to have fought an army of the Walking Dead as well as a clan of Dark undead sorcerers in the Himalayas with the help of a small group of professional assassins and a bunch of chi-wielding monks. I can bet a billion dollars not.
"I feel bad leaving them like this when they are at their weakest. Ducra might not have been the sweetest old woman I know but she was still a good person. Even Essence despite her lack of manners and rude disposition still cared for us in her heart. And also the fact remains that all of this happened because of my bastard of an evil father.
He not only betrayed my trust in him as his daughter but he was also the one who set up this entire thing, only so that he could profit from the battle among his enemies and weaken them altogether. He didn't even care if I or the others would be able to survive the ordeal. To me, he is the most disgusting person on the entire planet." Nyssa spat out with venom as she openly expressed her feelings for the first time in front of me.
'Huh, that's weird. When did she become that friendly? I thought she was supposed to always hide her emotions from other people according to her father's teachings. Is this because she is trying to defy his lessons or something?' I thought confusedly as I blankly stared at her face, an action that embarrassed her and forced a slight blush out of her cheeks.
"Well, somebody sounds angry at her daddy. But don't worry, Nyssa. What goes around, comes around. And as for the All-caste, I don't think it's the end for them. It is merely a small halt. But as the saying goes, what doesn't kill someone, only makes them stronger. I believe that the All-caste can rise out of its ashes stronger than ever from this. I believe that they can become a much bigger organization after this if they play their cards right. Imagine a secret organization that has the capability of protecting the world from most small and medium-scale mystical threats. It would be quite interesting, wouldn't it?" I muttered the last part to myself as I stared outside the moving truck in a daze.
"Yeah, but they need huge amounts of resources for that and I doubt if they would ever get that much from donations or the few small-scale farming work they do. And, then there is also my father who would most probably march against them soon and end them completely before they could even recover a fraction of their power. According to my estimates, unless some other outside variable interferes and helps them, the remaining part of the organization would be wiped out by the end of this year." Nyssa concluded trying to hide the sorrow in her heart by showing an impassive face on the outside.
Her words might have been crude and cold but they were the truth nonetheless, the cold hard absolute truth of this world. The bigger fish always eats the smaller ones and Ra's Al Ghul was one of the biggest fish there was, he was a goddamn shark.
"Maybe..." I murmured as I failed to stop a small smile from spilling out of my lips. "or, maybe not..."
After all, even sharks could only do so much against killer whales.
***
<(Omniscient POV)>
"EXCUSE ME, BUT DO YOU KNOW WHERE I COULD FIND ANYONE FROM THE RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION, ALL-CASTE?" A young man in his early twenties dressed in tight combat gear asked as he approached Essence who had come out of the base to find out the source of disturbance in the otherwise calm neighborhood and was cautiously standing a little further away from him, ready to attack at a moment's notice. He was yelling to make sure that she could hear his voice over the large amount of noise the chopper behind him was making.
"What do you want from them?" Essence didn't yell, yet her slightly nervous voice was easily audible by the man.
"WE WERE SENT BY THE MARTHA WAYNE FOUNDATION TO DELIVER A FEW THINGS TO THE LEADERS OF THE ALL-CASTE ORGANIZATION. ACCORDING TO THE COORDINATES ON OUR MAP, THEIR BASE SHOULD BE HERE." The man continued to yell as he gestured to the chopper.
It was then that Essence finally noticed the Wayne Foundation logo on the chopper as well as 'Wayne Solutions Security' written on the man's combat uniform.
"Bruce?" Essence confused muttered to herself, wondering if the newest... friend that she had made in the last few days was somehow responsible for this entire surprise.
"OH, SO YOU KNOW THE YOUNG MASTER. I GUESS THAT WOULD EXPLAIN THE SUDDEN ORDER WE WERE GIVEN TO DELIVER A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF RESOURCES HERE OUT OF NOWHERE" The man excitedly replied as he looked like he was happy that he would be able to complete his quest so soon.
"I am Essence, one of the current leaders from All-Caste. What resources do you exactly have that you need to deliver?" Essence asked curiously as she looked at the chopper hovering a few feet above the ground from where she was standing.
She wasn't going to say no to free aid especially since at the moment they desperately needed any and all help they could get.
"A LOT OF THINGS ACTUALLY. ALPHA 30A COPY, WE GOT THE CONFIRMATION. BRING THEM ALL IN, OVER." The man yelled the last part into the wireless transmitter in his hands as immediately the chopper behind him began to slowly descend.
But then out of nowhere, six more choppers suddenly appeared and they too began to land in succession one after the other, all branded with the same familiar Wayne logo.
"The food and medicines rations are in the first three choppers, while the clothes and other essentials are in the other three. It was too much weight for us to bring in by a single vehicle, so we had to bring in seven of them. Oh and also please keep these financial documents. We were given instructions about opening a bank account in the new Wayne Merchant Bank by the name of All-Caste Foundation using about five hundred million dollars.
I was also ordered to let you know that this amount should be used to increase All-Caste as an organization and add more members from around the world. Of course, the Martha Wayne Foundation will offer its team of experts along with its connections to make that happen as well." The man informed as he handed over a bundle of documents to Essence.
"Five Hundred Million? Even I know that is supposed to be a big amount. But what is Bruce going to get from this? Is he just giving away free money or something because I thought businessmen weren't supposed to be that charitable? Also, aren't these food, medicines, and clothes too expensive to be worth a hundred million dollars?"
"Sorry, but I do not have the information to your first question. As far as I know, the Martha Wayne Foundation will be the official sponsor of the All-caste but I don't know anything beyond that. Also, there are only about five million dollars worth of rations and essential products here. As for the rest of the 95 million dollars worth of merchandise, they are in the seventh helicopter. But they are not exactly essential products."
At his signal, the seventh helicopter also landed. This one was the biggest of all of them and also looked the heaviest. Soon, its doors slowly opened and dozens of boxes were carried out by multiple armed people in combat clothes, all having the same Wayne Security logo on their attire. As they all began to unlock the heavily sealed boxes and display the contents inside, Essence finally understood that Bruce truly wanted to help them out and help them he had.
Because inside the dozens of boxes were the state-of-the-art newest-generation weapons and military technology that could give any army of ninjas a run for their money. These weapons were enough to put the fear of god into the centuries-old Dracula-wannabe.
***
<(Omniscient POV)>
"I never liked you but at least I used to respect you before this. But now... How could you do this to your own daughter? Didn't you even feel sorry for her for a single moment before you decided to sacrifice her for something as trivial as testing one of your disciples and getting rid of two potential enemies?" A female who looked like she was in her late teens or early twenties yelled at Ra's Al Ghul in anger as she looked like she wanted to spit venom at him.
"No, I didn't. Because that's not what I am meant to do. My duty is to be the machine that keeps the cogs of this world running, the one that keeps the balance. And if I have to sacrifice a daughter or two for that, I'll be glad to do so. Also, even though I was ready to sacrifice her, I knew that she would survive. I believed that the kid was a worthy heir and I was right. He proved himself and didn't even let a single one of the League members die including Nyssa. So, I was not only successful in testing him but even got rid of two of the League's biggest mystical threats." Ra's Al Ghul proudly explained.
"And what if he had failed? What if the Untitled had changed their minds and killed your student before taking everything in the All-caste's Chamber of ALL for themselves including the water that would have given them absolute immortality? How would you have fought them then?"
"I wouldn't have fought them. I wouldn't need to. It doesn't matter if the All-caste had been wiped out or not, the Chamber of ALL was never in any danger to begin with. It had Sa'aru, quite a powerful being of an ancient member of a supposed pantheon of Gods as its protector. Even if the Untitled had killed everyone and reached inside the chamber, they would have still failed because they would have to face Sa'aru inside, a being much more powerful than they could ever hope to meet.
The only reason that those Undead idiots weren't annihilated the moment they stepped into the cave was because Sa'aru could not get out of that chamber even if he wanted to. The mystical chamber is both his eternal resting place as well as his prison. But now that the Untitled are all dead, all I have to do is slaughter the few remaining members of the All-caste while keeping away from the chamber and I would have killed two birds with a single stone.
You wanted the hear the truth, right? So, here it is. I was always the winner in this little gamble of mine, and Nyssa was only a chip that I had to risk to achieve the victory that I needed, a victory that I succeeded in achieving just like I planned, just like it was fated to be." The Demon's Head said as he looked at the female in front of him with cold eyes devoid of any emotion, making it evident that he was speaking the truth.
"... You are a fucking monster" The girl mumbled in a whisper as her voice seemed to break in tears.
"My lord, they are back." The voice of Ubu sounded as if he seemed to come out of nowhere.
"I see. That is good timing indeed... Come daughter, let's meet your sister. I am sure that you miss her quite a lot since you just wasted so much of my time in her defense, an action that will earn you quite a harsh discipline tomorrow. But for today, you can celebrate your little sister's return alive. After all, what type of a father would I be if I can't even allow my daughters to meet once in a while."
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