This is the First Fight

Malcolm was finding it increasingly difficult to understand his illegitimate daughter. His original plan was to engage in a spirited battle with her, defeat her with absolute superiority, make her realize her shortcomings, and maintain the motivation to continue progressing. It was a perfect plan, so how did it go awry?

As Thea's arrows came flying towards him, Malcolm realized that not having a bow was a major mistake. Now, he could only adopt a defensive stance against ranged attacks, wielding his katana with both hands. Continuously deflecting or dodging the arrows, he finally managed to fend off the arrow barrage, only to discover that Thea had disappeared.

'Damn it! Which one of us is the trained assassin from the League of Assassins? How did we end up playing a game of ambush?' Malcolm knew Thea was still nearby, but his perception was inferior to hers. Constantly changing his footsteps, he remained vigilant against potential attacks, putting him at a slight disadvantage.

Now, all he could hope for was that his daughter, being young and impatient, would initiate the attack first. With his combat skills, he believed he could level the playing field or even turn the tables and defeat her.

The two began testing each other's patience. At this moment, Thea hid behind a tree, silently observing Malcolm's shoulders and feet. She dared not stare directly at him, as individuals at their level would instinctively react to hostile gazes. After roughly calculating Malcolm's perception range to be about eight meters, Thea realized she had a range of fifteen meters, putting her in a position of full-scale sensory dominance.

Looping around to a distance of twenty meters behind him, she took a shot from afar. "Snap!" Malcolm swiftly sliced the arrow in two with his long knife and rushed in the direction of the arrow. However, he realized Thea had vanished once again as he approached.

This couldn't go on. Malcolm wasn't young anymore, and a few more rounds of this would drain his energy. He turned back to retrieve his bow and arrows. As long as he had them in hand, he wouldn't fear her harassment. He planned to use arrows to counter arrows and suppress her, knowing Thea's archery skills were far inferior to his own.

Thea couldn't possibly let him have his way. When he was just three steps away from the bow and arrows, she swiftly shot out two more arrows. One arrow aimed at the weapons on the ground, ensuring that if he reached out, he would be shot. The other arrow targeted the ground where he stood, leaving him no choice but to retreat.

The two continued their cat and mouse game. No matter where Malcolm ran, Thea could always anticipate the trajectory in advance. With two arrows, she created a persistent cycle, forcing Malcolm to return to his starting position repeatedly.

Malcolm was infuriated to the point of grinding his teeth. Where did she learn such tactics? He just wanted to have a good fight, why was it so difficult? After being forced to retreat for the fifth time, he began to grasp a bit of Thea's pattern. This time, he had to get his hands on the bow and arrows.

Two arrows whooshed as Malcolm concentrated. Malcolm was highly focused, swiftly throwing his katana to knock away the arrow aimed at the weapons pile, while simultaneously rolling forward to dodge the arrow aimed at him. He felt a surge of excitement as he managed to retrieve the bow and arrows. Now, all he needed to do was counterattack, and the situation would completely reverse!

Just as he was relishing the upcoming victory, he suddenly felt a gaze locking onto him. Bewildered, he quickly turned around to see Thea gliding towards him at lightning speed, her footsteps as swift as the wind.

"Ya!" Thea shouted, feeling a sense of exhilaration she had never experienced before. It was as if every cell in her body was cheering. Armed with a dagger in her left hand and a Katana in her right, she pounced on Malcolm like a cheetah.

Why did she suddenly abandon ranged combat and want to engage in close combat? Malcolm quickly realized his mistake; she was out of arrows. He had forgotten to consider this possibility, assuming she could keep shooting indefinitely. This also explained why she maintained such a high shooting speed; she was trying to keep him under psychological pressure, preventing him from focusing on calculating the number of arrows!

After shooting the last arrow, she didn't even look at the result before exerting all her strength to charge forward. It was like a sprint, where the one who jumps the gun gains a significant lead over those with a normal start. Thea was currently in this state; she had already rushed into the ten-meter range between them before Malcolm realized he had been tricked.

What was even more pathetic was that he had mistakenly thrown away his own katana earlier due to the miscalculation. As he looked at his katana stuck in a tree trunk in the distance, Malcolm felt as if the katana was mocking him. Damn it! Was he really getting old?

Setting aside the question of age, Thea had already dashed to his front like a gust of wind. With her left hand wielding a dagger and her right hand slashing with a long knife, was he really going to use the bow to block?

The recurve bow's limbs were rigid and could be used for blocking, but it just didn't feel right. Plus, it lacked any killing power. Malcolm wanted to force Thea back with an arrow, but he couldn't find the opportunity. This was truly a case of fortunes changing, but just when he had hoped for close combat, he realized he had already thrown away his katana. It couldn't be described in any other way but as utterly miserable.

As Malcolm continued to fend off Thea's attacks, albeit with extreme discomfort, his powerful close combat skills gradually steadied his position. Despite having been maneuvered around by Thea earlier, she had also expended a significant amount of energy. After all, Malcolm had been running smaller circles around the pile of weapons while Thea ran larger ones.

As the battle intensified, the inherent weakness of women in terms of strength and endurance began to show. Knowing that she would only fail if she continued like this, Thea resorted to desperate measures. She threw the dagger in her hand towards Malcolm's face like a throwing knife.

Just as Malcolm was starting to regain control of the situation, he suddenly saw the dagger flying towards his face. Instinctively, he lifted the bow to block, only to realize upon impact that the dagger had little force behind it.

Sensing that something was amiss, he observed as Thea lowered her body, gripped the knife with both hands, and slashed towards his rib cage.

Danger! He couldn't evade this move! With his only weapon, the bow, raised upwards, Malcolm found himself defenseless. Faced with this ruthless attack, all he could do was try to twist his waist, attempting to minimize the damage from the blade.

Simultaneously, he let go of the bow with his right hand and, leveraging the momentum from his waist twist, he clenched his left hand into a fist and struck fiercely at Thea's face.

"Thud!" A muffled sound echoed as Thea staggered back two steps, blood trickling down from the corner of her mouth. She paid no attention to her own injuries, carefully examining her handiwork instead, a satisfied smile creeping onto her face.

Damn it! Malcolm was feeling incredibly frustrated now. He was injured! He got injured by his own daughter, whom he trained for half a year! With his personality, he wouldn't say things like "real men don't rely on cunning schemes." Though he felt a bit embarrassed now, underneath it all, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in his daughter's abilities. Who cares if Ra's al Ghul is considered one of DC's top ninja masters? The one he trained is no slouch either!