The Sharp Claws have no self-awareness; they are warriors hypnotized and frozen by the Owl Court. When needed, they are thawed and given missions, most of which are assassinations.
After completing their missions, they return to the Owl Maze to be frozen again, awaiting the next awakening.
Perhaps the Sharp Claw before Su Ming now is an elder hundreds of years old, but one must never underestimate them.
They are modified people, and their strength surpasses even the assassins of the Shadow Dancer Alliance. They are brainwashed and infused with ancestral Sharp Claw fighting techniques, making each one a cold weapon expert.
Considering that their leaders are all Gotham Nobility, with no burden of honor in their hearts, all of their weapons are coated with deadly poison.
An ordinary person encountering a Sharp Claw is almost certain to meet their doom.
When they disguise themselves as others, they can easily mimic anyone's demeanor and voice, acting flawlessly and unpredictably. In Sharp Claw mode, they rarely speak, preferring to make "ah ah" or "coo coo" sounds, imitating owls.
Their numbers always remain at 100, with 99 ordinary Sharp Claws and one meticulously trained Zero Claw, the most formidable.
Each year, new ordinary Sharp Claws are added to replace those severely damaged in missions. The Owl Court selects promising children or young adults, tricking them into undergoing the brainwashing ceremony to maintain their numbers.
The one Su Ming is facing now seems like just an ordinary Sharp Claw, but if she flies away to report, things could turn as bad as he had imagined.
As long as she returns to the Owl Maze, the Owl Court will know what happened here.
He must bring her down and fight her, taking the chance to kill her. Enraging them is a reasonable choice, and as for how to provoke the Sharp Claws, Su Ming has a theory...
"Owl Court eats shit!" he suddenly shouted, even flipping his middle fingers at the Sharp Claw.
Cindy covered her face, while the other three looked at each other, wondering what was going on.
"Eat eat eat... shit shit..." The echo of his words reverberated among the car wreckage, and the sound of wind and rain could not stop the insulting words from piercing the ears of the Sharp Claw.
Originally poised to fly on high, the Sharp Claw hesitated, turning her gaze back to the figure below.
Yes, as tools for the noble assassins themselves, it didn't matter how the tools were insulted. But for the nobility, it was different. Therefore, within the hypnotic commands of the Sharp Claws, there was an instruction to always obey the Owl Court and uphold the court's prestige.
Su Ming's actions directly triggered this command.
"Loyal to the Court!"
A black shadow dived towards Su Ming rapidly, the fierce wind causing the Sharp Claw's cloak to flap noisily, as if merging with the falling rain from the sky.
Su Ming did not become complacent for achieving his first goal; he only relaxes after thoroughly eliminating his enemies, but always remains vigilant.
"Swish swish!"
Two bright white streaks with hints of black flashed before him; these were the Sharp Claw's talon-like gloves, extremely sharp and coated with deadly poison, designed to tear a target's throat.
Just like how an owl would capture a mouse, always tearing the neck first before hollowing out the insides.
Su Ming nimbly dodged, using the knife in his hand to knock the talon aside, sparking as they clashed.
He then shifted his stance to the side of the Sharp Claw, maintaining distance. Meanwhile, he mentally noted down details about her.
'Skilled in claw techniques, likes tearing throats and bellies, consistent with the comics.'
As the Sharp Claw's hood was fully enclosed, with thick round glasses resembling a telescope fixed over her eyes, he speculated that her field of vision might be restricted.
Even though Deathstroke was missing an eye, he could rely on his brain's memory and calculation abilities to mentally reconstruct his surroundings, making him the least affected by his helmet.
So now, Su Ming chose to stand at her flank, testing if she had any blind spots.
The wise plan now included finding her weaknesses, making future encounters with multiple Sharp Claws easier to handle.
Sure enough, the Sharp Claw, like an owl, didn't move her body, but turned her neck and head at an odd angle, confirming Su Ming's speculation, earning another mental note.
Everything was eerily quiet, as if even the raindrops slowed in their descent, while the scarlet eye and the round lenses exchanged stares across the distance.
Suddenly, Su Ming surged forward, his two knives slashing vertically and horizontally towards the Sharp Claw.
She executed a backflip, quickly evading the blades, then immediately lunged forward, drawing two long daggers from her waist to engage Su Ming.
"Clang clang clang clang!!!!"
The sound of metal clashing rang out continuously between them, sparks flying, as raindrops tossed from their arms and bodies formed strings of pearls that crashed against the surrounding wrecked cars.
They constantly shifted positions, but the Sharp Claw's lower stance was lighter, with few leg attacks, yet she always used her uniform for short gliding moves, remaining highly agile.
Su Ming meticulously recorded the Sharp Claw's strengths and weaknesses.
"Impressive weapons, toxic, agile, but weak in strength; the lightweight gear offers almost no protection."
He switched to a shotgun for close-range blasting, yet she dodged even that, beginning her evasive glides as soon as he moved to grab the gun handle.
.............
In fact, the combat was entirely under Su Ming's control; after a few exchanges, he realized this Sharp Claw wasn't as strong as in the Main World comics.
He could have taken her down immediately but chose to gather intelligence without letting her escape.
Against someone like Deathstroke, with his all-round capabilities, rich experience, and superior physical attributes, she stood no chance.
Su Ming took the opportunity to test almost all his weapons, even pulling out ropes and grappling hooks for a few exchanges.
A minute later, his information collection was complete.
From now on, the Sharp Claw assassins of Earth -11 would hold no secrets from him...
The rain picked up again, and Su Ming pushed back the Sharp Claw, though she showed no signs of fleeing.
They were both enhanced people, with long breaths. After exchanging hundreds of blows, neither showed fatigue. However, Su Ming had obtained what he wanted, and his brain had already formulated the optimal resolution plan based on the gathered intelligence.
"It's over!"
He drew his dagger, no longer dodging the Sharp Claw's attacks, only twisting slightly to let her dagger graze his side, while he drove his own dagger into her.
"Hiss...." It sounded like a deflating basketball.
As the sound echoed, he sharply pulled the dagger back, creating a large cavity in the Sharp Claw's chest, slicing her heart in two, separating it into upper and lower halves.
Blood gushed out, like a small red fountain, beautifully erratic, as the rain washed over it. The Sharp Claw slowly collapsed, splattering dirty mud everywhere.
A noticeable white line appeared on the chain armor of Su Ming's side, yet this attack didn't break his defenses. Every element had been meticulously calculated, from the force angle to the pressure per square unit of armor, to friction and weather effects, from the opponent's actions to possible reactions...
With his body's instincts and mind's calculations, Su Ming perfectly achieved his objective.
This was an expected victory.
But he was waiting to confirm one final thing. He wiped his dagger on the corpse, sheathed it, and studied the wound and internal organs intently.
A few minutes later, he removed a grenade, planting it inside the chest cavity of the corpse, pulled the pin, and walked back towards Cindy and the others without looking back.
"Boom!!!"
Limbs and remains flew all around. Maybe a few hands or feet remained intact, but on this dark night, the Owl Court would have no chance to reassemble the body.
He had also obtained the answer to the last question: on Earth -11, the Owl Court didn't possess Amber Gold.