Batman stood motionless.

  Valen Nightbane—the Inquisitor Commander—studied him with the calm of a predator who had already decided the outcome.

  The battlefield was silent. The Exiled Order’s rebels were still fighting the other Inquisitors, but here, in this narrow street, it was just the two of them.

  Valen’s sword shimmered with bck energy.

  > [Weapon: Abyssal Fang – Rank 5]

  It was absorbing the Essence in the air. A cursed bde, honed for destruction.

  Batman had no magic. No Essence. No special weapon.

  He had his mind. His body. His training.

  Valen exhaled. “Let’s see if you live up to the rumors.”

  Then he vanished.

  Not teleported—just fast.

  Batman’s instincts fred. He sidestepped a fraction of a second before the sword would have pierced his chest.

  The bde whistled past his ribs, carving through the air.

  Too fast. Too strong.

  Batman pivoted, using his opponent’s missed strike to unch his counterattack—an elbow to the throat.

  Except Valen was already gone.

  A blur of motion.

  A fsh of steel.

  Batman twisted. The cursed sword scraped his armor, slicing through the outer yers but failing to cut deep.

  A near-fatal miss.

  Valen nded a few steps away, unfazed. “Your reflexes are exceptional.”

  He wasn’t even breathing hard.

  Batman didn’t answer. He analyzed. Calcuted.

  Valen was faster. Stronger. His sword was absorbing ambient Essence, making every strike more lethal. If Batman fought on pure reflex, he’d lose.

  So he didn’t.

  He adapted.

  Valen moved again, closing the distance in a blink. His bde sshed diagonally—but Batman was already in motion.

  Not backward. Forward.

  He stepped into the attack, forcing Valen to adjust at the st second. The bde missed its intended target, cutting a shallow line across Batman’s side instead of piercing his heart.

  Pain. Irrelevant.

  Batman struck.

  A precise strike to the wrist.

  A normal fighter would have dropped the sword.

  Valen didn’t.

  But the momentary distraction was enough.

  Batman twisted mid-air, nding a direct kick to Valen’s sternum.

  The Inquisitor skidded backward.

  Not far. Not enough to cim victory.

  But enough to prove something.

  Valen stilled. His golden eyes flickered with something new.

  Interest.

  “…Impressive.”

  Batman said nothing.

  Valen exhaled, raising his bde. This time, bck tendrils of

  Essence coiled around him.

  He was done testing.

  The real fight was about to begin. ---