"Talk"

'Thought'

Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin, the four did not hesitate to charge toward Shadow while also throwing their bat, or bird, arang at him, who effortlessly caught them all and threw them back at their respective owner, to which they either dodged or blocked it, just as easily, after a failed attempt of at least distracting one another, they decided to just go in with a straight on attack, the Dark Knight throws a straight right hook, the Dark Heir thrusts one of his Escrima Sticks, Miss Knight launches a kick, and the Boy Wonder swings his metal staff, all four different attacks were aimed at the one who lurks in the shadow, who just stood there, arms crossed, and just watched everything happened before him

"Heh, a fine conversation opener!~"

Shadow then twisted his body sideways, avoiding both the thrusting stun baton and the swinging silver stick, then using his left hand to move away the kicking foot before pushing it away, making her fall and slide onto the ground, before also using his right hand to grab and pull forward the punching fist, making him stumble forward and bump into the 2nd oldest member of the group of vigilantes

'Now then, who to talk to first?~...'

The only person that Shadow saw that wasn't temporarily knocked down was the Red Bird himself, and he did not wait to ask permission for his attention, as he mercilessly started swinging and thrusting his staff at him

'Flawless swings, impeccable balance, and is obviously very well trained in assassination and Bōjutsu, or at least something similar maybe?'

However no matter how much the Young Knight tried, he couldn't even land a single hit on Shadow, who just calmly avoiding every swing that was swung at him, all the while carefully analyzing him on a personal level

'But he is too inexperienced and slightly hot headed to give me a real and meaningful heart to heart, also him going through puberty, if I'm smelling it correctly, is most likely not helping his case.'

The Boy Wonder swings his staff one last time at Shadow, who did not move away this time and instead simply caught it with both hands, surprising him for not only stopping his attack but also pulling him closer to his masked face, who looked slightly unamused

"C, come back to me when you're older and reach true maturity."

After giving some honest advice, Shadow used the staff to hit the Red Bird in the throat, in the same way he would do in a pool ball game, before lifting the boy and tossing him away like a bag of trash, as soon as the young knight was out, a new one, in female form, quickly came in and wasted no time throwing her hands at him

'Another inexperienced fighter, but is definitely more cool headed and smart about her approach, each punch and kick that she throws are done with logical reason and not overwhelming force, plus as a female, she absolutely has the advantage of biological flexibility, interesting, very interesting indeed.'

However, despite the praise that Shadow was giving the Arkham Female, he was also easily dodging and avoiding each punch and kick that she throws at him, in fact even more easier than before, which made him frown lightly

'But she lacks true intense training, she obviously knows the basics and even mastered a few martial arts, but she only recently started training, and not like someone like me, who's been training since almost birth, twice!'

Shadow then got behind Lady Villagante and pinned her down on the ground with his foot on her back, while also pulling both of her arms behind herself, nearly threatening to pop out of her socket

"D-, train for 30 more years and you might be able to handle today's me."

That was all Shadow had to say to her, before doing a backflip and avoiding the shock stick that was about to be jabbed to his back by the one in black and blue, to which he quickly turns around and swings his other Escrima Sticks at the one who hunts the shadows as soon as he lands, the next fight has begun between the two

'Ah, now this is a real chat between actual fighters, he is basically the pros of the last two that was combined into one person, experience, maturity, training, he even has some style and charm in his actions!~'

Unlike the other two, Shadow was actually forced to block very carefully instead of just mindlessly dodging, the Mr. Knight was basically almost perfect in everything he has and does, his combat knowledge nearly equals his own, the weapons were something he had to be careful around unlike a staff or even a sword, and despite his intentions of wanting to take him down for his crimes, he could still see the slight joy and small amount of fun he was having while fighting, he definitely liked this one so far, so much so that he would personally save him in his memory forever

'He definitely has a bright future ahead of him, I would definitely like him as a training partner, we could definitely learn a lot from each other~'

Shadow then sighs, knowing he couldn't keep this up for long, despite having a lot of fun, so after using enough power to make himself stronger and faster than his fun opponent, he was able to quickly able to use his own arms to grab him in a light choke hold and stop any further attempts at combat and struggling

"A-, I hope you gain more power in the future, would love to fight you for real~"

Shadow then kicks away the Dark Heir, making him crash into the Youngest and Lady Villagante, with them out of his way, he eagerly turns around to face his last opponent with slight excitement

'Let's see what you're made-'

Shadow's thoughts were quickly interrupted when the Dark Knight throws the same right hook at him, to which he was about to block, but his opponent already predicted it and instead use the hand to move his blocking arm away and use his free hand to land a solid hit on his face, actually being hit not only made him stagger and flinch, but also surprised him as well, to which the Arkham Savoir did not hesitate to take full advantage of, ruthlessly beating him down with no mercy, the hooded figure, once he was able to focus again, was able to fight back, defend himself and even land a few hits himself, however in terms of using better Martial Arts, having more experience, being much more smarter, and even playing more dirty and tricky, he completely has the one who lurks in the shadow on a tightrope, dominating him in pure skills and talent, usually such a challenging fight would make him excited, eager to learn and improve from these brief encounters, and maybe even ask for advice or tips on how he got this strong, in terms of fighting style, however, he couldn't help but frown deeply during the whole fight he was having

"You're not a fighter."

Shadow then effortlessly grabbed onto one of the Villagante's hands, and refused to let it go, no matter how much he struggles, but that didn't stop his opponent from continuing the fight, using his free hand and both of his legs to hit and kick him, however unlike before, he did not flinch or even move slightly this time, he just simply took the useless attempts, called attacks, and just continued to glare at him

"You're a killer…"

Shadow, in one swift motion, stopped the Dark Knight's attacks entirely and pinned him down with just enough strength to keep on the ground with his foot

"Everything you have learned, everything that you do, everything you have attempted, all of it was not meant for combat, it was meant for taking someone's life."

Shadow spoke to his opponent with a mix of disappointment and annoyance, to which he returned a look back at him

"I'm not like you."

Batman then reached into his utility belt and quickly threw a few batarangs at the one who hunts the shadows

"You're right, you're not like me."

Unfortunately the bat shape throwing weapons just pointlessly bounced off Shadow's face, not even interrupting his talk with him

"You're worse…."

As Shadow continued to talk with the Arkham Savoir, he did not stop trying to take him down, using stuff like smoke pellets, teargas, tasers, freezing grenades, and whatever else he had on him

"You know what I hate more than someone borrowing unearned power?"

But no matter what was being used, Shadow just used his own might and abilities to effortlessly stop or even ignore all the weapons thrown at him

"Someone who doesn't actually use their own abilities to the fullest."

Not even the explosive gel or laser cutter did nothing to Shadow, as he just carried on to calmly speak and glare at the one trying his very best to stop him

"So you're saying I just let myself be consumed by the desire to kill and not hold back? Rich coming from you."

Batman decided to stop and continue to glare back at the hooded figure, clearly not backing down despite the position he was in

"Yes, but that's because I know I'm strong and that I can willingly choose to fight those weaker and let them live."

As if to prove a point, Shadow quickly got off of the Villagante, fought off and put down the other three Knights that were about to sneak attack him, and got right back to pinning down the person he was talking to, before he even had a chance to get up

"But you, you're fighting someone who is not only potentially stronger than you, but also someone who could become your worst nightmare imaginable, a threat more fearsome than what you deal with constantly no doubt."

Shadow added more pressure to his foot, and slowly started to crush the chest of the Dark Knight, who did everything he could to stop it

"Yet despite knowing the risk, despite knowing the possible threat, and despite being taught the ways of killing."

Shadow then brought his glaring face closer to his opponent's struggling one

"You still hold back…"

Shadow's glare became harsher and more irritated by the Arkham Savoir

"I'm not here to give you the satisfaction of a real fig-"

Batman was quickly brought back to his feet and held in an unbreakable lock-down by "Eminence"

"How many homes were destroyed because you held back against your foe?"

Shadow forced to make the Villagante look at everything around him, showing the destruction inside the bank

"How much was stolen and wasted because you saved your enemy?"

Showing him everything that was already stolen, taken and wasted

"And how many lost their lives because you refused to take another?..."

And showing him those that have died, the ones that would be considered innocent and good people

"I might not be a hero, I will never be one, but that doesn't mean you're a good one."

Shadow scoffed in disgust, to which the Dark Knight did not respond or even react to

Fortunately for you, I'm not your true enemy either, that one has yet to appear before you."

Shadow then stepped away from the Arkham Savoir and calmly walked away, having no reason to stick around further after making his point across

"Y-You think I'm just gonna let-"

Batman tried to get back up to his feet, but was quickly pushed back to the ground when the hooded figure glared at him so hard that it sent out a strong enough force to keep him down

"If you refuse to kill me, then grow stronger and make me submit to your power, because that's the only way you'll be able to accomplish your goals of true justice, if that's what you actually want, you terrible killer."

Shadow then huffs as he turns away, no longer having the motivation to carry on with what he has started, nor having any reason to continue to indulge their views of justice and moral high ground

"Z- by the way."

Shadow took a simple step forward and then he was gone, no sound, no flashy movement and no sense of him even being here in the first place, he was just gone, leaving no indication of whether or not he'll ever come back again

"Are you OK Batman? He didn't break anything important right?…"

However none of that really matters anymore, as Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin wasted no time in checking up on Batman, they did not hide their worried or concerned expression for the Dark Knight, however he just simply shrugged off such kindness and simply got back up to his feet with little struggle

"Robin, make sure the civilians are safe and unharmed, Nightwing, scout the area for any criminals that escaped or if you can find where that mysterious figure went, and Batgirl, contact the Justice League and inform them of what just happened."

Once Batman gave a quick order on what needed to be done now, he then started to walk off and away from the place he was in, clearly having a lot on his mind and needed to do something about the new piece of information he has just learnt, this only made the Bat Family worry a bit more about him, but they said nothing about it as they quickly did as they were told and let the Arkham Savoir have a moment to himself

'… A terrible killer?…'

Oh, just to let you know, since Cid is in a world with real Heroes and Villains, he would take things a bit more serious and not just see as people acting or fake actors, I mean he will still play around and just have fun, but he see this as a real opportunity to be a real and true 'Eminence In Shadow', and no like he was before, where everything was just an act and training, so.yeah, keep that in mind.

(BTW, if this was a equalize fight, Batman, and anyone just as skilled as him, would be able to defeat the current Shadow we have today, however, the same could not be said for the future version that isn't to far away from now)