My eyes flicked to the woman standing before me. The name Lady Shiva rang in my ears, and even before Ra’s spoke it, something in me had already recognized her as someone different, someone above the rest of the League’s assassins.

She didn’t need to announce herself. Her presence alone did that.

She stood with effortless stillness, the kind that only came from absolute control of her body, of the space around her, of the danger she carried like an unspoken promise. 

Her gaze was cool and unwavering, studying me with the detached curiosity of a predator assessing a new opponent.

I had seen skilled fighters before, but she was something else entirely. No wasted movement, no unnecessary tension in her frame. Just quiet, waiting power. The kind that didn’t need to be flaunted because it was simply fact.

Her black outfit hugged her figure like a second skin, but it was her eyes that caught my attention. 

“Lady Shiva…” I repeated under my breath, more to myself than anyone else. I’d heard the name before—whispers, rumors, stories of a woman who could dismantle an army with her bare hands.

Now, she was standing in front of me. But why was she?

“Impressive,” Shiva said at last, her voice smooth, unhurried. A single word, but it carried weight.

I wasn’t sure if it was praise or merely an observation.

Ra’s, watching the exchange with quiet amusement, finally spoke again.

“I thought it only fitting that you meet.” His gaze flicked between the two of us, as though he was placing pieces on a board. “After all, if you wish to be the best… you must learn from the best.”

My jaw tightened slightly. I had trained under some of the League’s most brutal instructors, pushing my body beyond limits I thought possible. And yet, something told me this was about to be different.

Lady Shiva. The world’s deadliest assassin, as I’ve heard in random whispered conversations among the others at the training ground.

I couldn’t help the sarcastic smirk that curled on my lips as I stood up straighter, eyeing her with more interest than I cared to admit. “Great. Just what I needed. Another ‘professional’ to show me the ropes.”

Ra’s, sitting there so composed, didn’t even flinch at my sarcasm. Instead, his lips curled slightly. “She will be in charge of your combat training. She will help you wield and channel the overwhelming feeling of bloodlust you struggle with.”

I snorted. “Right. Like that’s gonna work. I’m a lost cause.”

Ra’s raised an eyebrow, his gaze hardening slightly. “Do not mistake me, boy. You may believe your rage is your ally, but it will consume you. It will destroy everything you could become.”

Lady Shiva’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she took a step forward, her movements like water, fluid and graceful. She wasn’t looking at me like I was an annoying brat. No, she was sizing me up, evaluating me, her sharp eyes flicking over me like a hawk assessing its prey.

“You think you can control it?” Shiva’s voice was smooth, almost taunting. “That it’s a matter of will? Of desire? You are wrong.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, the sarcasm returning in full force. “You sure know how to make a guy feel confident about his future.”

Shiva didn’t flinch. Instead, her lips twitched into something like a smile—only colder, deadlier. “I am not here to stroke your ego, boy. I am here because Ra’s asked for a favour.”

She stepped closer, her gaze never leaving mine. “Ra’s is right. Your rage is your weapon, but it is also your weakness. What you think of as strength is nothing more than a blind impulse. You have no control. And that’s where I come in.”

I crossed my arms, leaning against the table, still skeptical. “And how exactly are you going to do that? Teach me to meditate, chant some matras?”

Shiva didn’t smile at that, but I could see a flicker of something dark in her eyes. “I’ll teach you to fight with purpose. I’ll show you how to channel that violence, because you will never be rid of it. You can only learn to master it.”

I rolled my shoulders, cracking my neck in a way that suggested I wasn’t convinced. “Right. And what makes you think you can teach me something I haven’t already figured out?” 

I taunted, trying to make it seem like I wasn’t all that desperate for her help. After all, Ra’s asked a favour from her with little to no regard of my thought on the matter.

Shiva took a long pause, then replied, her voice low and certain, “Because you’ve been fighting the wrong way, Jason. You’ve been using your rage as a crutch. But if you learn to fight without it controlling you, you will become unstoppable.”

I paused at that. Something in her words struck a chord deep within me. It wasn’t just the way she spoke. It was the certainty in her voice. The promise of something more.

I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it, but I was damn sure curious.

“Fine,” I said, pushing off from the table and walking toward her. “But don’t expect me to make this easy.”

Shiva’s cold smile returned. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The room fell silent for a moment, and even Ra’s didn’t break the tension between us. His eyes flicked between me and Shiva, a subtle approval in his gaze.

I could feel the weight of what I was about to undertake settling over me. This wouldn’t be easy. In fact, it would be hell. But I had survived worse, and if there was anyone who could teach me to control the beast within, it was her.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself for what was to come.

“Alright then,” I muttered, my voice laced with determination. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Lady Shiva’s expression remained unreadable, but I could see the slightest flicker of a challenge in her eyes.

And that was all the invitation I needed.

The next morning, the fortress felt even colder than usual. I was already awake, sitting cross-legged in the center of my room, trying to find some semblance of peace. 

I rubbed my palms against my face, trying to shake off the remnants of last night’s field training.

The poison was still in my bloodstream, but it wasn’t the physical exhaustion that was messing with my head. No, it was the hunger for hostility that I couldn’t escape. The more I tried to push it down, the more it clawed at me.

Today, Lady Shiva was going to break me, or teach me how to control it. And I had no idea which one was worse.

I forced myself to my feet and walked down the cold, echoing hallways of the fortress. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, suffocating me with their silent, oppressive air.

My mind wandered to the brief conversation I had with Ra’s yesterday. He didn’t care about how much pain I went through. For him, it was always about the end goal, the grand design. But Lady Shiva…

She had a different look in her eyes when she spoke to me. Something about her made me feel like she saw the chaos inside me and recognized it, not as something to control, but as something to shape.

I arrived at the training grounds, the courtyard just beyond a set of thick stone doors. The faint morning sunlight cast long shadows across the cracked stone ground, illuminating the space where I was supposed to fight today.

Lady Shiva stood there already, waiting, her presence so still it felt like she was carved from stone, with a piercing gaze in her eyes.

I took a deep breath as I stepped out into the courtyard. “I’m here,” I said, my voice rough from the lingering effects of the poison.

Without a word, Shiva nodded, her gaze never leaving me. She was studying me, sizing me up in a way that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Good,” she finally said, her voice as cold as the air around us. “Let’s begin.”

She moved faster than I could react, her hand darting out, aiming for my throat. I barely managed to sidestep, my instincts kicking in just in time. But she was relentless. Each strike was precise and calculated, there was no wasted motion in her attacks.

I countered, slamming my fist into her side, but she absorbed the blow like it was nothing. She was fast, and more importantly, she was controlled. 

I could feel my blood surging, aggression building. It was like a fire igniting inside me, and all I wanted was to unleash it. I wanted to tear her apart.

But Shiva saw it before I did. She blocked my next punch with ease, twisting my arm behind my back with a fluid motion that sent a sharp pain through my shoulder.

“Control it,” she hissed in my ear, her grip unrelenting. “You can’t fight like this.”

Her words were like a slap across the face. She wasn’t just talking about technique. She was talking about the rage that I was too weak to control, the rage that I had relied on for over a month. I struggled, my blood roaring in my veins as I tried to break free, but she held me in place with ease.

“Fight,” she instructed, twisting my arm further. “But do it without pugnacity.”

I gritted my teeth, trying to force my mind to focus. But it wasn’t easy. I could feel the rage clawing at the back of my mind, drowning out everything else. 

I snapped my head back and threw an elbow into her stomach, pushing her away. She staggered back for half a second before regaining her stance.

She didn’t seem surprised by my outburst. In fact, she seemed almost pleased.

“Good,” she said. “You’re learning. But you need to learn to fight through the rage, not with it. Your power comes from your mind, not your anger.”

I took a deep breath, my heart pounding in my chest. The bloodlust still bubbled beneath the surface, but I wasn’t sure how to control it. I wanted to destroy her. I wanted to continuously smash my fist into her face until it was nothing but pieces on meat, blood and bone on the floor.

But Shiva had already moved again. This time, her leg swept under mine, knocking me off my feet. I landed hard on the ground, the air leaving my lungs in a rush. She stood above me, her eyes gleaming, her stance relaxed.

“You cannot win by either giving in or trying to fight your aggressive instinct alone,” she said, her voice calm but carrying a weight to it. “Anger is a weakness. A distraction. It clouds your judgment.”

I blinked up at her, my chest rising and falling rapidly. She wasn’t wrong. It felt like every fight was a struggle to maintain control, to keep my temper in check long enough to finish what I started.

Shiva extended her hand to me, her expression serious. “Get up.”

I grabbed her hand, letting her pull me to my feet. My muscles burned from the exertion, but it was a different kind of exhaustion now. It wasn’t the physical fatigue no more, it was something deeper, something in my mind that I couldn’t quite grasp.

“Show me what you can do without the rage,” Shiva challenged, stepping back. “When you can fight from a place of calm, you’ll be unstoppable.”

I didn’t know if I was capable of that. I had always fought with rage, immersing myself in the barely resistible thrill for violence. But as I squared up against her again, I realized something: she was right. 

***

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