<p>You are playing a game that contains multiple characters, and each of the characters has <strong>two</strong> main properties: <strong>attack</strong> and <strong>defense</strong>. You are given a 2D integer array <code>properties</code> where <code>properties[i] = [attack<sub>i</sub>, defense<sub>i</sub>]</code> represents the properties of the <code>i<sup>th</sup></code> character in the game.</p>

<p>A character is said to be <strong>weak</strong> if any other character has <strong>both</strong> attack and defense levels <strong>strictly greater</strong> than this character&#39;s attack and defense levels. More formally, a character <code>i</code> is said to be <strong>weak</strong> if there exists another character <code>j</code> where <code>attack<sub>j</sub> &gt; attack<sub>i</sub></code> and <code>defense<sub>j</sub> &gt; defense<sub>i</sub></code>.</p>

<p>Return <em>the number of <strong>weak</strong> characters</em>.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong class="example">Example 1:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> properties = [[5,5],[6,3],[3,6]]
<strong>Output:</strong> 0
<strong>Explanation:</strong> No character has strictly greater attack and defense than the other.
</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 2:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> properties = [[2,2],[3,3]]
<strong>Output:</strong> 1
<strong>Explanation:</strong> The first character is weak because the second character has a strictly greater attack and defense.
</pre>

<p><strong class="example">Example 3:</strong></p>

<pre>
<strong>Input:</strong> properties = [[1,5],[10,4],[4,3]]
<strong>Output:</strong> 1
<strong>Explanation:</strong> The third character is weak because the second character has a strictly greater attack and defense.
</pre>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Constraints:</strong></p>

<ul>
	<li><code>2 &lt;= properties.length &lt;= 10<sup>5</sup></code></li>
	<li><code>properties[i].length == 2</code></li>
	<li><code>1 &lt;= attack<sub>i</sub>, defense<sub>i</sub> &lt;= 10<sup>5</sup></code></li>
</ul>

class Solution:
    def merge_sort(self, arr):
        if len(arr) <= 1:
            return arr

        mid = len(arr) // 2
        left = self.merge_sort(arr[:mid])
        right = self.merge_sort(arr[mid:])

        return self.merge(left, right)

    def merge(self, left, right):
        result = []
        i = j = 0

        while i < len(left) and j < len(right):
            # Compare attack (descending) then defense (ascending)
            if left[i][0] > right[j][0] or (left[i][0] == right[j][0] and left[i][1] <= right[j][1]):
                result.append(left[i])
                i += 1
            else:
                result.append(right[j])
                j += 1

        result.extend(left[i:])
        result.extend(right[j:])

        return result

    def numberOfWeakCharacters(self, properties):
        sorted_props = self.merge_sort(properties)

        weakCount = 0
        maxDefense = 0

        for _, defense in sorted_props:
            if defense < maxDefense:
                weakCount += 1
            else:
                maxDefense = defense

        return weakCount
70000