During the ascent, Su Ming constantly kept a close eye on Diana's situation.
It seemed that Don and Black Orchid had been defeated by Deathstroke due to suffocation from lack of oxygen, giving Hecate a good lesson, so she made adjustments based on this.
At this moment, Diana was imbued with magic for vacuum breathing, preventing Su Ming from taking her on another space trip.
In the past, when Diana traveled in the cosmos, she needed to wear an oxygen mask.
But now, even with the thin oxygen at high altitudes, she was still breathing comfortably.
She kept flying not far behind Su Ming, attempting to bind him with her lasso, followed by a fierce strike with the Fire God Sword.
If he truly got caught and struck, Su Ming would likely be the one on the operating table of the Justice League's Final Machine.
Whether the surgery would succeed, Batman would surely seize the opportunity to take his blood sample or study his physical strength to devise a plan against Su Ming.
So, now in the battle, he had to be extra cautious to avoid serious injuries like decapitation; though the X Metal was sturdy, the joints of the bones were not.
In the Justice League, Su Ming only trusted Barry and, to some extent, the honest Diana and Sea King. He didn't trust anyone else.
Superman was originally trustworthy, but he listened to Batman too much.
Careful of fire, theft, and bats is no joke; he should avoid letting his intel fall into Bat's hands.
He researched his teammates' weaknesses but never secured the information well, always letting it get stolen by enemies, causing a heap of trouble.
And just now, it was uncertain whether the performance of the cloak and symbiote would be known by Batman. If he knew, he was likely studying the weaknesses of the Strangulation and the Magic Floating Cloak.
Without a way to deal with this Deathstroke, Batman surely wouldn't rest easy. Though acting greedy might make him relax a little, who knows how long it can fool him...
Batman would never be careless with Deathstroke, no matter which one it was.
Shaking his head, feeling the airflow sweeping over his armor, Su Ming redirected his thoughts back to the current battle.
Now that he knew the high altitude didn't affect Diana's breathing, Su Ming turned around, descending slightly to the troposphere, over 12 kilometers above the ground, to engage Diana in battle.
Because the environment here was extraordinarily complex and variable, especially the wind speed.
The pressure differences could create special streams of air, like rapids, either horizontally or vertically. In some cases, wind speeds could exceed 150 meters per second.
Compared to water, air currents were invisible to the naked eye.
Once caught in these air currents, aircraft could experience violent turbulence, even risking crashes.
That's why modern civilian aircraft generally have to ascend higher to fly in the stratosphere, where it's smoother.
Of course, the air currents didn't have much impact on Su Ming and Diana; they couldn't be blown to pieces.
But for both sides, these were invisible traps, testing who could adapt quicker once caught.
In the battle, unseen hands might push your back or pull your legs, and it's about the reaction speed in combat.
He stopped fleeing, turned around to deflect the incoming lasso with his great sword, keeping a distance while circling Diana.
Now Diana had the advantage in strength, endurance, destructive power, and energy projection.
Su Ming's advantages were speed, X Metal, spatial computation ability, self-healing ability, and magic resistance.
Judging from these aspects, the fight seemed almost evenly matched, as he couldn't go all out with many of his attacks constrained by considerations.
However, the newly formed persona by the engraving focused purely on combat, which could be exploited.
Su Ming knocked on the shield, making noise to signal Diana to attack him.
"Die!"
Diana roared in anger.
Yet the result nearly made Su Ming laugh, because as she opened her mouth, she happened to gulp down a gust of wind from somewhere, and her face puffed up like a bun due to the large volume of air.
He almost couldn't resist the urge to take out his phone to capture the moment.
However, since her attack motion hadn't distorted much, he dismissed the thought and swiftly dodged.
If he could snap a photo of Batman making a funny face, he might extort a plane or yacht from him.
But Diana had nothing; besides lacking money, even her gear was mostly sponsored by the Justice League or Fire God.
If he kept embarrassing her history, Diana would probably hunt him down once she returned to normal...
Letting Diana attack him relentlessly, he solely focused on evading, enjoying the freedom of three-hundred-sixty-degree avoidance in the air, offering twice as many options compared to the ground. Not bad.
Moreover, when dodging from below, he could overtly look under Diana's skirt, deliberately making sounds of astonishment to see if he could anger her.
This trick was of no use; the engraved persona was utterly shameless.
It was inside the corner of Diana's own consciousness, almost fainting from embarrassment.
Previously, she didn't mind wearing a swimsuit-like uniform for missions, but now, with Deathstroke flying below and making exclamations, it was driving her insane.
She liked the blue shorts with white stars very much, but being stared at so directly by a man for the first time was indeed unsettling.
She felt a strange sensation in her heart...
As the battle went on, Su Ming became increasingly familiar with her strength and style, reducing the combat distance.
The air was filled with the sound of howling winds and the shrieking of weapons cutting through the air.
Strangulation's attacks were very effective, constantly forcing Diana to dodge the Divine Gold Gauss's attacks, with its electric bullet always posing a massive threat.
For other parts of her body, she could withstand the attacks, but Strangulation, learning from its host, always targeted vulnerable areas like the eyes, ears, and nostrils.
But if Diana couldn't dodge, she'd use her bracelets to block, even if it pushed her back slightly, she persistently refused to use the shield.
Her counterattacks also caused Su Ming some problems; the unsealed Celestial Divine Power became stronger under the engraving's enhancement.
Accompanied by her attacks, the witchcraft lightning she released was almost as thick as a person's waist.
With such light-speed attacks, Su Ming couldn't evade, relying on his armor and magic floating cloak to withstand them.
Though lacking direct damage, his muscles felt slightly numbed, causing discomfort throughout.
Their battle continued for three to four minutes, while the situation on the ground grew increasingly unfavorable, with Hecate gradually gaining the upper hand.
If this dragged on, the situation would only worsen; Su Ming couldn't wait for her to use the shield.
The air currents affected both sides, but his thinking was faster. Even if the currents only made Diana's movements change by less than a millimeter...
But such slight differences were enough for Deathstroke.
After hundreds of exchanges, he finally found an opportunity.
The single eye on his mask flashed a red light as the cloak rapidly closed the distance. Watching Diana's Fire God Sword scrape a long trail of sparks across his chest armor, he seized the minuscule error, quickly sidestepping to deflect the force.
Immediately, he capitalized on this by delivering a shoulder blow to Diana's chin. The cloak's high-speed brought her crashing down.
Catching this opportunity, he seized the other end of the lasso, letting Strangulation extend a tendril to hold it.
As Diana was sent flying, Strangulation swung the lasso forcefully, creating a circular plane with her in the air.