Batman was indeed injured, but he was far from combat-ineffective.
Amora the Enchantress had never anticipated that less than three minutes into the battle, Zzzax—one of the key combatants she brought along—would be the first to fall.
She watched as Batman pressed an unidentifiable, compact device onto Zzzax's chest. When he retrieved it, Zzzax's once coalesced, liquid-mercury-like body had been reduced to something resembling a jellyfish washed ashore by sea waves, lying limply on the deck.
Amora's mind went momentarily blank, and the gaze she cast toward Batman was no longer mixed with pity or playfulness.
In her eyes now, Batman had turned completely into a repulsive, hard-shelled pest—one that would take genuine effort to crush, and whose persistent struggle revolted her to her very core.
To her, creatures like Batman and Iron Man ought to behave like Skurge the Executioner: rushing over to lick her toes the moment she waved a hand.
"Attack him together!" Amora shrieked. A emerald-green magical radiance ignited in her hands, and a semi-transparent, spiked green chain shot through the air, forming a serpentine shape that lunged viciously toward Batman.
Yet Batman's counterattack was far from over.
Having used the device dubbed the "Bat Stabilizer"—originally engineered to counter Electro—to drain the electrical current from Zzzax's body, Batman ignored the unconscious Zzzax on the deck. He unhooked the stabilizer and flicked his fingers across it in a rapid blur.
As Batman's fingers danced across the interface, the Bat Stabilizer emitted a rapid series of sharp beeps.
The sounds grew increasingly urgent until Batman snapped his wrist, hurling it through the air with a whistling rush straight into the midst of the incoming combatants.
Beep!
The Bat Stabilizer gave one final, crisp chime before detonating violently.
Crack-crack-crackle!
Unlike a conventional bomb, the stabilizer's explosion was far from loud, generating no deafening roar.
Yet its lethality was not a fraction less than that of an ordinary explosive—if anything, it was considerably higher.
It was a plasma bomb.
In the span of a single heartbeat, a ten-meter radius in front of Batman was blanketed by a carpet of yellow-green plasma. Under the influence of the stabilizer, the ionized current behaved much like a liquid.
Balls of plasma formed and dissolved in midair, interconnected by thousands of fine, thread-like strands of yellow-green electrical discharge.
This scene lasted for only a fraction of a second before the plasma spheres burst, liquid electricity surging recklessly across the deck. The currents blasted fist-sized craters into the alloy floor while pinning the charging foes in place.
It was a scenario Batman seemed to have rehearsed thousands of times in his mind; he didn't cast a second glance at the enemies pinned by the improvised plasma bomb.
Reaching down to his Utility Belt, another small gadget was pinched between his fingers.
Pivotting on his heel, Batman chose not to press the advantage against those trapped by the plasma, instead gliding silently toward Wonder Man's side.
Wonder Man's reaction speed was nothing short of extraordinary; the moment Batman moved, he reacted instantly.
Purple light rippled across his body as he attempted to transition his physical form back into an ionic state.
Wonder Man had long noticed that Batman lacked any means to counterattack him while in an ionic state—otherwise, Batman wouldn't have been forced into continuous evasion when facing him alone at the start.
In an ionic state, Wonder Man could phase through solid matter and even fly.
He didn't believe Batman had any secret trick up his sleeve to handle him, but leapt into the air to be safe.
Soon, however, Wonder Man came to appreciate the exact sensation Amora the Enchantress had experienced moments prior.
Batman brushed past him, indeed making no physical contact with his ionic body.
Yet a razor-like gadget had somehow been pinned straight into his neck, causing Wonder Man's body to plunge downward.
Thud!
Forced out of his ionic state, Wonder Man lost his balance entirely, crashing out of the air and onto the alloy deck.
Before he could react or process what error had occurred with his abilities, a jet-black fist enlarged rapidly in his field of vision.
With a heavy thump, Wonder Man collapsed into unconsciousness.
"Number two," Batman noted silently, his expression displaying zero relief despite taking out two formidable opponents in rapid succession.
Dispatching Wonder Man and Zzzax had looked easy only because Batman had thoroughly decoded their capabilities while continuously dodging their attacks earlier.
Countering Zzzax required the stabilizer designed for Electro; handling Wonder Man relied on another tool engineered specifically for Max Dillon as well.
That tool was the "Phase Converter," capable of forcing a target from a pure energy state back into their original, physical form.
Max Dillon, Electro, could discharge electricity and convert his body into pure energy—an ionic state composed entirely of electric currents.
Using it against Zzzax and Wonder Man was a perfect match.
Yet among the remaining twelve foes, while the four members of the Wrecking Crew wielded ordinary-looking weapons, their strength, physical durability, and armaments were exceptionally formidable.
This was evident enough from how easily their combined effort had pinned Venom Robin against the wall.
Add to that a four-meter-tall giant with two heads; the crimson-skinned Madman; the double-bladed battleaxe-wielding Executioner; a iron-gray, bald man; and a figure composed entirely of metallic silver...
These were nine opponents relying purely on physical might to attack, each comparable to a base-level Hulk.
Beyond them stood a cloud of gas floating in the air with an ethereal, shifting form; Batman had noticed earlier while dodging that the silhouette of a woman occasionally manifested within it.
There was also a man covered in scars of all sizes, whose physique looked neither well-developed nor possessed of any obvious super-abilities.
Finally, there was a black-skinned, seemingly bare figure; Batman noticed via his Gargoyle Suit that this individual was constantly emitting heavy radiation into his surroundings.
Even if all of them were dealt with one by one, Amora the Enchantress held the rear line.
"Robin!" Batman called out the instant he knocked Wonder Man unconscious.
"Gah-gah!" Venom Robin let out an eerie, guttural roar.
Simultaneously and without hesitation, father and son charged in unison toward the enemies who were still standing in place, twitching slightly as the plasma faded away.
Batman's strength could not match the Hulk's, nor could it compare to his present opponents.
Yet battle was never decided by sheer physical power alone; Batman relied on his boundless experience, an unyielding line of resolve, Venom Robin, Alfred... and an endless reserve of contingencies.
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)