Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 103: Walk

Chapter 103: Walk

Colt and Elius, clad now like two ordinary rich men, strolled through the bustling mall, blending effortlessly into the crowd.

Colt led the way, his broad shoulders parting the seas of shoppers with ease, his carefree energy washing over everything. Elius followed beside him, quietly observant, his senses sharp, his mind ticking like a silent clock.

Without a word, Colt steered them into the food court, where the smells of every imaginable cuisine drifted and curled into the air like beckoning fingers.

"This," Colt said grandly, spreading his arms wide like a king presenting a feast, "is where you really get to know life, kid."

Elius gave a blank look.

Colt grinned and dragged him to the first stall—a sizzling, smoky stand selling thick, greasy burgers piled high with bacon and dripping with cheese.

"You ever have a real burger before?" Colt said, already pulling out his wallet. He ordered three of the biggest, messiest burgers Elius had ever seen.

When the food arrived, Colt slammed one into Elius’s hands. The burger was hot, heavy, and oozing sauce.

"Come on. Bite it. Trust me," Colt urged.

Elius hesitated. Then, slowly, he bit into it.

Instantly, his mouth flooded with flavor—rich, salty, fatty, smoky, with a slight crunch from the bacon and a melting smoothness from the cheese. His eyes widened slightly despite himself.

Colt laughed. "Good, right?!"

Without waiting, Colt grabbed two burgers at once, chomping down like a starving wolf. Grease dripped onto his civilian clothes, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

After that, Colt pulled him to the next stand—Korean-style spicy fried chicken, where the sauce glistened red and deadly.

"Now this," Colt said, "you gotta respect. It’ll beat you up before you even finish chewing."

Colt handed him a basket. Elius, still chewing his burger, stared at the violently spicy wings.

"Go on. I’ll laugh at you if you don’t," Colt teased.

Elius sighed—and took a bite.

Immediately, the fire spread across his tongue, a scorching inferno that shot up his nose and down his throat. His eyes watered. His ears rang.

Colt nearly doubled over laughing. "There it is! That’s the good stuff!"

But still, stubbornly, Elius finished the whole wing, ignoring the tears brimming in his eyes.

"That’s my boy," Colt said proudly.

They moved from stand to stand like conquerors, tasting everything.

Butter-drenched lobster rolls.

Giant slices of greasy pizza the size of dinner plates.

Sizzling Japanese yakitori, smoky and sweet.

French pastries so delicate they crumbled at a whisper.

Thick milkshakes topped with mountains of whipped cream.

Colt insisted Elius try every single thing, often buying double portions so they could gorge side by side, ignoring the stares of the people around them.

Between bites, Colt would grin at him and say things like:

"These dumplings? They’re happiness in a wrapper."

Or:

"This chocolate? This is why civilizations rise and fall."

At some point, Elius, mouth full of creamy ice cream, finally muttered, "I got a Hero Call."

Colt paused, halfway through a triple-layer chili hotdog.

"Huh?"

Elius swallowed. "From Academy High. They summoned me. I’m supposed to go on a mission."

Colt slurped his soda thoughtfully. "Yeah, I know."

Elius narrowed his eyes. "Did you... tell the Academy High bus not to come?"

Colt laughed loudly, bits of hotdog nearly flying from his mouth. "Guilty as charged!"

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned forward, grinning.

"Come on, it’s not like you can’t handle whatever they throw at you. A little delay won’t kill anybody. Besides—" he waved grandly at the half-eaten food court around them, "—I just wanted to spend some time with my son. The next few days, I’m gonna be busy."

Elius, deadpan, looked at him.

Busy, my ass, he thought coldly. You’ll probably just goof around, kill time, and then disappear again.

But he said nothing, only nodded stiffly and shoveled more food into his mouth. Helpless against the momentum his father generated, like a storm dragging him along.

Colt leaned back, looking immensely satisfied, both with the food and himself.

Then, out of nowhere, he asked, "Hey, Elius. How strong do you think I am?"

The world seemed to freeze.

Elius stiffened.

The dreaded question, he thought grimly.

He didn’t want to answer. No answer would be safe. Underestimating would insult him. Overestimating would feed his ego.

"I don’t know," Elius said finally, neutrally.

Colt only smiled.

He finished the rest of his food in one monstrous gulp, then stood up and stretched with a crack of his neck.

"I’ll show you."

Before Elius could even react, SWOOSH!

Colt grabbed him by the back of the hoodie and blasted into the air, zipping through the sky so fast that Elius’s vision turned into a blur of light and sound.

The wind howled like a living beast.

The world stretched and distorted.

And then—

BOOM!

They stopped.

Elius staggered as Colt set him down.

The ground was... wrong.

It wasn’t Earth.

The sky above was a dull, oppressive green, swirling with sickly clouds that seemed almost alive.

The air was heavy, thick, stinking of sulfur and decay.

Elius’s skin crawled. His bones trembled.

The ground beneath him was cracked and dry, the color of ancient bone. Foul mist seeped from the fissures.

And then—

CRACK!!

The ground shuddered violently.

Right before Elius’s horrified eyes, a massive crack tore open in the earth.

And from that abyss, a monster emerged.

A worm.

But not just any worm.

It was the size of a skyscraper, its segmented body glistening with mucus, each segment covered with jagged, twitching spines. Its mouth gaped open into a circle of serrated fangs, easily wide enough to swallow a dozen houses whole.

Its eyes—if they could be called eyes—were dozens of squirming black orbs embedded along its head, all blinking and twitching independently, leaking streams of black pus.

Its body moved with a disgusting slithering sound, like mountains grinding together.

The stench it exhaled was so foul that Elius gagged and staggered back, clutching his throat.

ROOOAAAAAARRR!!!

The worm bellowed, a deafening, bone-shaking roar that turned the air into vibrating jelly.

Elius instinctively reached for his spiritual Qi—

—but found nothing.

Panic surged through him.

His Qi—gone.

Stripped away like it had never existed.

He gasped for air, feeling naked, vulnerable.

Colt stood beside him, arms crossed, utterly relaxed.

He pointed casually at the monstrosity, as if introducing an exhibit at a museum.

"My son," Colt said, smiling lazily, "this is the Anti-Magic Galactic Worm."

He patted Elius’s shoulder.

"If it was on Earth... it’d be classified level 1 SS-Class initial stage..."

And Elius, heart pounding, body trembling, stared at the impossible beast before him—wondering just what madness his father planned next.

Suddenly, the cracked, dead landscape around him trembled from the worm’s roar, but Colt—Radiant Man without his suit—only stood with a loose grin, as if he were strolling through a sunny park.

He pointed casually at the monstrous galactic worm, which twisted its revolting bulk high into the sickly green sky.

"This thing right here," Colt said, voice almost cheerful, "would wipe out Earth’s superheroes like squashing bugs. All of ’em. Doesn’t matter how strong they think they are."

Elius said nothing, but he kept his guard up, feeling the absence of his Qi gnawing at his soul like rats chewing through rope.

Colt didn’t seem to mind. He waved his hand again toward the worm.

"It’s extremely, extremely durable. You could shoot it with all the nukes on Earth, smash it with all the powers of the S-Class heroes combined—and it would barely feel itchy."

He chuckled. "It’s not just tough either. It nullifies energy. All of it. All those superheroes, with their little tricks and fancy powers? Garbage. All fake powers become useless near this thing."

Colt’s voice grew serious.

"It doesn’t just beat you. It erases your existence. Your powers, your essence, your hope—all gone. Nullified. You can’t even scratch it."

He grinned wider, a strange, wild light in his eyes.

"And you know what else? It’s so strong that if you unleashed it in a galaxy, it would wipe the whole thing clean in a week. Seven days, and poof—gone. And most of that time... it’s just traveling between star systems."

Elius’s throat felt dry, but he forced himself to stand still.

Then Colt turned his gleaming, amused eyes on him.

"It’s stronger than me."

Colt said it so casually, it was almost an afterthought.

"I’m just an S-Class, twelve-stage peak," Colt said, rolling his shoulders as if dismissing the title. "This guy? It’s beyond that. If it really wanted to kill me, and I didn’t have my... tricks, well, let’s just say you’d be growing up without a dad."

Still, Elius didn’t flinch. He expected his father to say something like that. Radiant Man was insane—always had been.

But then—

Elius’s knees buckled slightly.

Huh?

His spiritual Qi—the flow of cultivation energy inside him—shuddered violently.

Then crashed down.

As if someone had flicked a cosmic switch, his Qi dissolved into nothingness.

He gasped silently, staring at his own hands in disbelief.

It’s really gone?!

Not just sealed. Not just suppressed. Nullified.

Like it had never existed in the first place.

Elius snapped his head toward his father, ready to demand an explanation—but then he saw something even more shocking.

Colt’s aura—the monstrous, solar flare-like pressure that usually clung to him—was gone.

He looked almost human.

Normal.

Small.

...Weak.

Elius’s heart pounded like a war drum.

Even father... no way—

But Colt only laughed quietly.

"However—" Colt said, the word rolling off his tongue like a warning.