Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 117: Comical Memory

Chapter 117: Comical Memory

Elius stood motionless in the silent street.

The communicator had long since gone dead, but the weight of the conversation still crushed his chest like an anvil.

Villain.

The word echoed like a curse.

A scar carved across fate.

Keith Northrim, the golden flame of the original storyline.

The unshakable light that had led humanity against titanic threats.

In the comic, Keith had stood as the one unbending pillar against despair—a beacon in the endless dark. He was never supposed to fall.

Never.

And yet now—now he had fallen further than Elius could imagine.

Elius’s gaze dropped to the cracked pavement beneath his feet.

His fists still trembled, and his mind was storming, violently, spinning thoughts into a whirlwind of dread and denial.

Three Esper abilities. Illusion. Telekinesis. Lightning Manipulation.

Those weren’t Keith’s powers in the comic. Not even close.

In the comic, Keith had been a pugilist as a Solarion descendant.

A prodigy with a brutal hand-to-hand combatant with explosive strength and reactive durability.

His signature move, Breakstep Rush, was enough to send mid-tier villains flying through walls with a single dash.

He’d never once shown illusions, nor any kind of energy-based ranged combat. And yet—

Elius’s eyes widened.

He remembered.

There were characters with those exact powers.

In Chapter 47 of the comic, Keith had fought three back-alley thugs who ambushed him in the outer districts of Galvan City.

One had the ability to cast illusionary clones to disorient enemies.

Another could pull scrap metal from garbage piles using short-range telekinesis. And the last had volatile lightning sparks bursting from his fingertips, barely controlled, burning streetlamps around him in chaotic arcs.

They were trash villains.

Absolute fodder.

Background characters designed to show Keith’s growth.

He defeated them in three pages.

And now... he had their powers.

Why?

What was happening?

Elius stepped backward, his legs carrying him instinctively as his thoughts spiraled deeper.

Someone—something—was giving Keith these stolen abilities.

These weren’t natural.

They weren’t earned through evolution or awakening.

They were grafted.

He felt it in his gut.

The system in this world, the balance of power, the logic of awakenings—it didn’t add up.

And if Keith was being manipulated...

Elius’s breath caught. No. He couldn’t stand still anymore. He had to act.

Without thinking, his feet carried him to the teleportation kiosk at the edge of the district.

His communicator blinked to life with his identification code, and the system recognized his Academy High clearance.

A flash of light erupted around him, and the next thing he knew, he stood once more at the gates of Invitation Hall.

The great dome of mirrored steel loomed over him like a god’s eye, reflecting the starless sky.

The doors opened with a soft hiss, revealing the sterile white corridors inside.

He stepped in, and within minutes, he was led back to the central office.

The woman from before stood there, no longer just a voice.

Elius knitted his brow, this is not the same old woman earlier?

She was tall and severe, her face lined with countless battles.

Her grey hair was pulled into a bun as sharp as her eyes. She wore a crimson and black uniform—military in design—with silver edges that flickered with suppressed energy fields.

Her boots echoed with authority, and her cloak bore the insignia of the Invasion Authority: a downward-pointing sword crossed by wings of flame.

"You came," she said, her voice the same—cold, aged, full of bite. "Is there something unclear about what I told you?"

Elius looked at her, his heart a thunderclap behind his ribs. "Was what you said about Keith... true?"

The woman didn’t blink. "Yes."

"No misunderstandings? No trick? No identity confusion? No shapeshifting mimic?"

"I understand you’re having difficulty processing the facts. But we have verified genetic scans, combat footage, and aura signature traces. It’s Keith Northrim."

Elius stared at her, searching her for a hint of deceit. A twitch. A fidget. Nothing.

He swallowed. "Are there villains in the current database named Zhark, Shania, or Fraven?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "No. Those names do not appear in our registries."

Elius’s eyes narrowed. Those were the names of the illusion, lightning, and telekinesis users Keith fought in the comic. So their powers... weren’t just stolen, they were recycled. Erased.

"Can I request a mission?" Elius asked suddenly.

"A mission?"

"Yes. A solo mission. I want a mission related to Keith Northrim."

The woman’s eyes sharpened. "Why?"

"I think... I think he’s being manipulated."

"You think so?" Her tone turned curious now, intrigued.

Elius nodded firmly. "His powers don’t make sense. His path doesn’t make sense. He was never like this. Someone’s pulling his strings."

The woman stared at him for a long, long moment.

Then she turned around, cloak sweeping behind her, and crossed the room. She placed her gloved hand on a locked panel. It opened with a series of biometric scans—eye, palm, voice.

A moment later, she pressed a hidden button beneath the desk, and a section of the wall slid open like a vault. A pale blue light filled the room.

From it, she pulled a sleek black device, shaped like a vertical oval. She activated it, and it sent a communication beam to an unknown destination.

"Field Marshal Velthur. This is Administrator Kura. I am initiating Protocol Level Five—Category Red."

A gruff, static-filled voice answered. "Acknowledged. Code confirmation?"

"Skyfall. Epoch. Hollow."

"Confirmed. What is the nature of the request?"

"I’m activating civilian-involved mission architecture, using Academy-level participant. I require clearance."

There was a pause. Then: "Granted. One-time exception. Supervision clause active."

The call ended.

She turned back to Elius and pointed to the table.

"Give me your ID card."

Elius fished the Academy High-issued ID from his pocket and handed it over.

She reached for a portable terminal, preparing to slot the card—but paused.

"Elius Northrim," she said, voice cutting through the air like frost. "Are you certain you want this mission?"

Elius met her gaze. "I’m certain."

"This mission will grant you no internal benefits within Academy High. It will not raise your school ranking. And it will not increase your F-Rank status in the Hero Registry even if you complete it successfully."

Elius nodded.

"Failing this mission, however, will penalize your official Hero Rank, and it will impact your standing in Academy High. If you die, or if you are caught interfering in unauthorized domains, you may be expelled—or worse. Are you still sure?"

He didn’t blink. "Yes."

"Understand this," she continued, her voice gaining gravity. "We do not assign these missions lightly. This isn’t training. This isn’t simulation. You will be hunting a real, dangerous, active Villain. One with multiple stolen abilities, urban infrastructure sabotage records, and zero confirmed weaknesses. If you go down this path, you will be on your own."

"I understand."

"If we find that you failed intentionally, or held back due to your relationship, or fed information to the enemy, the consequences will be catastrophic. There will be no mercy. Not from us. Not from the Academy. Not from the world."

"I know."

A long silence stretched between them again. Her gaze was unreadable.

Then, finally, Administrator Kura inserted his ID into the terminal. It glowed a deep violet as encrypted data was burned into its surface.

When she pulled it free, a new symbol had appeared on its surface—a glowing red X overlaying a circular ring of stars.

She handed it back to him.

"Mission file Alpha-Null assigned. You are now an independent operative with authorization to pursue Villain Star Two, Keith Northrim."

She turned her back to him, returning the communicator to its place.

"Go on," she said. "Good luck."

A pause.

"And goodbye."