Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 132: Brother’s team up

Chapter 132: Brother’s team up

Keith’s gaze didn’t falter, though his eyes flashed.

Elius’s expression hardened. "You can’t have both. Stay on their side, and you’ll never be a hero. You’ll never step into the light. You’ll be hunted down, dragged through the mud, called a mutant freak by every media channel, a villain until the day you die."

He pointed a single finger directly at Keith’s chest.

"And even your mother, once she knows what you’ve done, who you’ve chosen—she’ll be even more heartbroken than she already is."

Keith lowered his head.

His bangs shadowed his expression, but his voice was steady when he replied.

"No," he said. "I’m not close with them. Not even a little."

Elius blinked.

Keith finally looked up again. "I was just asking."

Elius’s lips curled slightly. "Good."

But then Keith frowned and asked, "Why do they have to stay like that? Can’t we just leave this dungeon already?"

Elius shook his head, folding his arms. "You can’t leave a dungeon until you complete its core challenge. It’s like a pocket world. Time and reality bend. The exit doesn’t exist until the system says it does."

Keith narrowed his eyes. "Then let’s go."

Elius looked at him for a long moment—then, slowly, nodded.

They stepped together into the depth of the steel-fanged corridor, their silhouettes long in the strange bronze light.

Despite himself, Elius’s heart stirred with something like warmth.

They walked side by side now. Brothers, in a strange, broken way.

Two sons of the same monster, each carrying the pieces of ruined family dreams.

At least he’s alive, Elius thought. That’s what matters.

It meant he wouldn’t have to lie anymore. He wouldn’t have to fake being the only heir.

Radiant Man wouldn’t look too closely at Elius’s genes now.

The more Keith rose, the safer Elius became.

A shield of legitimacy in the eyes of their so-called father.

But Elius knew he needed more than that.

He needed power.

He needed a Martial Skill that resembles the Solarion Empire descendant’s abilities.

He was sure the system had created something for Keith now.

He just had to find it. He could feel it, faintly pulsing somewhere deeper in this place.

And then, the monsters came.

The first wave roared out of the shadows like a rising tide of shrieking steel and blazing plasma.

Hulking beasts with iron jaws.

Six-legged wolf-like constructs of rusted armor and hydraulic limbs.

Floating drones with rotating laser eyes. Grotesque beasts fused with machine—half-organic, half-synthetic, and all hate.

Keith’s eyes glinted.

He moved like a whirlwind.

CRACK!!

A steel hound leapt at him, jaws lined with rotating blades—but Keith caught it mid-air by the throat, ripped it apart with his bare hands, and slammed its still-twitching head into the floor with a thunderous BOOM.

Another beast lunged, and Keith ducked low, then tore through it with a bone-shattering hook.

Gears and black ichor sprayed across the walls.

He grabbed a flying drone mid-dive and slammed it into a wall hard enough to crater it, then jumped into the air and crashed down with both feet into the back of a metallic spider.

The dungeon shook.

Elius didn’t even lift a hand.

He stood calmly with his arms crossed, watching with a faint smirk.

"Monsters like these," he said casually, "aren’t worth using energy on."

Keith was a blur of motion—smash, rip, shatter—his body moving on instinct now. He was built for war, and it showed.

"They’re steel types," Elius continued. "Slow, predictable. Strong armor, but only from the front. Their weak points are either in the belly or right behind the neck joint."

BOOM!

Keith landed a punch that exploded a wolf drone’s head into spinning shrapnel.

"Most of their internal wiring is weak to magical energy," Elius added. "But since you’re more of a brute-force type, just focus on momentum. Hit them before their sensors finish calculating your trajectory."

"Got it!" Keith shouted over the crash of steel and bone.

Another wave came. Bigger ones. Tank-type beasts with shoulder cannons and anti-air turrets. One launched a barrage of plasma bolts.

Elius sighed. "Too slow."

With a flick of his finger, a gleaming sword appeared above him—then split into six identical copies, all glimmering with ethereal light.

They flew through the air like hummingbirds made of death.

SCHING! SCHING! SCHING!

In less than a second, the turrets exploded, limbs were sliced, and sparks rained down like hellfire.

Keith blinked in awe. "That was... fast."

Elius smiled. "I’ve got a lot of ways to deal with things. I’ve seen so many different enemies. Fought in so many systems. Esper counters, monster instincts—name it, I’ve learned to break it."

Keith leapt over a lunging bear-bot and drove his heel into its head, splitting it open with a CRUNCH.

Elius continued, calmly stepping through the battlefield, carving away any stray bots with minimal effort.

Every time Keith slowed, Elius offered insight.

Weaknesses. Tactical advice. A quiet, steady stream of instruction. It was like walking beside a teacher who happened to be a killer.

"You see that one?" Elius said, pointing to a spider-type with thrusters. "Don’t let it gain altitude. It has an EMP blast."

Keith punched it before it even took off.

"Good," Elius nodded. "You’re learning."

The battle lasted twenty minutes.

Twenty long, deafening, explosive minutes of metallic roars, blood-red sparks, twisted limbs, and brutal melee.

At the end of it all, Keith stood panting, covered in oil and glowing blue blood, but his grin was savage.

"Damn," he muttered. "That felt good."

Elius smiled softly. "Told you."

But then—

Keith froze. His eyes locked onto something in the wreckage.

"What is that?" he said.

Elius turned, and his gaze settled on a faintly glowing shard buried in the remains of a mech-lion’s skull.

It pulsed with silver light.

He walked over slowly and pulled it out, brushing off the scorched metal.

It was a crystal.

A Martial Skill Fragment.

Elius’s heart skipped—but he forced a frown.

"Oh," he said with practiced disinterest. "Something of my doing. Just a leftover piece."

Keith stared at it. "Looks kinda special."

"Nah," Elius shrugged and pretended to toss it over his shoulder. "It’s trash."

Keith didn’t seem convinced, but he turned away.

Elius smiled thinly—and with a flick of his fingers behind his back, one of his swords floated quietly, unseen, and retrieved the fragment.

As they walked deeper into the dungeon, side by side, Elius’s mind was spinning.

One step closer, he thought. One skill closer to beating get stronger.

And behind them, the dungeon echoed with the silence of a battlefield swept clean.