"Boom!"
However, what greeted Nolan was not Eden crying out, "I still have your father, and in five hundred years, I'll still have you..."
Instead, it was Eden's merciless iron fist!
With a swing of his fist, Eden punched Nolan straight into the sky, away from this dark, sunless place.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!"
Then, terrifying heat vision erupted from Eden's crimson eyes, directly tearing a hole in Nolan's abdomen.
This was a sneak attack!
"What?"
Nolan looked at Eden's actions in disbelief, clutching his wounded abdomen. He exclaimed in surprise, "Your eyes can shoot lasers? You're not a Wei Starian? Who exactly are you?"
"You don't need to know too much!"
Eden rushed in front of Nolan and punched him in the face.
"Ptooey!"
Nolan spat out fresh blood, then retaliated forcefully.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!"
Facing Nolan's counterattack, Eden's heat vision never stopped.
"Ah!!!"
Nolan was in agony from Eden's heat vision burns. He reached out to try and cover Eden's eyes, but Nolan's hands were firmly caught by Eden's.
Seeing this, Nolan was forced into a new round of grappling with Eden. With Nolan and Eden's strength being similar, Eden, who possessed heat vision and had the sun as his 'IV drip,' gained the upper hand in this battle!
This grueling battle lasted for a full hour.
It finally ended when Eden's heat vision completely pierced through Nolan's skull.
"That was deadly."
Eden looked at Nolan, whom he had successfully killed. A sweet, metallic taste welled up in his throat.
Then, Eden blinked hard. After an hour of continuous heat vision, he felt like his eyes were going to get dry eye disease. If Nolan hadn't died, he would have gone blind.
Honestly, with Nolan having the advantage in fighting techniques and combat experience, Eden's victory in this battle was entirely due to Nolan's lack of understanding about heat vision, essentially exploiting an information gap.
And also, at the beginning, Nolan mistakenly took him for one of his own and saw Mark's shadow in him, causing him to hold back.
But even so, Eden's victory was not easy. He was now bruised all over, with no good spots, and his abdomen had a large hole opened by Nolan. If he weren't covering it with his hand, his intestines would have already spilled out.
"Father!"
It was also after Eden killed Nolan that, accompanied by a whooshing sound, Mark Grayson, wearing a torn blue uniform, beaten black and blue beyond recognition, written as 'Invincible' but read as 'Invincible getting his ass kicked,' suddenly appeared.
"There's a cutscene too?!"
After glancing at 'Invincible getting his ass kicked' Mark, Eden muttered to himself and called out to the system internally, "System, end simulation immediately."
"Simulation ended."
The moment Eden gave the command, everything around him instantly changed.
When Eden woke up, he found himself still lying in bed. He subconsciously checked his abdomen, which Nolan had pierced. After realizing that all his injuries had disappeared, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and thought, "Good thing it really was just a simulation."
Yes, the simulation was too real, everything was too real, so real that Eden mistakenly thought the system had teleported him to some parallel universe and was just tricking him into believing it was all a simulation.
Fortunately, his body was not injured, and everything seemed to be his overthinking.
However, Eden felt a strange soreness in his body.
But Eden didn't dwell on it. After this battle with Nolan, he now had too many problems to solve.
"It seems I need to brush up on my fighting techniques."
"Under normal circumstances, it's true what the old saying goes: 'In martial arts, speed conquers all, and nothing is unbreakable!'"
"But if my opponent's speed and strength are as strong as mine, or even stronger, then I can't just rely on brute force to overcome skill."
"At that point, I'll have to rely on combat experience and technique, just like Thanos fighting Hulk in 'Avengers.'"
Thinking this, Eden immediately opened 'UFC' fighting videos that night.
Normally, if a person were to learn fighting techniques from scratch, it would take at least a few years.
But fortunately, Eden had the Viltrum's innate fighting genes and a Kryptonian's super brain, so he learned exceptionally quickly.
The next morning.
After staying up all night watching videos, Eden went to class with dark circles under his eyes. Fortunately, with a Kryptonian's natural talent, he could regain his vitality by sunbathing for a while.
However, all morning, Eden seemed distracted. He didn't seem to be listening to the teacher's lecture at all.
But fortunately, Eden's grades had always been first in his class, so the teachers also turned a blind eye.
However, a few more concerned teachers asked Eden to come to the office and inquired if he was having any family problems, or if he needed their help, and so on.
To this, Eden thanked them all and assured the teachers that everything was normal at home. He was just feeling a bit lost recently while researching which university to attend.
After hearing Eden's words, the high school teachers all laughed and said, "We went through the same thing, kid! Your confusion will continue until you successfully get into your desired university. Then everything will come to an abrupt halt, because no life is more wonderful than university life."
Noon.
School cafeteria.
"Hey, Eden."
Just as Eden was enjoying his lunch alone in a corner of the cafeteria, savoring his rare and undisturbed peaceful daily life, a rather tactless voice broke the harmony.
"You again?"
Eden looked up, and upon seeing the person's distinctive orange-red hair, he said helplessly, "Does your boyfriend Rex know that you actively come to find me every lunchtime? 'Atom' Eve."
Well, with one sentence, Eden turned the 'Invincible' comic from an American comic into a Japanese anime special.
"You really do know my secret!"
The person was, of course, Eve. She sat opposite Eden, propping her chin on her hand, and said.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"Didn't you guys reveal yourselves to me yesterday?"
"Or do you think that if you change your clothes in the bathroom, I won't recognize you?"
Eden looked at Eve, speechless, and said.
"But I also know your secret now."
"So, I guess we're even."
Eve interjected.
"My secret?"
"Honestly, I don't even know what secret I have?!"
Eden laughed.
"That's right!"
Eve nodded vigorously, looking at Eden with certainty. She smiled and said, "I'm already convinced that you definitely have superpowers!"
"And I already clearly know what your superpower is!"
"I even clearly know why you're unwilling to expose the fact that you have superpowers."
Eve said with a confident smile.
"Oh?"
"Why?"
Eden looked at Eve, asking with a hint of curiosity.
Yes, Eden had to admit that Eve had indeed piqued his curiosity. He wanted to know how much the Teen Team understood about him.
"Because your superpower is just too embarrassing!"
Eve's lips curved slightly upwards as she observed Eden's expression.
"Too embarrassing?"
Eden secretly thought that this was not good. He always felt that these Teen Team members had gotten the wrong idea.
So, Eden looked at Eve and asked, "So, what do you all think my superpower is?"
"For example, is there a possibility that your superpower is shooting lasers from a special part of your body?"
Upon hearing this, Eve's pretty face flushed slightly, and she whispered.
"Heh heh."
"Your abilities are lacking, but your imagination is quite rich."
Eden immediately stood up from his seat. He no longer wanted to continue talking with Eve.
"My guess was correct after all."
As for Eve?! She took Eden's turning away as him fleeing in disarray. She was now convinced that her guess was definitely correct.