"From now on, I'll have the Robot serve as the Guardians' security consultant and take full responsibility for selecting the members of the Global Guardians Second Team."
After Cecil left the meeting room, he immediately initiated another online conference with the Guardians — this time without The Immortal. His decision was clear: the entire recruitment process for the Second Team would be handled by the Robot alone.
To be honest, Cecil didn't trust the current Guardians enough to let them choose their own successors. He considered most of the First Team too reckless, too emotional, and frankly — too stupid — for such an important task.
The Robot's mechanical eyes flickered briefly before he nodded in agreement to Cecil's arrangement.
"As for the Black-Clothed Superman," Cecil added, his tone turning sharp, "he's none of your concern. Understand? I don't want anyone in the Guardians secretly investigating him. The Immortal's fate should already be a warning."
With that, Cecil dismissed the meeting. The fewer people who knew about Eden and his true identity, the better.
At present, besides Cecil, Donald, and a few high-ranking Defense Bureau officials, only the Robot knew who Eden really was. But the Robot was careful — whenever he referred to Eden in public, he always used the codename Black-Clothed Superman.
The Guardians' Private Gathering
Once Cecil was gone, the Guardians held their own private meeting. Everyone's first priority was comforting The Immortal, assuring him he'd always be part of their family no matter what Cecil had said.
But when it came to the Black-Clothed Superman, every one of them avoided the subject as if it were taboo.
After all, The Immortal had been fired simply for complaining a few times — yet Eden, the Black-Clothed Superman, had Cecil's full protection. Clearly, Cecil valued Eden far more than the entire Guardians combined.
If someone had asked Cecil why, his answer would have been simple:
"You misunderstand. It's because you are my subordinates… and Eden is my superior."
Eden's Training
That evening, Eden didn't think about the Guardians or their politics. None of that mattered to him. He was far more interested in pushing his own limits.
"System, initiate simulation."
His tone was calm, almost eager. "This time, I want to challenge three elite Viltrumites working together."
[Simulation in progress.]
The system activated instantly, generating a dark, silent void — a desolate stretch of space with no light, no sound, and no atmosphere.
Before him appeared his opponents: three of the Viltrum Empire's Four Heavenly Kings — Tony, Smith, and Vido.
There was no conversation. In the vacuum of space, words were meaningless. As soon as Eden and Tony met eyes, both charged forward.
Eden struck first, moving faster than light could reflect off his body. His punch landed squarely on Tony's jaw, sending a crimson spray of blood drifting through the void.
Though there was no sound, the sight of Tony's teeth scattering like shards of glass spoke volumes.
Vido and Smith exchanged a single glance — a flash of surprise — before instinct took over. They split left and right, flanking Eden with perfect military precision while Tony recovered and dove back toward him like a meteor.
Eden raised his left arm to block Vido's blow, but suddenly his movement halted — something was restraining him.
He turned his head. Smith had used her long, whip-like braid to coil around his left wrist, binding it tightly.
"Damn it," Eden thought, irritation flaring.
Before he could free himself, Vido gripped his right arm, locking him in place.
At that instant, Tony — his face blood-smeared, two front teeth missing — rushed forward with a savage grin.
But before Tony could land his strike, Eden's eyes blazed crimson.
Twin beams of burning heat erupted from his gaze, cutting through the darkness and smashing into Tony's face. The Viltrumite screamed silently as the energy scorched his flesh.
In the same motion, Eden swung his head, slicing Smith's braid clean off. The seared strands drifted weightlessly in the void.
Vido took advantage of the distraction, raining blows on Eden's torso — each hit powerful enough to crack mountains. Eden felt his ribs fracture and warm blood burst from his lips, but he ignored the pain.
With his left arm freed, Eden shoved Vido back, then lunged at Smith, the weakest of the trio. His hands wrapped around her neck like iron clamps.
Even as Smith choked, her fists continued to hammer his chest with supersonic force, turning his uniform dark red with his own blood.
But Eden's grip only tightened. The veins on his forearms bulged, and with one final twist, Smith's neck snapped. Her lifeless body drifted silently in the vacuum.
Eden exhaled sharply, spitting out another mouthful of blood, then turned toward Vido and Tony — his crimson eyes burning brighter than ever.
The three collided again, streaking across space like shooting stars.
The Aftermath
An hour later, the battle was over.
Eden floated among three corpses. His chest was pierced with two fist-sized holes, his breathing shallow but steady. Smith, Tony, and Vido drifted lifelessly nearby — their blood crystallizing in the freezing void.
"End simulation."
In an instant, the stars vanished, replaced by the familiar comfort of Eden's bedroom. His wounds were gone, but the exhaustion lingered.
He sat up, reflecting on what he'd learned. Defeating the three Viltrum elites hadn't been easy — it had been mutual destruction at best. Still, he could feel the steady improvement in his technique and endurance.
Each opponent had been individually weaker than Nolan, John, or Kregg, but together their combined strength far exceeded the sum of their parts. Even Regent Kruge in his prime might have struggled to fight three of them simultaneously.
"At this rate," Eden murmured, "give me a week, and I'll be ready to simulate battles with Berserker Beast or even Kruge himself."
He paused, then smirked. "Before that, maybe I should warm up with Ragnar — the alien tiger who fights the Viltrumites. Berserker Beast also uses claws and fangs, after all."
Eden knew himself well. Within a week, he would be able not just to survive but to defeat three Viltrum elites working together.
His current assessment was straightforward:
Against one Viltrum elite — a quick kill.
Against two — he'd still hold an absolute advantage.
Against three — he could only manage a draw or mutual destruction.
Three Viltrumites were his bottleneck — his hurdle to a true transformation in strength. Once he overcame that, his power would leap to another tier entirely.
"Continue simulation!"
With that, Eden closed his eyes and re-entered the system.
The Next Morning
After several consecutive one-versus-three simulations, each more brutal than the last, Eden finally opened his eyes. The fatigue was real, but so was his progress.
He washed up quickly, ate a light breakfast, and flew toward the far side of the Moon to wait for the rocket launch.
It was Friday, 9 a.m.
"Boom!"
With a thunderous roar, the manned Mars exploration rocket blasted off, carrying humanity's hopes and dreams into the stars.
News agencies across the world broke the story instantly. Television screens and phone notifications everywhere filled with headlines about Earth's first manned Mars mission.
But none of them mentioned Eden.
The Hidden Guardian of Mars
While the world celebrated, Eden was quietly sitting on the outside hull of the spacecraft — his cape drifting like a dark shadow behind him.
He was calmly eating a sandwich, frozen solid by the frigid vacuum and cosmic radiation.
Inside the rocket, the astronauts had no idea he was there.
Neither did the millions of viewers watching live feeds of the launch, their eyes glued to the countdowns and telemetry screens.
That was how Cecil wanted it. Before the mission, he had told Eden privately:
"Eden, you understand — we need to protect the pride of these astronauts and the Space Agency.
If the public finds out that a superhuman capable of flying to Mars in a day is secretly babysitting the mission, they'll feel useless."
Eden hadn't minded. Fame meant nothing to him. He preferred it this way — quiet, invisible, and free from the noise of the world.
His mission was simple: stay hidden and intervene only if disaster struck.
If everything went smoothly, it would be nothing more than a peaceful trip — a short vacation to Mars.
He looked out into the endless darkness of space, the faint blue sphere of Earth shrinking behind him. For a moment, Eden felt strangely calm.
The simulation battles, the endless striving for power, the political games of Cecil and the Guardians — none of that seemed to matter here.
Here, between Earth and Mars, there was only silence.
And in that silence, Eden found peace.
Epilogue
Back on Earth, Cecil watched the live broadcast in his office.
No one around him knew that the mission had a silent protector flying just outside the camera's view — a being powerful enough to destroy a Viltrum squadron alone.
He exhaled slowly, murmuring to himself, "If everything goes right, the world will never know how close we came to disaster."
Then he smiled faintly. "And if it doesn't — well, Eden will handle it."
Far above the Earth-Moon system, Eden floated alongside the rocket, eyes half-closed, the frozen remains of his sandwich drifting away into the void.
For now, the Black-Clothed Superman wasn't a savior, a weapon, or a symbol — he was simply Eden, a man quietly preparing for the next challenge.
And soon enough, that challenge would come.
End of Chapter 28: Eden's Journey to Becoming Stronger and Heading to Mars!
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