Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world

Chapter 332 : Cheating

'It can't continue like this!' Froze thought to himself in urgency. Arcanor was proving far more formidable than he had expected, and the fact that his opponent always managed to counter his attacks was undeniable proof of that. 

Froze was a man who had spent over three decades training and refining his skills in martial arts. He was a master of his craft, having faced countless battles throughout his life. Some he had won gloriously, while others had ended in humiliating defeat. Through these experiences, and especially through those crushing losses, he had developed a sort of sixth sense—a gut feeling that warned him when he was on the verge of losing. At that very moment, this sense was screaming louder than ever, urging him to act before it was too late.

'If I don't do something right now, I will lose,' he concluded, his mind racing. He quickly sidestepped Alex's incoming elbow strike and retaliated with a swift, calculated counterattack, forcing his opponent back momentarily. 

Froze's problem was that he had no idea what to do to change the flow of the battle and crush his adversary...unless he cheated, that is.

The instant that idea entered his mind, it refused to leave until Froze resolved himself to cheat and activated his ability. 

At the same time, Alex, who had been preparing to counter Froze's attack with a well-timed punch, experienced something he couldn’t comprehend. As he moved to strike, his fist remained motionless—but his leg jerked forward instead, completely breaking the flow of his attack.

His eyes widened in shock, his mind struggling to process what had just happened. It was only a fleeting moment of confusion, but Froze capitalized on it without hesitation. With a vicious roundhouse kick, he struck Alex hard in the side, the impact resounding through the floor.

Alex's body was hurled across the battlefield, his boots carving deep trenches into the stage as he skidded to a halt. The smoke surrounding his form flickered and partially lost its solid state, dispersing slightly from the point of impact.

Regaining his footing, he glanced down at the place where he had been struck, then at his arm, and frowned.

The good news was that he had come out unscathed from Froze's attack; his defense stat was too high for him to feel more than a slight sting from such an assault. The bad news, though, was that he failed to understand how his leg had moved when he had clearly intended for his arm to act.

Unfortunately, Froze wasn't going to give him time to ponder this incongruity. He charged at Alex, appearing before him in the blink of an eye, his fist bearing down on him like a hammer poised to crush its target.

Alex intended to step away from his opponent to avoid the incoming fist, but instead of his legs moving, his two arms shot up into the sky as though he were surrendering or praying, leaving his entire body exposed to Froze's attack.

Froze didn't miss this opportunity. His fist collided brutally with Alex's solar plexus, forcing a gasp from him, before he followed up with a sharp roundhouse kick to his side.

The air was knocked violently out of Alex's lungs, and his body was sent sprawling dozens of meters across the stage, skidding and tearing through the stone surface before he finally stopped.

The crowd of Drazen supporters erupted into deafening cheers, elated that Froze was finally taking the upper hand. Meanwhile, a worried expression clouded the faces of the three women who had come with Alex. Amelia, in particular, looked deeply unsettled. Among those present, she was the only one who felt that something was off. It didn’t make sense that Alex was losing to Froze—not at all!

Alex planted his feet firmly on the ground, stabilizing himself as his side throbbed with pain where Froze's kick had landed.

'He’s cheating,' Alex muttered under his breath as he clenched his fist. 'He’s using an ability to... hijack my nervous system?' The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning, though he still wasn’t entirely convinced by his own hypothesis.

He had never heard of such a broken ability. Being able to hijack your opponent's nervous system, forcing them to use one part of their body instead of another, was a game-changing power in a fight. Especially in a hand-to-hand battle where precision and coordination were everything, such an ability was borderline unstoppable.

'The apple didn't fall far from the tree, I see,' Alex thought to himself, his gaze fixed on Froze. Filden had blatantly used his ability to blind Maya and counterattack her, even though it was forbidden. Now, here was his father, employing the same underhanded tactics the moment he realized he couldn't win fairly without cheating.

The only difference between the two was that, unlike his son, Froze was clever enough to mask his actions. His ability was subtle, imperceptible to the untrained eye. If no one present knew about it, even Alex's accusations would fall on deaf ears. Without evidence, Froze could play the victim while Alex appeared like a sore loser.

As for how Alex knew Froze was the one tampering with his nervous system, it was simple. The phenomenon only occurred within a two-meter radius of Froze, a detail too precise to be coincidental.

'Two can play this game,' Alex thought as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

The very next moment, Froze was upon him. His fist tore through the air, leaving faint trails of distorted motion as he aimed a crushing blow at Alex.

A concealed smirk played on his lips as he once activated his ability to hijack Alex's nervous system, making the latter head and left foot move when he attempted to use his arms.

Froze could feel it—the sweet taste of victory was so close he could almost savor it. All he had to do was keep hammering at Alex until his opponent collapsed. There wasn’t much effort left to expend; as long as Alex stepped into his ability’s radius, he was doomed.

Or so Froze believed.

Convinced of his inevitable triumph, Froze focused entirely on offense, neglecting his own defenses. This overconfidence cost him dearly when Alex’s right fist slammed into his solar plexus with the force of a freight train at full speed, stealing the breath from his lungs.

A deafening boom echoed across the arena as Froze's body was launched like a missile. He flew through the air at such an astonishing speed that most spectators struggled to follow his trajectory. Thankfully for him, he managed to plant his feet firmly on the stage’s edge, stopping himself just shy of the boundary.

"Ugh..." Froze groaned, his body convulsing as he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Sweat poured down his face in thick rivulets, soaking his clothes.

'What...what happened?' he wondered to himself, his expression one of confusion. 'Didn’t my ability activate?' He quickly discarded that thought. His ability had indeed activated. After all, when he used it, it worked on him as well—meaning that every time one of Alex's limbs moved instead of another, Froze’s body was similarly affected.

The difference was that Froze had spent decades mastering the intricacies of his ability. He had become so familiar with the process that he could predict in advance which body part would move instead of the other. This advantage allowed him to maintain control in the midst of chaos.

All of that to say that Froze was certain his ability had worked, and Alex had been subjected to its effects. But then, how did Alex manage to land a blow on him?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

If Froze could see beneath Alex's flowing mantle of smoke, he would have understood what had happened.

Since his opponent had allowed himself the privilege of using his ability, Alex reserved himself the same right. A few seconds earlier, while Froze had been convinced victory was his, Alex had activated his own ability. This was what allowed him to counterattack, even while under the influence of Froze’s power.

How did he manage? Simple, really. By controlling the smoke that comprised his mantle, Alex manipulated his own body like a puppet. He did this in the same way he controlled the smoke knight, using his power to direct every movement.

He was unable to move his own body as he wished? No problem. His smoke element would take over, moving his limbs and body as if they were puppets on strings.

'It feels weird though, controlling my body as if I were a spawn,' he thought, a slight discomfort tugging at him. Still, the sensation of being both the puppet and the puppet master wasn't entirely unpleasant. In fact, it granted him a level of control over his body that he had never experienced before. 

'Why had I never tried this?' he wondered, slightly excited at the possibilities.

'I will have to properly thank him for his help in making me figure out this way of using my element,' Alex thought with a sadistic grin as he watched Froze painfully rise to his feet.