Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world

Chapter 118 : Alex vs Amelia (2)

BOOOOOMMMM

The moment Amelia's destructive orb went off, the scene that unfolded was one many would find apocalyptic.

The explosion exhibited various attributes — smoke, fire, wind, plant, and every element used in battles since the competition began. This caused the already destructive force of the explosion to multiply tenfold.

However, the most dangerous aspect of this explosion wasn't its destructiveness or its attributes, but rather the shockwaves it generated.

The shockwaves were so powerful that, in an instant, they made the arena walls collapse, cut off or uprooted the surrounding trees, and swept away the smoke that Alex had spread around the arena.

Fortunately for the spectators, Grace had covered the whole mansion with her mana, making it impossible for the explosions or shockwaves to destroy the mansion.

"What was this mad girl thinking, causing such an explosion?" wondered Grace.

"There's no way we wouldn't attract attention with such a blast," sighed Candace.

Although they didn't make much effort to conceal their movements, the branch members still preferred to avoid drawing too many eyes. However, with such an explosion, it was impossible not to attract attention.

"The good thing is, we now know who has the most dangerous and destructive ability in the whole family," chuckled Victoria as she observed the large mushroom created by the explosion.

The smoke mushroom was at least five times larger than the one Alex caused by combining the Kalnium smoke with Jonathan's fire tornado.

"This ability of hers need to be kept secret, if not, gods only know how many troubles it would bring all of us" said Candace with a somber expression.

Every member of the older generation nodded in agreement. If such an ability became known to the public, it would be impossible to predict the troubles that could come knocking on their doors, as this power had the potential to shift entire nations.

Possessing such an ability could lead to massive losses for one's enemies, making it a coveted asset for every kingdom or empire.

"So, who won ?" Wondered Talia as she looked in the now destroyed arena.

When she asked, everyone else also focused their gazes on the arena.

Everyone felt that it was impossible for Alex to have the capability to avoid or survive such an explosion, so he was likely saved by Adrian just before the explosion had gone off.

The moment they focused on what was happening in the arena coincided with the moment Amelia was getting out of the protection of vines she had erected to save herself from the shockwaves.

It might be her ability, thus her, that caused the explosion, but it didn't mean that she was immune to it, so she had to protect herself like everyone else.

'Did brother-' 

Before her thoughts could fully form, Amelia's danger alarm tingled. However, before she could react, she felt a strong hand rest on her head.

"Were you trying to kill your man with such an explosion ?" Whispered Alex to Amelia.

Hearing his voice, Amelia's heart skipped a beat.

"H-How ?" Was all she could mutter.

"I will explain after you answer my question. Were you trying to kill your man with such an explosion?"

Amelia slightly turned her head to respond to him, but forgot what she wanted to say after witnessing his face.

"W-Why are you so pale ?" 

Alex's face was as white as a sheet of paper, he looked like a sick person.

"Don't worry, it will be gone in a moment" replied Alex with a reassuring smile.

Amelia reluctantly nodded her head then whispered to him:

"To answer your question, no, I obviously didn't want to kill you, why would I want to kill my lover?"

"I dunno, maybe you didn't move the sex as mush as you made it sound and decided to kill me" replied Alex with a chuckle.

"Don't be stupid. Even if I didn't enjoy the sex – which is definitely not the case – I wouldn't want to harm the most important person to me. It actually upsets me to think that you would even consider something like that," said Amelia with a pout.

"I'm joking, I'm joking. Of course, I know you wouldn't want to harm me. I apologize for saying that," said Alex as he planted a soft peck on her cheek.

Since the smoke mushroom caused by the explosion had yet to completely disperse, no one would see his act of kissing her. Even if they used their mana to observe, they would see nothing because all around Alex, there was smoke, and he is invisible when in smoke.

"Hmph, apology accepted, now tell me how you appeared behind me" said Amelia.

"I used my smoke ability" replied Alex.

"Huh? I don't smoke ability user can do something like that" replied Amelia.

"I think the same as you"

"Then how did you do it ?"

'Ah, I forgot that she doesn't know about my smoke sovereignty' remembered Alex, even though knowing that he is a true smoke sovereign wouldn't explain what he had just done.

As mentioned earlier, when Alex became a Smoke Sovereign, he gained the ability to determine whether he could or could not use the smoke for a particular task.

During his training, he wondered if he could use the smoke to boost his movement speed without relying on a smoke created with a substance that enhances speed, and surprisingly, he could!

Alex then attempted to move using the smoke. In his mind, he expected his movement speed to be affected, but that wasn't the case. The moment he willed the smoke to enhance his speed, something unexpected happened – he got teleported!

At first, he was confused, then he understood what just happened.

The smoke doesn't just enhance his movement speed; it literally teleports him anywhere there is smoke, as long as it is within the range he can control with the smoke element.

At first, he was elated, but then he frowned due to sensing that his mana reserves were halved after just that teleportation.

He teleported another time, and then his mana reserve ran dry. Not only that, but he suddenly felt exhausted.

It was at that moment he realized, unfortunately, he couldn't use the smoke's teleportation ability more than two times because teleporting consumed too much of his mana.

If asked why he felt exhausted each time he teleported, Alex's answer would probably be that his stamina was too low for multiple teleports, and the same applied to his mana – his reserves were too low.

However, he couldn't come up with a reasonable answer as to why he can teleport in the first place.

Seeing that he was wasting time pondering something that would likely take him a lot of time to comprehend, if he could even comprehend it at all, Alex abandoned the quest to find out why he could teleport within smoke and resumed his training.

This teleportation ability was actually what he used just as Amelia hurled the explosive orb towards him.

He timed the teleportation to the moment the explosion had gone off so that Amelia wouldn't notice it if he teleported.

He teleported a few meters behind Amelia, since her plants had blocked the smoke from reaching her. When the explosion occurred, and Amelia used her plants to form a dome for protection against the shockwaves, Alex created his own dome of solidified smoke just behind hers. He waited until she removed her dome and then took action.

When he explained everything to Amelia, she sighed and said with a smile.

"It's my loss I guess"