Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world

Chapter 96 : Alex vs Nox

"You ? Teaching me something, no, thanks, I think that even a dog would do a better job than you" replied Nox to Alex's words.

To that, Alex just smiled and didn't continue further, instead he glanced at Adrian.

"Old man, give the signal, so we can start."

Adrian's lips twitched hearing Alex referring to him as an old man, but it's not like Alex was wrong, he was indeed an old man, so in the end he just sighed and ordered the rest of the participants :

"Everyone beside those two, get out of the Arena" 

The participants did as they were told and exited the Arena, but before doing so, some of them approached Nox to encourage him to show Alex hell.

Amelia also approached Alex while dragging Talia – who looked very unwilling – with her. However, before she could say anything, Alex stopped her and said:

"You shouldn't worry, it won't last more than one minute".

'One minute, does he think he can finish Nox in a minute? He might be disillusioned, thought Talia, clearly not believing Alex, which was why her eyes opened wide in surprise when she saw Amelia just nod at his words.

"Okay, I will be waiting for you" said Amelia.

After that, Alex turned and started walking towards the center of the Arena.

'Does she know something that we don't' wondered Talia as she looked at Alex back.

"Oh, I was about to forget" Alex turned back and looked at Talia.

"Hello Talia, you look even more in shape than last year" complimented Alex while his gaze lingered around her chest area.

"Stop leering at me, you pervert! I hope you get the beating of your life!" exclaimed Talia, storming out of the arena while dragging Amelia with her.

"Haha, she is as fierce as always" chuckled Alex, while turning away to resume his walk to the center of the stage.

'System, enhance all my stats beside mana by 4 soul points'

[Are you-]

'Do it already, it's becoming annoying each time you ask if I'm sure' replied Alex.

'Ahh, I will never get tired of this feeling' thought Alex after a moment as he felt a cool sensation spreading all over his body and strengthening it and taking away his weariness.

Well, it didn't take away his weariness, in fact it just increased the level of energy in his body, Alex was still as tired as before it's just that now he gained an additional level of energy, it is akin to the effects of stimulants, where fatigue lingers, but an extra layer of energy is added.

He had found out about this fact while training.

He has also discovered some other thing when he looked at his status, and it was about his smoke ability.

[It's done]

'Status'

[Name: Alexandre Eswald

Age: 60

Level: 4

Strength: 80

Agility: 80

Stamina: 160

Defense: 80

Mana Points: 55

Harem: Lilia Eswald, Annaline Maxwell, Amelia Eswald;

Abilities: Soul Linkage, Smoke sovereign;

Soul Points: 24]

Alex observed his new stat points before locking his gaze on his smoke ability, which was no longer [smoke manipulation] but rather [Smoke Sovereign].

The first time that he saw this, Alex was pleasantly surprised, from the system explanation, it was because his smoke ability had evolved.

When he heard this, Alex asked if he could copy the evolved ability of his women, but the system reply was disappointing.

He couldn't copy the evolved ability of his women, if he wanted an evolved ability, then he needed to be the one that would evolve this ability, even the system couldn't help him with that.

"Why are looking ahead of you like a retard ?" Asked Nox as he walked to the center of the Arena and face Alex.

Hearing him, Alex dismissed the system screen and concentrated.

"I will be this battle referee and will stop any attack that I deem lethal, so you don't have to worry and can go all out" instructed Adrian.

"For information, he's addressing me since it's guaranteed that nothing you can do can kill me. In fact, I promise to not use my ability as a handicap to you" said arrogantly Nox.

"I will gladly accept it" replied Alex.

He wouldn't reject such an advantage even if it were presented to him a hundred times, and why would he? It's not his fault if his opponent was an arrogant prick besides being dumb.

"Are the both of you ready ?" Asked Adrian, to which they nodded.

"Begin!" Exclaimed Adrian, marking the start of the fight.

The moment the battle started, Nox charged at Alex at his full speed!

The only thing one could see, a black blur approaching Alex rapidly.

'He's fast' remarked Alex.

'Haha I'm sure this bastard is shitting himself right now' chuckled inwardly Nox as he charged.

What led Nox to think like that was that Alex didn't move from the start of the fight and just stood there, attempting to follow the black blur.

When he was at least 10 meters away from Alex, Nox prepared to unleash his ability!

'I might have said that I wouldn't use my ability, but why would I do such a dumb thing? It's your fault for believing me in the first place. Besides, my ability is tailored for the kind of things I'm going to do right now,' he thought with a cunning smile.

Nox's ability allowed him to control electricity to a small extent. The only thing he could currently do with it is send electric discharges within anything that he touched.

The more mana he injected, the more damage he caused. But right now, his intention wasn't to cause great damage, but to simply torture his opponent.

His plan was to send an electric discharge into Alex's body upon making contact with him. However, he wouldn't go crazy about the voltage; he would just send enough so that Alex might feel immense pain but wouldn't lose consciousness. And it would continue like this for the rest of the fight!

In just a split second, Nox was upon Alex, ready to deliver the first punch in a long series of punches.

However, his thought process came to a sudden halt when Alex, who was just standing in front of him, suddenly vanished!

Then Nox heard a voice that seemed like the one of the grim reaper say from behind him:

"I don't have much time to spare, so let's put an end to this" 

When Nox brain processed the fact that the voice he just was that of Alex, he felt a cold sweat running down his spine.

He tried to quickly turn back to dodge or even block the incoming attack, but he only had time to turn his head before his eyes locked onto a fist coming straight for his face.

'Sh*t'