The Control Takeover Battle Begins
The Path of the Superhuman game always had one event that felt way too good to be true: the Control Takeover Battle.
One of those rare moments where two control-type ability users locked horns over the exact same mechanical target. No one could predict it, and suddenly the entire battlefield shifted into a pure clash of wills and raw power.
Just like right now.
—FIZZLE!
Blue sparks poured through the thick, writhing tentacles that had me pinned down, racing straight into my own Superstar of the Machinery ability.
From the opposite side, deep red sparks slammed into mine with a vicious crackle, the two colors smashing together dead center and exploding outward in a shower of sparks that lit up the entire room.
The darkness that had hidden everything before suddenly vanished. And there he was.
The exact face of Machine Doctor — that skinny, gaunt old man everyone in the game remembered from the files. Seeing it in the flesh sent a cold shiver down my spine.
Man, that felt real. Like a slap in the face.
“Oh? So you’re the control-type user after all?”
Machine Doctor’s eyes sparkled with something that definitely wasn’t surprise. The earlier smugness was gone, replaced by a hungry, almost childlike gleam.
“Well, well… I made a mistake. I thought I was dealing with some ordinary rookie. That little speech I just made? Scratch it. You no longer have a choice here.”
His voice dripped with disgusting, theatrical lust as he leaned forward, eyes burning with raw greed.
“You’re going to become part of my magnificent plan.”
His magnificent plan — the Tentacle War. The one he’d been dreaming of for years, the one that would let him conquer the entire city with his army of mechanical tentacles.
Controlling that kind of force by himself was impossible. So he’d always watched. Always waited. For someone who could shoulder the burden of the control ability.
“But control-type users… especially in the machinery field… they’re ridiculously rare.”
In the original game, Machine Doctor had never been able to find one. So he’d built this ridiculous machine to amplify his own power, slammed his consciousness into it, and watched the ability go haywire, eventually getting devoured by the very tentacles he’d created.
“Khhahaha! So it was a fat bastard rolling in, not an intruder! My plan is going to accelerate by years!”
Machine Doctor was already imagining using me as raw material for the Tentacle War.
For heroes like me, that was a nightmare war so horrific it made your teeth rattle. And now he was planning to turn the main components of that disgusting event into my new body.
“You’ll know glory when you realize it! You’ll become part of my magnificent plan!”
Machine Doctor — the same guy I’d seen in the game a hundred times. Yeah, I got it now. His dreams were huge, but his bowl was even bigger.
—FIZZLE!
Blue sparks flooded through the tentacles again.
“Hah! You dare challenge me for control of the takeover battle? Fine! Let’s see how well you perform before I turn you into a part!”
Machine Doctor immediately answered with his own red sparks, the two forces colliding in the center of the tentacle.
The moment the sparks lit up his face, I could see real, unfiltered confidence. It was completely natural.
His Superstar of the Machinery was the absolute pinnacle among control abilities. There was a clear hierarchy in power — same family, higher rank won every time, and the takeover battle was nothing but pure ability comparison.
So of course he looked relaxed.
After all, he believed in his own strength.
But there were two things he had no idea about.
—FIZZLE!
The blue sparks and his red sparks were perfectly balanced, staring each other down in the middle of the tentacle.
“……What? Not losing to me?”
I had the exact same Superstar of the Machinery ability as him. No rank difference to push him back.
“You… you have a control ability of equal rank?!”
Machine Doctor’s expression hardened instantly. The smugness vanished from his eyes.
Of course he was shocked. He’d never met another control user of the same tier in a takeover battle. His ability was the highest rank in the entire control category — that was why he’d been winning every single time with raw power.
Now that the scales were perfectly even, he was panicking.
That was the first thing I’d known and he hadn’t.
—FIZZLE—!
My blue sparks began to invade his red territory, wrapping around them like a snake and slowly draining his control.
“W-what?! My territory is being taken?!?!”
Machine Doctor’s eyes went wide with pure shock, though he tried to hide it behind those tiny little eyes.
That was the second thing he’d never realized.
“Control takeover battles aren’t done like this.”
I’d done this two or three times in my ten years of playing Path of the Superhuman. Hundreds of takeover battles under my belt.
“Of course it’s different when you’re actually doing it in the real world… but still.”
The second I tested it, my body just… adapted. I imagined moving the game controller in my head and the sparks followed perfectly. It was identical to playing the game.
So I didn’t have to worry about losing at all.
—FIZZLE!
Machine Doctor’s sparks were just straight, brute-force lines. Mine wrapped around them like living vines, completely nullifying his strength, and then —
—FIZZLE—!
In less than ten seconds, my blue sparks had taken over the entire tentacle army.
Not just the one wrapped around me. The whole cluster was now under my command.
Control takeover battle — won effortlessly.
Machine Doctor hadn’t even had time to do anything. The tentacles that had been crushing me were ripped away and yanked straight toward him.
“Eh— ah— no, no, no! This isn’t allowed!”
His face twisted with every emotion at once — panic, denial, despair, sadness. Nothing but pure negative feelings.
He’d been strutting around so arrogantly just seconds ago. Now the complete opposite.
“Then… let’s get this over with.”
The tentacles loosened their grip.
Now they answered to me, not him.
Machine Doctor stared at me with trembling eyes, but before he could do anything else he lunged toward another piece of equipment.
“Grab him!”
But my control was faster.
SLASH— CRUNCH—!
“Kk— ack!”
The moment I gave the order, the tentacles reacted instantly and wrapped around Machine Doctor’s body like snakes.
I didn’t even need to speak. But whatever. This was the first time I’d done it in real life, so I’ll call it a celebration.
“Kk, huuuh… Elizabeth… please don’t hurt Daddy! I’ll do anything!”
Tears streamed down Machine Doctor’s face as the tentacles squeezed tighter.
Wait… why is he suddenly crying like this?
I almost lost control of the tentacles for a second from the shock.
“Ah, right. Machine Doctor. He’s been super obsessed with the tentacles in the game too.”
A memory that had been buried deep in my mind suddenly surfaced.
Why did Machine Doctor love the mechanical tentacles so much?
Because he had a severe sexual dysfunction. That was why he’d started building these strong, sturdy tentacles, projecting his own consciousness into them as a kind of “daughter.”
“I knew he was obsessed, but giving it a name and calling it Elizabeth? Come on.”
Even though I was a guy, I felt a little bad for him. But still.
“But you can’t go around doing that kind of thing.”
One thing was making gear for villains and distributing it. Another was triggering that terrible Tentacle War event. Machine Doctor was a full-blown villain in every sense of the word — an evil who only caused suffering with his strange delusions.
That was Machine Doctor.
“Actually, until just a second ago I was still hesitating…”
That hesitation vanished the moment I felt the tentacles wrap around me and thought I was about to die.
The man in front of me had tried to kill me. And the second he realized I had the same ability, he’d planned to turn me into a part of his war.
After experiencing that kind of evil firsthand, my hesitation disappeared completely.
With no hesitation left, only one thing remained.
I was the protagonist. I had to save hero Nova and prevent the downfall.
And the guy in front of me was an obstacle standing right in the way of that goal.
“I won. So I’ll take all the things you made.”
“W-what…?”
“Now disappear.”
CRUNCH— BOOM—!
I gave the command with maximum force: tighten the tentacles as much as possible.
The instant the order was issued, something exploded.
That was how Machine Doctor — the villain who’d been strengthening villains with his equipment and starting the Tentacle War — met his end.
It wasn’t hard at all.
Actually… it was too easy.
So easy it was almost boring.
My mood… well…
“……No time to think about that. Let’s move.”
There was no time to get lost in thoughts.
We only had a week left.
Right now, I had to focus on turning every single thing Machine Doctor had left behind into my own.
Once I had enough power…
“I’ll be able to protect Nova from villain Fat Guy.”
I’d finally be able to meet my favorite hero, Nova.