41. A New Chapter Always Begins With New Foes.
A few hours prior to Berry’s fall, on a mountain range not too far from the Dominion of the Heavenly Peak, Irene and Fubuki were about to begin their chess battle. We all know that chess is supposed to be played on a board, I mean who wouldn’t think that way. Irene had prepared her mind for a normal chess game that would be played on a chess board. But all expectations are bound to crumble when faced with the cruelty of reality.
"Self-made technique: Chess Board Expansion." Fubuki pressed her thumb slightly against the rook, as the chess board that lay before her and Irene unfolded, covering the entire space around them.
The chess board became the ground, while both of them rose up to two separate platforms on opposite sides of the board. Rooks, knights, bishops, pawns, kings, and queens fell onto each side respectively. Half of them were painted red while the other half were painted blue.
The pieces were ten times their usual size, and not to mention they were actually alive, red and blue eyes opening from each side.
"They are actually moving on their own," Irene muttered to herself. The sight before her was simply obscene for her to believe, after all she had lived most of her life in a village by the Mistrium countryside.
It went silent, then Fubuki’s voice broke it. "This is the new and innovative way to play nowadays," she said boldly.
Irene’s calm demeanor began to crack. "This little twit!!" she grunted inwardly. She took a deep breath.
"So what are the rules, or are we allowed to do as we please?" She asked, straightening her back upright, as there was no place to sit on the platform—she had to stand.
"Shimash! Rules." Fubuki called forth.
Pop....
A medium-sized baby made out of blue floating clouds appeared above them. "Rule no.1: Use of abilities or techniques will result in the player facing a penalty. Rule no.2: The first move will be decided by a coin toss, each player will pick a side, heads or tails.
Rule no.3: The total turns allowed are twenty. Rule no.4: The player with the highest points will be declared the winner. Rule no.5: The reward given depends on agreement between players. Rule no.6: Eliminating a chess piece will grant points depending on the piece eliminated.
The point values of each piece are imprinted on their bodies. The penalty: Death," Shimash stated with a loud and hoarse tone, enough to make Irene cover her ears because it was too damn loud.
"Thank you, Shimash," Fubuki said politely, as she turned toward Irene with a cold stare. "I guess that has cleared all your doubts," she added.
Irene frowned inwardly, as her spirit energy flared lightly with a crimson hue. "Fucking bitch...." She calmed herself. "I’m going to show you your place soon enough. With my ability, that won’t be a problem." She smiled inwardly.
"Sure. Let’s begin, or do you plan on continuing to yap?" Irene placed a finger over her mouth as she laughed meticulously.
"Is she trying to taunt me?" Fubuki thought to herself. "Let’s just get this over with," she said tiredly. "From the scornful grin she’s trying so hard to hide, I’m guessing she has an ill-willed plan... Not that I care," she mumbled.
They both stretched forth their hands. "GAME START." Fubuki chose heads while Irene picked tails.
Shimash flipped the coin. It rolled slowly from the sky down to the middle of the chess board.
Cling...
It landed on tails. "Turn one, first move: Irene," Shimash stated monotonously.
"Turn 1: Pawn, move two steps forward," Irene commanded. The pawn jumped two steps ahead. "Turn end," she exhaled.
"My turn: Bishop, eliminate the pawn," Fubuki stated.
The bishop streaked forward swiftly, the other pieces in front giving way as it smashed the pawn off the board. Fubuki gained (+2) points.
"Turn end." She took a step backward. And so the intense chess battle began. With Fubuki now at two points, Irene was more than ready to pull out all the stops to take her down. If you thought she planned to win fair and square, then you thought wrong. Irene’s ability can be either passive or active depending on specific conditions.
Foresight, just like the name implies—when active, it extends the range of the user’s eyesight up to about thirty kilometres.
The passive form of foresight requires Irene to sacrifice seventy-five percent of her spirit energy reserves, allowing her to see twenty seconds into the future with no refractory period, lasting for about two hours.
Shimash did not specify the form of ability that should not be used, but most abilities only have active forms, so she deduced that the penalty would not apply to her.
"It seems I won the gamble," Irene grinned inwardly. "Now it’s time to begin. She won’t know what hit her by the time I’m done!" She chuckled.
The second turn began. Irene moved another pawn forward. "Is she really going to use the same move twice?" Fubuki thought as she glanced at the pawn. Irene ended her turn, so Fubuki moved next. She used the same bishop to eliminate the pawn, gaining another (+2) points.
The next turn came, and surprisingly Irene eliminated Fubuki’s bishop with her rook, gaining six points.
Fubuki thought it was a mere coincidence—until Irene eliminated her rook in the next turn, her other bishop in the turn after that.
Irene continued dismantling her pieces until Fubuki was left with just six: one queen, one king, two pawns, one knight, and one rook. Meanwhile, Irene still had ten pieces left: four pawns, one king, one queen, two knights, and two bishops.
The tides were uneven, and there were just two turns remaining. Irene currently had thirty-five points while Fubuki had twenty—a gap of fifteen points. At this point, Fubuki had already caught on that Irene was cheating.
"What is it? Cat got your tongue?" Irene said sarcastically.
"Chess is a solemn game of wits and intellect," Fubuki replied with an ice-cold tone. "But you, vermin... decided to sully its integrity." She clenched her fist lightly.
"Whatever do you mean, little miss?" Irene mocked, pointing toward Shimash. "That little guy didn’t complain, am I right, Shimash-kun?" She placed a finger over her lips.
Shimash popped up in front of Irene. "Lady Fubuki, I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.
This vile hag has found a way to bypass rule no.1 by using a passive ability!" he exclaimed loudly before flying away.
"You vile little twit," Irene said aloud.
"It doesn’t matter at this point because victory will soon be mine." She laughed villainously.
The next turn came, and she moved her queen forward. Normally, a player would not expose a piece worth that much, but Irene was fully confident she would win.
"To expose a piece worth ten points... how foolish," Fubuki said coldly, giving Irene a look of utter disdain.
"My turn: rook and knight, eliminate the queen."
They smashed into the queen and threw it off the board. Irene’s face twisted in shock—she had not foreseen this possibility. "What!" she exclaimed loudly, grabbing her hair.
Foresight allows her to see twenty seconds into the future, but it only shows the most probable outcome—that was the flaw Fubuki exploited.
In Live Chess (L.C for short), when the turn count is less than four, players are allowed to use up to two pieces at once, greatly increasing the chances of eliminating enemy pieces.This was one crucial detail Fubuki had purposely left out.
It was finally the last turn. Irene was completely flabbergasted that she couldn’t command her pieces. "My last turn: king—"
Badump...
An excruciating pain filled Irene’s body. She clutched her chest as she collapsed onto the platform. "Master... Berry... is dead," she said in disbelief.
She began to fade into light specks of golden dust. If a summoner loses their life in the war, their remaining summons return to where they came from.
"I can’t believe we actually lost..." She looked up at Fubuki. "Since you are so smart, let me leave you with something to worry about." She pushed her upper body forward.
"Berry always talked about communicating with some so-called higher being. He said it gave him purpose..." she laughed. "And when I asked him if it was the Great One, he responded saying: how can a locked-up god deliver salvation? For he who speaks to me possesses actual dominion."
Her laughter faded. "I believe with that, I have completed our deal, since you were going to win anyway." Irene completely vanished.
Over at Berry’s former domain, Revet stood face to face with the mysterious girl who had approached him the first time he visited Neutral Zone K.
"Long time no see, blank," she said with an eerily pleasant tone. She shoved Berry’s beating heart into a subspace that opened beneath her hand.
"Why are you looking at me like that? If you’re wondering about the box, that wasn’t me..." A smile crept across her face. "It was probably the Nuxeon cult, those creepy bastards!" She took a step back.
"What are you planning to do with Berry’s heart?" Revet asked, preparing to attack.
"Whoa, whoa! Chill out." She clapped her hands, releasing a heavy gust. "I’ll let you in on a little secret."
"She’s strong... at least a hundred times stronger than Berry. Heria... I haven’t seen that name on the rankings before. What could possibly be going on?" Revet thought.
"That match of RED that Berry just finished is nothing compared to what I’m about to do." She placed a finger over her lips. "I’m going to END the Summoners’ War In one fell swoop."
Just as she finished speaking, Revet appeared above her with an ice blade, striking downward and freezing the ground.
"Hahahaha... I would recommend you enjoy the remaining time of peace you have left."
Her voice echoed all around him.She vanished into thin air.