Mission failed

Tonka panted as she stared at the clock. "Damn the lack of increments, I can't stall, and now I'm on the verge of mate! I overused my ability... Where are those reinforcements!? Where is the queen!?" she thought.

Slam!

Everyone turned in the direction of the door to see Edeltraude and Sibylle proudly standing before them.

"So the maestro is on the ropes? A fine opportunity for us to enslave her!" Edletraude grinned.

"Time to pay the toll in blood!" Sibylle snickered.

But as the two attempted to march forward, Iori managed to muster the strength to pick herself up enough to swing her bound legs and trip the two, sending them face first to the floor. Now it looked as though Daria would mate Tonka before another challenger approached her, but then...

"Not on your life! I, Heather, queen of the Spriggans, shall be the one to out the nail in your coffin!" Heather declared as she appeared and leapt over Edeltraude and Sibylle, inching closer to Daria and preparing to issue her challenge to Daria, when suddenly...

...

Going back in time to the start of round 7, it all started with Heather opening the game by moving her pawn to d4, resulting in a scowl from Kaylee. "Really? Not gonna play the English? Fine, I'll force you into an "England"," she thought as she moved her pawn to e5.

Heather naturally captured the pawn at e5 with her d-pawn, but it was in that moment that all her plans would soon be derailed as Kaylee played the showstopping move... of king to e7. Heather blinked for a few seconds before shaking her head and moving her knight to c3, but with an aura of smugness emanating from her, Kaylee moved her king to e6.

"A- Are you mocking me!? Or are you helping me... Well, this will make things easy, so I'll assume it's the latter," Heather thought as she moved her queen to d4.

Kaylee responded with a mischievous grin as she moved her king back to e7.

"Alright, enough out of you! Check!" Heather fumed as she moved her bishop to g5.

Kaylee silently shrugged and moved her pawn to f6.

"Check! Thou hath... What was the line again? I forget my Shakespeare," Heather frowned as she captured the pawn at f6 with her e-pawn.

"Not giving her the chance to divert her thinking power to remembering the line, Kaylee captured the pawn at f6 with her g-pawn, catching Heather off guard for a second, before she regained her composure and moved her rook to d1.

Kaylee moved her knight to c6, yet rather than retaliate with a check, Heather instead retreated her queen to f4. A slight misstep, which Kaylee capitalized on by capturing the bishop at g5 with her f-pawn, but by no means a game-changing blunder.

"Check. The line I remember is... I forgot it, dammit," Heather scowled as she moved her knight to d5.

Kaylee moved her king to e6.

"Check! I remember! It was 'Thou art fucked if thy fuck with me thus." That's the line!" Heather declared as she captured the pawn at c7 with her knight.

Kaylee scoffed and moved her king back to e7.

"Are you mocking me once more!? Well check to you once more!" Heather fumed as she moved her queen to e3.

Kaylee let out an audible sigh and moved her king to f7, allowing Heather to capture the rook at a8 with her knight. Her next plan of action was to move her pawn to d5, to which Heather responded to by moving her knight to f3.

Kaylee went into a deep think, lasting nearly a half hour. In that time, all of Heather's teammates managed to end their games in draws, leaving her game at board 1 against Kaylee as the decisive game of the match. With how the position looked, it was no wonder the English were so willing to push for quick draws. The Belgians meanwhile, were far more reluctant, but each and everyone of them had faith in Kaylee.

"We're playing England... The Fairy, now Spriggan, league's main armada. I'm taking the queen, so you all take it easy and settle for draws. Trust me, it'll make our victory over them all the more savory," were the words Kaylee had told her teammates before the match began.

"Any idea on what Kaylee could possibly do next?" Danny asked.

"Resign and issue an apology for what she subjected us to," Laila snarled as she shifted her focus to another game.

"Are you still upset about that-"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT IT!"

Back at the board, Kaylee finally completed her calculations and moved her pawn to g4.

"Sure kept me waiting. I have places to be, you know. Check," Heather yawned as she moved her knight to g5.

Kaylee let loose a confident smirk as she moved her king to g6. All was going according to plan. Heather moved her knight to e6, unknowingly moving exactly as Kaylee wanted her to. Now Kaylee could capture the knight at e6 with her bishop, which would naturally result in...

"Check."

Heather capturing said bishop with her queen.

Knight f6 was the natural and best counter, with e4 being the best move for White. Once those moves had been played, it was time for Kaylee to unleash the gambit she had spent the last half hour calculating. Kaylee moved her bishop to e7.

Heather scowled as she stared at the board. "Well that was stupid. Now I can win a knight," she thought as she moved her pawn to e5.

Kaylee's entire body began to tremble. She extended her hand in the direction of her knight, then suddenly grabbed her rook and moved it to e8. Heather wasn't phased in the slightest though.

"Check," Heather coldly snarled as she moved her bishop to d3.

Onlookers gathered around as Kaylee dejectedly moved her king to h6. But the moment Heather castled king's side, Kaylee was unable to contain her giddy smile as she moved her knight to d4. Heather brushed the attack and smile as nothing more than theatrics as she moved her queen to f7, but the moment Kaylee moved her rook to f8, everything hit her.

"No... NO! I'm going to lose my queen! Wait... Minus 9 plus 5... Oh, it's still even. Never mind," Heather shrugged in her mind as she captured the rook at f8 with her queen. "Check."

Kaylee naturally captured said queen with her bishop, but Heather's elation only heightened after she realized she could just take the knight on f6 with her e-pawn. "And I get the knight after all. Now it's 7 pawns, a bishop, a knight, and 2 rooks vs 5 pawns, a knight, a bishop, and a queen. This match is mine!" she thought.

Kaylee began to frown, perhaps indicating her carefully thought out gambit had failed, as she moved her bishop to d6.

"Oh, I see what you're doing. Since my knight is hanging, how about I compensate by taking yours!?" Heather maniacally thought as she moved her pawn to c3.

Kaylee cupped one hand over her face as she moved her knight to f3 and meekly muttered, "Check."

Heather couldn't help but unleash a confident chuckle as she promptly captured the knight at f3 with her g-pawn. Kaylee's eyes widened, but she refused to uncover her mouth with her hand as she captured the pawn at f3 with her g-pawn. Heather moved her king to h1, expecting Kaylee to capture the hanging knight on a8, but instead, Kaylee moved her queen to c8.

"Huh? Why would she do that? Now I can- ...!"

It was that moment that everything finally hit Heather. Color rapidly vanished from her face, sweat began flooding down her face, and her jaw gradually began to drop in horror as she realized she was only a few moves away from being mated. Kaylee slowly removed her hand from her mouth, revealing the devilish grin she had been struggling to contain ever since e5 was played back on move 18.

"No. NO, NO, NO, NO! I can't lose! Not to this! If I did... No!" Heather frantically thought as she desperately moved her bishop to f5.

Kaylee captured the bishop at f5, creeping closer to victory. Heather moved her rook to g1, hoping that would thwart the mate, but Kaylee just moved her queen to h3, sidestepping the attack.

"NO! CHECK! CHECK!" Heather frantically cried out as she moved her rook to g6.

"Yeah, weak," Kaylee thought as she captured the rook at g6 with her h-pawn.

Now out of options, Heather chose to go down swinging as she tearfully captured the pawn at d5 with her rook.

"Ah, you want to trade pawns on the final move? Guess you really are a glutton masochist! "Queen of the imbeciles" is what they should call you henceforth. Checkmate," Kaylee snickered as she captured the pawn at h2 with her queen, winning the game.

Heather sat in shock for a good 15 minutes, unable to process what had happened. "I... I was winning... I was winning... and... I lost," was all she could mutter until an arbiter finally snapped her out of her daze. "AH! The trap! I have to spring the trap!" she cried aloud as she dashed out of the playing hall.

She then managed to catch a bus just before it left, leading to her reaching the hotel a few minutes later. She stormed up towards her room, and upon bursting open the door, saw Daria just about to mate Tonka and win the gauntlet.

"Not on your life! I, Heather, queen of the Spriggans, shall be the one to out the nail in your coffin!" she declared as she leapt over Edeltraude and Sibylle and prepared to issue her challenge to Daria, when suddenly...

Thud!

Heather fell face first to the ground. Exhaustion from her match with Kaylee had finally caught up to her.

"No... No!"

"Checkmate. I believe this means I win, yes?" Daria scoffed as she mated Tonka.

Heather attempted to pick herself up, but was unable to muster the strength to do so before Daria strolled out along with the now freed Mimoko, Iori, and Ina. It was "Mission Accomplished" for Daria, but "Mission Failed" for Heather and the Fairy league.

The full game:

White: Heather Spriggan (2620) Black: Kaylee Shamir (2408)

1. d4 e5

2. dxe5 Ke7

3. Nc3 Ke6

4. Qd4 Ke7

5. Bg5+ f6

6. exf6+ gxf6

7. Rd1 Nc6

8. Qf4 fxg5

9. Nd5+ Ke6

10. Nxc7+ Ke7

11. Qe3+ Kf7

12. Nxa8 d5

13. Nf3 g4

14. Ng5+ Kg6

15. Ne6 Bxe6

16. Qxe6+ Nf6

17. e4 Be7

18. e5 Re8

19. Bd3+ Kh6

20. O-O Nd4

21. Qf7 Rf8

22. Qxf8+ Bxf8

23. exf6 Bd6

24. c3 Nf3+

25. gxf3 gxf3

26. Kh1 Qc8

27. Bf5 Qxf5

28. Rg1 Qh3

29. Rg6+ hxg6

30. Rxd5 Qxh2#

Match score:

Belgium: 2.5 England: 1.5

Belgium wins 2.5-1.5