Chapter 484:

Deep Blue eyes

En Passant Grandmaster

Okisato scowled as he gazed down at the city from Budapest castle. He had left too early, and as a result, the new lead in the form of Vera and the other Babylonians had vanished, likely to remain hidden for the rest of the day.

The large convoy of truck-like busses had also caught his attention, as the direction they were heading appeared to lead out of the city.

"Outside the city... The WWCF's anti-DESPER barrier only shields the city limits from DESPER activations until the final round of the tournament on the 28th. In theory, if you were to go outside the city limits, DESPERs should be able to be activated. Historically, this tournament has only ever had a single rest day after the 6th round, yet this year, we had a second rest day. I thought nothing of it until literally the announcement of the 6B tournament. Something's off about it," Okisato thought.

"Those buses, Mimo-chan's bald and on one of em, right?" Iori asked as she strolled up to him.

"Yes, and I fear they might be in for something nefarious."

"As much as I'd like to joke, you're probably right. Shit was just too sus being announced this morning, and with such a lofty prize. They don't want to make this a spectacle, they want to lure as many as they can as quickly as they can for... something. I don't know what, but maybe it's got something to do with those blue-eyed folks."

Okisato nodded and stared at the video feed of Vera opening her eyes on his phone. "There wasn't enough info to form a basic hypothesis, but seeing that Vera's eyes were exactly the same as okaa-san's were back then, truly help brighten the search area."

"But there's one thing I'm not getting. You said your mom's eyes were like that, but what was so bad about it? The ghosties and that slit-eyed racist all seem fine physically, though I guess the ghosties can phase through shit, but still."

Okisato clamped his hand down on the guard rail. "I guess it's time I finally bounced this all off another person. What happened was something more similar to what happened with the SPCMs back in Japan. To give some background, my mother was born into a yakuza family, but longed to be a scientist, finally achieving her lifelong dream. One of her many projects was developing the DESPER."

Iori's jaw dropped at the revelation.

"She wasn't the main inventor, but she was one of the top members on the project. One day, the others on the project conspired against her, which led to her changing and gaining those blue eyes, but that wasn't the worst of it..."

"Did you... kill her?"

Okisato gazed down and shook his head in distraught. "It wasn't by choice, rather it was a forced DESPER match between me and her. Armageddon rules in effect, and worse, she was hurling jeers at me all the way..."

...

A young, 12-year old Okisato gazed up at the man leading him by the hand. "Where is Okaa-san, Mr. Olavi?"

The man gazed down and smiled a menacing grin. "She told us it was a surprise."

"Hmm?"

The two eventually made their way to their destination where Okisato noticed a crowd of 5 others which included the likes of Skaberghast, Agatha, a fair-skinned woman with short green hair named, Marjatta Virtanen, a large man with a black pompadour named, Flavio Baltho, and a small petite woman with long messy green hair named, Pheremona Cuscuta. Okisato knew of them thanks to them always working in close proximity with his mother, Kana, which is why he was completely blindsided by what they all had planned for him.

He was then ushered into a room alone, with the large metal door slamming shut behind him. The room was large and empty, but contained a single table with a chessboard. And sitting at said chessboard with her back to him, was Kana herself.

"Okaa-san, I came to see you," Okisato smiled as he an over.

Crackle!

Okisato froze in terror as Kana spun around. Her eyes were now completely blue and mechanical-like, unnerving Okisato, but this was only the start.

"Despora, begin," Olavi's voice crackled through the loudspeaker.

Okisato was unable to prevent himself from walking to the chessboard and sitting down at the black end of it.

"The rules ae simple. This is an Armageddon match, with the loser being killed, or in Kana Tanabe's case, PROPERLY killed. The game starts now."

"Huh? Okaa-san, what's going on?" Okisato asked.

"Shut up. Silence is required for this procedure," Kana snarled in a monotonous robot-like voice.

"Okaa-san?"

"Silence, vermin. The match begins," Kana snarled as she opened the game by moving her pawn to e4.

Okisato stared in shock for a bit, before finally shaking his head and moving his pawn to e5. "I don't like this. How about we just draw."

"You try to draw... Stupid, stupid, little mound of flesh shit," Kana monotonously growled as she moved her knight to f3.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? Okaa-san, you're scaring me," Okisato trembled as he moved his knight to c6.

"Olavi, Olavi, Pahan kansakunta," Kana mumbled as she moved her bishop to b5.

"What does that mean?" Okisato asked as he moved his pawn to d5.

"Olavi, Olavi, little brat, you must be skinned," Kana monotonously chattered as she moved her queen to e2.

"I don't get it, I don't get it at all," Okisato trembled as he moved his pawn to a6.

"The destination... is death. Check," Kana glared as she captured the knight at c6 with her bishop.

"Why are you acting weird! You've never been like this before!" Okisato cried as he captured the bishop at c6 with his b-pawn.

From the viewing gallery, Skaberghast watched along with Agatha, Olavi, and the others as the game unfolded.

"What a riot! The young Jap can't even comprehend that's not even his mother anymore! And best of all, Kana's punishment was configured so that she still has some consciousness, even though she can never be in control of her body again! I can even view her true emotional status, so I'll be able to see the moment she reacts to killing her son," Olavi cackled as Kana captured the pawn at e5 with her knight.

"With how the kid's playing, he's sure as hell gonna lose. Though if you really wanted that outcome, you wouldn't have made this Armageddon," Skaberghast scowled as Okisato moved his queen to g5.

"Still smitten with Kana? She's practically dead, though I guess her body is still living, so perhaps we can see how impregnable her body is should she live," Olavi mused as Kana moved her pawn to f4.

"Check. Check... Okaa-san... I don't like this. I know you want me to get better at chess, but this is just too scary," Okisato trembled as he moved his queen to h4.

"Protocol is active. Experimental conduit in progress. Cannot be halted equals null," Kana mumbled as she moved her pawn to g3.

"Listen to that! She's talkin' like dem robots now. What a riot seeing her like this!" Flavio sneered as Okisato moved his queen to h3.

"And do we even know if Kana's even going to survive this if she wins?" Skaberghast growled as Kana captured the pawn at d5 with her e-pawn.

"That's why it's science! We don't know, but we can hypothesize the regardless result will solve ALL our problems!" Marjatta sang as she did a little twirl while Okisato moved his knight to e7.

"Kana really was hot before, now she's gonna be less playful than Pheremona," Skaberghast sighed as Kana captured the pawn at c6 with her d-pawn.

"Huh? Why must I be "playful"? My existence has already become troublesome thanks to your meddling," Pheremona glared as she began stroking the air with her hand.

"Ah, you're hungry. Guess you really have your cute side. I'll give you the leftovers of my burger," Skaberghast snickered as he held up a half-eaten burger filled with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.

"Hmmph, don't want it," Pheremona pouted as her stomach grumbled.

"To think humans could reach the stage where they turn plants to people. I could do that with my magic though," Agatha boasted as Okisato moved his knight to f5.

But the peanut gallery was suddenly thrown for a loop when in the game, Kana decided to move her knight to g6, checking Okisato, but also taking a huge risk.

"Oi, oi, she was winning. What's she think she's doing with that!?" Skaberghast fumed.

"Ahahaha! I's amusing. She's either lost it or tying to play risky intentionally. Only one move can win it for the boy, but can he find it?" Olavi cackled.

At the board, Okisato breathed heavily as he stared at the state of things. He had seen this exact same scenario before in a training session with Kana.

...

"Oki, why did you move your knight there?" Kana asked.

"Do I need to say?"

"Oh no, not out loud. I'm just curious how you plan to handle bishop e6."

Okisato stared with a "Really?" look plastered on his face as he quickly captured the rook at h8 with his knight.

"Ara, ara. Rooks aren't everything. They can even be lethal," Kana frowned as she moved her knight to d4.

"Huh? I can just go queen d3."

"Rook d8."

"Uh, queen e4?"

"Oki, you're completely losing."

"How so?"

Kana smiled and grabbed her bishop. "You're on the verge of mate," she smiled as she set it down on e7.

...

Okisao trembled at the board before him. Everything had played out just like in the flashback, except this time, he was Black, and Kana was White.

"I'm... I'm winning, okaa-san. I remembered your teaching," he trembled as Kana moved her pawn to c3. "Look, I'm going to win. I'm using the moves you showed me back then," he tearfully smiled as he moved his bishop to f5.

"Check. Memory bank null," Kana stated as she captured the bishop at e7 with her queen.

Skaberghast slammed his fist on the glass as Okisato was forced to capture the queen at e7 with his king. "The fucking kid's gonna win. Ugh, Kana was such a hot milf too."

"Just because she shaved her head once? I swear, you're such a fickle man," Marjatta scoffed as Kana captured the knight at d4 with her c-pawn.

"Oi, you know how hot Kana was at everything she did? She was libido fuel for months, especially after SHE never showed up again," Skaberghast glared as he clenched his fist sporadically as he watched Okisato move his queen to g2.

"Scum," Pheremona pouted as Kana moved her pawn to d3.

"Oi, don't diss your maker like that!"

"I never asked for this body. Now food," Pheremona pouted as she began clawing at the air again.

Skaberghast clicked his tongue and returned his focus to the game. With Okisato having moved his bishop to g4, Kana was only inching closer to mate as no matter what she did, nothing would stop it.

"Guess he could still run out of time, but he's skilled enough to win from this," Skaberghast grumbled as Kana moved her knight to c3.

"They say talent is only getting younger. Maybe we's shoulda taken the kid out instead," Flavio scowled as Okisato moved his king to f8.

"No, Kana NEEDED to go," Olavi glared as Kana moved her bishop to e3.

"The kid isn't going to seek vengeance, right?" Agatha nervously asked as Okisato moved his rook to e8.

"Not a problem. I've already run the calculations. He may become a force of wrath, but he'll never be able to dent our core," Olavi chillingly proclaimed with an evil grin on his face.

Back at the board, things were just about to wrap up, with Kana getting in one last check in the form of knight to g6. Okisato naturally captured said knight with his h-pawn, and with that, all Kana could do was repeat, "Olavi, Olavi" over and over again as she moved her pawn to h4.

"Check. Okaa-san, this is it," Okisato trembled as he captured the bishop at e3 with his rook.

"Little shit rat. Your existence is a sin. You are a hinderance, a blemish, abortion should have been employed," Kana robotically rambled as she moved her knight to e2.

"You're being a really sore loser. This is checkmate... silly," Okisato nodded as he captured the knight at e2 with his queen, winning the game.

But what happened next was what truly traumatized him for life.

Kana shot up out of her seat, and began moving about sporadically before all her clothes ripped off.

"Wow! Maybe you did do good after all, Olav-"

Splat! Splatter! SPLAT! SPLATTER! SPLAT! SPLAT!

Blood and flesh flew everywhere as Kana's body was brutally flayed to bits in gory fashion right before Okisato. First all her skin flew off, then her bones began snapping off from the toe and finger tips, then her eyes fell out of there sockets and were crushed by her chattering jaw, just before all her bloody teeth fell out. Soon she was nothing but a skull and spine thinly coated in flesh with some of her remaining organs still loosely attached, but bursting into blood rapidly.

"Oki... I'm sorry. I let this happen. Olavi... Flavio... Mafred... Agatha... Marjatta... Pheremona... They all betrayed... BLAGH!"

"OKAA-SAN! DON'T DIE ON ME!"

Unable to properly cry or even comfort Okisato with the touch of a hand, all Kana could do was try her best to muster a smile. "I'm sorry... grow up... Strong..."

And with that, Kana Tanabe was dead.

"What an exhilarating experiment! The data gained will make suppressing the world so much easier. Manfred, you deal with the child. It'll help you cool down your anger," Olavi sneered as he stared out at Okisato.

As if he could hear him, Okisato angrily turned in the direction of the viewing window, making note of everyone's face. "I'll kill you... I'LL KILL YOU ALL FOR THIS!" he shouted with the most fury he ever had in his life up to this point.

The full game:

White: Kana Tanabe (2434) Black: Okisato Tanabe (1534)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Bb5 d5

4. Qe2 a6

5. Bxc6+ bxc6

6. Nxe5 Qg5

7. f4 Qh4+

8. g3 Qh3

9. exd5 Ne7

10. dxc6 Nf5