Inferno's den

In a dark, shady corner of Saitama, there lies an infamous gambling hall known as Inferno's den. It's frequented by many from the criminal underworld, and the main site for underground sports betting and matches. Naturally, underground chess matches are included in the line up. Desperados can often be found here, making it the perfect spot for Okisato to go hunting. At least, until management decided to ban him from being too OP and scaring customers away.

...

Okisato let out a heavy sigh as a Desperado he had been tailing slipped into Inferno's den. "Now what am I gonna do? That's a particularly nasty Desperado who'll attack the weak without hesitation. I've even got a DEESPER key, but of course, the league must've put out a warning for it's members to avoid me. It's a shame I can't appeal my ban with a simple chess match, but I guess since this place has ties to other underground sports leagues, majority rules voted I get banned," he thought.

"Yo, Oki-kun! Whatcha doing in this shady part of town?" Iori asked as she stepped out of the shadows.

"Stalking, just like you."

"OOF! That girl's gonna have an open shut against ya in court!"

"She's not the type to resort to legal means. Stanislava Drozdová, a Belarussian Desperado infamous for preying on weak people to bolster her rating. Her rating is a high 2110, but her skill is more like that of a 1500."

"Why do you say that?"

"Her performance record. But it doesn't matter in the end as I can beat her even if she's packing a 2900 rating."

"But you can't beat her cuz she went inside there."

"Yes, and it's not like I can just wait for her to leave either. There's other passages in and out, and I'm only one guy."

"Think they'd let me in?"

"Do you even know what that place is?"

Iori tilted her head, smiled and said, "Nope!"

Okisato quickly gave her a rundown of Inferno's den.

"Got it got it. So it's just regular old underground matches."

"Correct, but penalties can be imposed, and worse, if there's a death penalty, the winner can still be charged for murder if the law decides to be a bitch."

"WHAT THE FUCK!? That's bullshit!"

"But if a DESPER's activated..."

"No legal issues and I get away with not killing anymore!" Iori maliciously grinned as she whipped out a handful of DESPER keys.

Thanks to Skaberghast mass producing the DESPER keys, the WWCF had decided to combat him by having DESPER keys available to purchase for reasonable prices at secret puzzle cafes and chess centers worldwide. Iori had naturally stocked up on some, but had yet to properly put any to use.

"Going in. I can just scan for them with my card, right?"

"Just in case, I'll tell you what she looks like..."

Iori nodded and headed up to the entrance, slowly opening the wooden door. She quickly found herself in a long brick hallway alit with candles in it's alcoves. Reaching the end, she was greeted by a steel door and a large bald muscly bouncer guarding it.

"What's with the school uniform? New policy says you gotta be 18 and over, no prior bans for disturbing peace and business," the bouncer glared.

"Check, check. Oh, you need to check my ID, right? Uh, my student ID good enough?" Iori asked.

The bouncer stared at the ID before inserting it into a window behind him. A few minutes later, the car was returned.

"Iori Ishikiridokoro... This is your first time here. You're allowed to enter, but the doors won't open until the rules video finishes playing," the bouncer snarled as the steel door opened to reveal an elevator.

Getting in, Iori watched the video on the screen as the elevator slowly descended. Once the video was done, the door opened to reveal a large casino-like room.

"Now this is the shit! I gotta- Fuck, video said no filming or I get kicked out. Guess I'll have to play around with AI to try and get "video footage" of this place for content," Iori shrugged as she stepped out into the hall.