Chapter 30:

Fist of cruelty

En Passant Grandmaster Volume 2

Taira trembled as she stood before Elijah.

"My boy Elijah's my strongest man. The man had it rough growing up in the slums of New York, but then one day, he turned his life around and became a boxer. Of course, his past wouldn't leave him behind, but luckily, I was there to smooth things over between him and his old gang boss. And what do ya know, even when he lost, the boss decided to let him leave with me. Aren't I a model peacemaker?" Haruki sneered.

"N- No... You probably tricked him," Taira stuttered.

"Well aren't you a righteous one. But sorry, he agreed to face me with his own free will. Of course, I only told him it was in a chess match AFTER I activated my DESPER."

A rare look of disgust showed itself on Taira's face. "You truly are... vile..."

"You've sure got a lot of spunk. Too bad you'll get pummeled before you even get to play chess," Haruki sneered as the bell rang.

Elijah immediately charged at Taira and swung one his mighty fists at her. Taira tried to dodge, but failed to and felt immeasurable pain as she was sent flying into the invisible wall. As she slid down, Elijah suddenly punched her in the gut just as her feet touched the ground, preventing her from slumping down.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, you don't get penalized if you beat up your opponent in a way that prevents them from falling over," Haruki sneered as Elijah continued to batter Taira.

With all the noise, Tenju slowly regained consciousness and was horrified by the sight she saw. Finding herself unable to move, she screamed for her sister as Haruki began to laugh.

"Well look who's up. Don't worry, I’ll hold back just enough so she doesn’t go down. Though if she's goes down during the chess, that's on her," Haruki sneered as the bell rang.

Taira immediately slumped to the ground and vomited as blood oozed down her now bruised face. Her stomach hurt like hell, however, she mustered all her strength to pull herself up and stumble towards the chess board. "I... won't... LOSE!"

"So bold. Well, you may be more skilled than me at chess, but with all those blows I gave ya, I bet you've dumbed down enough for me to beat ya."

"Not in the slightest!" Taira trembled as she moved her pawn to e4.

"Then I'm going full-force," Haruki glared as Elijah moved his pawn to c5.

"Sicilian Defense," Taira mumbled as she moved her knight to f3.

"Knowin’ how it works doesn't mean jack shit," Haruki snarled as Elijah moved his pawn to d6.

Taira then moved her bishop to b5, prompting Elijah to defend his king by moving his knight to d7. Taira retreated her bishop to a4 as Elijah moved his knight to f6, giving her the chance to castle on the king’s side on her next turn.

"Seriously, what's all the hype around you? I'm not even breaking a sweat," Haruki sneered as Elijah captured the pawn at e4 with his knight.

"Y- You can't see the world of hurt you're in for," Taira glared as she moved her rook to e1.

"'World of hurt'? That's the world you're goin’ to before ya die," Haruki sneered as Elijah moved his pawn to d5.

Taira silently glared as she moved her pawn to c4, followed by Elijah moving his pawn to b5.

"Mistake number 1," Taira thought as she promptly captured the pawn at b5 with her bishop.

"You think that was an error? Pawns are expendable," Haruki sneered as Elijah moved his rook to b8.

Taira quickly moved her bishop to c6, prompting Elijah to move his bishop to b7 to threaten it. Taira, however, was undeterred and promptly captured the pawn at d5 with her c-pawn, eliciting a tongue click from Haruki as Elijah moved his knight to f6.

"Let's see how he plays against this," Taira thought as she moved her knight to e5.

"You damn bitch. You tryin’ to set somethin’ up? Not happenin!" Haruki sneered as Elijah captured the bishop at c6 with his bishop. "WAIT! NO!"

"T- Too late, you already captured the piece, the move stands," Taira smirked as she captured the bishop at c6 with her knight.

Haruki grew visibly angry as Elijah was forced to move his queen to b6 and watch as Taira's knight captured the rook at b8.

"You won't get another high," Haruki snarled as Elijah captured the knight at b8 with his queen.

Taira ignored the provocations and moved her pawn to d4. Haruki began to get visibly more aggravated as Elijah moved his queen to b4, yet Taira saw no threat and captured the pawn at c5 with her d-pawn. Elijah then captured the pawn at d5 with his knight, but Taira still saw no danger and moved her knight to c3, which led to a knight trade as Elijah captured it with his knight, and Taira captured his knight with her b-pawn.

"What a dumb trade," Haruki scoffed as Elijah captured the pawn at c3 with his queen.

"We'll see how dumb it was in a few moves," Taira thought as she moved her rook to b1.

Haruki also didn't see any danger as Elijah captured the pawn at c5 with his queen and Taira moved her queen to a4. As such, Elijah simply slid his queen to c8.

"Now he's on the ropes, Taira thought as she moved her rook to d1.

Then, the decisive play happened as Elijah moved his pawn to e5. As soon as the move was complete, Taira's face lit up as she rapidly moved her rook to b8, mate was imminent.

Haruki's eyes widened in horror as he realized it. "NO! NO! Shit! there's still time left! Stall as long as possible... Then move!" he scowled as Elijah moved his king to e7.

Taira attempted to reach for her rook, but was stopped by the bell.

Color returned to Haruki's face as the next round of boxing began. Elijah wasted no time in hitting Taira with full force, sending her bouncing off the invisible walls like a pinball. When she came close to the ground, Elijah would uppercut her in the gut, sending her flying back into the air.

"Sorry, forgot to put a low ceiling," Haruki sneered as Taira slammed into the ceiling, hurling up a bucket of blood.

As she fell back to the ground, Elijah punched her, sending her back into the air and continued this pattern until time was about to expire. When the match reached that point, Haruki had Elijah remain stationary instead of punching Taira, causing her to fall to the floor of the ring with a loud splat, thus starting the 10-count.

"DOWN! 1! 2! 3..."

"ONEE-SAN! GET UP!" Tenju cried.

"...4! 5! 6!"

"GET UP ONEE-SAN!"

"...7! 8!"

"ONEE-SAN!"

"...9!"

"I'm... up," Taira trembled as she managed to get up just before the 10-count ended.

"The hell!? The fuck are you still alive!?" Haruki fumed as Elijah went in for another punch.

Before the punch could land, the bell rang, signifying the end of the round. Now the bout was in Taira's favor. All she had to do was mate Elijah, which she was already in the process of doing. However, her body was starting to reach its limit.

"Things are getting hazy... No, I can't fall yet. It's mate in 5. I need to win," Taira mumbled as she stumbled towards the chess board.

Her vision began to go blurry and everything around her began to grow silent, yet she still managed to reach the board and capture the queen at c8 with her rook.

"No, no, NO! I can't stall for too long otherwise I get penalized! How the hell is she still alive!?" Haruki fumed as Elijah moved his knight to b6.

"W- Won't work," Taira mumbled as she moved her queen to c6.

Haruki began to panic, which seemed to have an effect on Elijah as he blundered and moved his pawn to f5. "NO! Now it's mate in 2!" he screamed as Taira moved her rook to e8.

Haruki froze and decided to let the clock tick. "Failure to move in the next 5 seconds will result in disqualification," the voice on the loudspeaker stated.

Haruki madly glanced at Taira. "She looks unresponsive, maybe, just maybe, she's dead," he thought as Elijah moved his king to f7.

"Everything's blurry. King f7? Queen e6... is mate," Taira mumbled as she grabbed her queen.

Sweat flooded down Haruki's face as he stared at the timer. "No, NO! Why is there still so much time left!? If she puts that queen down on e6, it's mate! No! NO!"

"Checkm-"

Thud!

Tenju stared in horror as Taira collapsed head first into the chess board before she could place her queen down, scattering the pieces everywhere as a pool of blood began to flood the board.

Haruki's worried face morphed into a gloating one. "AHAHAHA! LOOK AT THAT! SHE COULDN'T LAST! AND AS PER THE RULES, THAT COUNTS AS A DOWN!"

"1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6! 7! 8! 9! KO! Taira Kuroshiro is unable to continue. Elijah, wins!" the loudspeaker declared.

"Tenju... I'm sorry... But at least, I put in measures if something like this... would ever happen to me... The DESPER... should honor that... over the new order," Taira thought as her consciousness faded.

The scenery slowly returned to normal as Taira slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Tenju frantically ran for her, but was grabbed by her hair by Haruki. "Nuh, uh, you're gonna get raped JUST like Yuzuha-tan over there!" he giddily sneered.

However, both Tenju and Taira's body vanished, leaving Haruki dumbfounded. "The hell's going on!?"

Safumi scowled and stared at her DESPER. "Tch, she had prior winnings shield her sister from the worst, even spare her consciousness too. Well, it works better if she gets away, don't it?" she smirked as she turned to Maestro Himitsu.

"Indeed it does. Now once we receive word from Xiao Lin, we'll send our little message to the chess club. Oh Mimoko, I can't wait to see the despair you'll face," Maestro Himitsu grinned.

The full game:

White: SPCM Himitsuue (Taira Kuroshiro) (2631) Black: Elijah Johnson (2000)

1. e4 c5

2. Nf3 d6

3. Bb5+ Nd7

4. Ba4 Nf6

5. O-O Nxe4

6. Re1 d5

7. c4 b5

8. Bxb5 Rb8

9. Bc6 Bb7

10. cxd5 Nf6