The one that could not be saved

Vittoria began to pant as the board vanished. "Ah, I lost. I'm gonna get punished, right?"

"Do I look like a dominatrix to you?" Mimoko glared.

"I mean, many shave their heads for the arousal aspect..."

Iori and Carol quickly stepped forth. "Then what's with all that blonde hair?" Iori grinned.

"Ah, it's yellow, actually. Are you gonna shave it all off?"

"I wish, but we don't have the material on hand. But you do know what Carol-chan's got in her purse?"

"Duct tape!" Carol smiled as she pulled out a big fat roll of it.

Within seconds, Vittoria was turned into a duct tape bag worm. "Ugh, ngh, I can't move... It's so tight," she moaned as she began to struggle.

"And the finishing touch?" Iori nodded at Mimoko.

Mimoko rolled her eyes, but complied and tore off a piece of duct tape, slapping it hard over Vittoria's mouth.

"MMPH NGH MMPH!" Vittoria moaned with pleasure as her cheeks turned tomato red.

"So uh... we leave her here?" Iori asked.

"No, we leave her she might escape," Carol scowled.

"Good point. She might even come in handy as a hostage. Guess you'll carry her then."

"Wait, WHAT!?"

"How about you relinquish custody of her to me," a muffled voice snarled.

Everyone turned to noticed a woman with her head and face completely wrapped up in bandages and sporting a neck brace with her blue trench coat and heels.

Iori blinked before suddenly recoiling in shock. "AH! It was you! You're the one!"

"The one who what?" Mimoko asked.

"It matters not. Now, leave her to me," the woman snarled as she walked up to Vittoria and stomped her heel down on her. "You three, turn your backs."

Iori, Mimoko, and Carol did as told only for a second, but in that single second, the woman and Vittoria had completely vanished from sight.

"What the fuck! You can't just run away in a second!" Carol cried.

"Ah, maybe she can," a Fairy grunt chuckled as she approached the group.

Iori scanned the grunt with her WWCF card and went on guard. "1800!? Weren't you one of the guards meant to be stationary!?"

"Yeah, but things have changed with the maestro showing up. Ah, guess you can't tell since I was required to change my name to "Grunt I", but name's Ina. I'm here to help you."

...

"And after I met those three, I led them to a secret hideaway," Ina stated as she finished recounting things.

"And this hideaway is?" Okisato glared.

"I'll take you there too. Everyone else is there but you, Yuzuha-"

"-And whoever it was Red Reaper killed, and might be facing right now."

Ina began to frown. "Sorry, there was nothing I could do. After I got those three to the hideout, I went out to search for the others, however..."

...

As Utami led everyone in searching for Mimoko, Yuusuke suddenly went on guard. "I'm sensing something bad behind that corner... We should go the other way."

"No. If it's something bad, it could be the one holding Mimoko-sama," Utami glared.

"What if it's that reaper? He took Tanabe-senpai, and Iori-senpai still hasn't come back," Yuzuha trembled.

"... We can't take him on," Rodeo mumbled.

"Then I'll do the honors and look for myself," Utami snarled.

As she slowly peered behind the corner, she was met with an empty alley. On instinct, she swung her fist behind her, as if anticipating a force to try and surprise her. Yet nothing.

"Huh? You're from the school," a familiar voice rang out from the alley.

Utami nearly yelped as a muddied figure rose from the ground.

"It's me. I've just got a thing for dolling myself up with mud, though this was more for stealth reasons," Hagemi grumbled.

Utami let out a huge sigh. "No wonder Shousen-san was frightened."

But as she turned back to where her friends should have been, she was met with a pink flowing cape and a woman's backside.

"Seems my executives and most my forces are out. Therefore, the queen herself shall take the stage!" Heather declared as she pointed her finger at Yuusuke.

"Oi! We're behind you!" Hagemi fumed as she and Utami charged up to her.

Heather spun around and screamed, reflexively punching both Hagemi and Utami in the face, knocking both out. Yuusuke attempted to run, but quickly found his path blocked by the arbiter squad. And to make matters worse, Red Reaper stepped out from an adjacent alleyway, setting his sights on Yuzuha and Rodeo.

"Ah! He's here! Fairies! We'll hold the match elsewhere! And uh... Grab the prisoners," Heather ordered.

The arbiter squad nodded and scooped up Heather, Yuusuke, Hagemi, and Utami before leaping away as fast as they could, leaving Yuzuha and Rodeo alone to face Red Reaper.

"Th- This time... Imma protect ya... Run!" Rodeo trembled as he stood in front of Yuzuha and stretched out his arms.

"No! Gorou-san! He'll kill you! Run! Run with me!" Yuzuha cried as she attempted to pull him away.

"I'm too slow for runnin'. This is my way of makin' up for Nikko," Rodeo tearfully smiled as he turned to Yuzuha. "GUH!?"

Rodeo's eyes bulged as he felt like all his innards had just been punched up his throat.

"And I even held back, yet you still couldn't take that. What a shame, now you'll wake up to her head at your feet instead of seeing her demise live," Red Reaper snarled as Rodeo collapsed to the ground unconscious with blood pooling out of his mouth.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! H- HE'S DEAD!" Yuzuha cried.

"Perhaps. My punches even at their weakest can kill men with ease. But if he's dead or not now matters little as I'll be killing you all and displaying your heads for the Oni-tiger's return. I'll start with you, fräulein."

"HAHAHAHA!" a triumphant voice rang out.

Red Reaper turned to look up at the top of the building. There with his arms crossed and a smug smile plastered across his face was Numakawa.

"My, you think you can just solve everything with brute force? NAY! In the name of science, I shall crush you, then unravel all your secrets. For with the power of my big brain and knowledge of grandmaster killing openings, I shall mate you in just 20, no 10 moves!"

Red Reaper's gaze narrowed. "Just 10 moves? Fine. I normally prefer the skies, but I'll settle this with you here on the ground so the fräulein gets a taste of what's coming. Three minute blitz," Red Reaper snarled as he pointed his DESPER up at Numakawa and activated it.

A simple chessboard spawned on the ground as Numakawa was warped down to it. "Fascinating, teleportation!"

"That large head of yours is an eyesore, perhaps I'll have it explode along with the rest of you. As long as the Oni-tiger can tell one of his comrades died, that's all that matters," Red Reaper snarled as he sat down at the black end of the board.

"Now make your move, or let the timer run out since you've only got 3 minutes on the clock," he glared as he sat down at the black end of the chessboard.

"I play as white!? Then my victory is assured!" Numakawa smirked as he sat down at the white end of the chessboard.

He then opened by moving his pawn to g4, signifying his blind faith in the Grob Opening. Red Reaper countered by moving his pawn to d5.

"You fool! The Double Grob was your only hope at stopping me, now you're finished! Behold the Grob Gambit!" Numakawa gloated as he moved his bishop to g2.

"The Double Grob? Oh how terrible... for you," Red Reaper sneered as he captured the pawn at g4 with his bishop.

"FOOL! Now I can unleash the Fritz Gambit!" Numakawa laughed as he moved his pawn to c4.

Red Reaper simply captured said pawn, however, that allowed Numakawa to gleefully capture the pawn at b7 with his bishop. "And now your rook is lost.

"Oh, the Grob Gambit is so terrible, and it shows," Red Reaper sneered as he moved his knight to d7.

"Ha, ha! And now I am up a rook!" Numakawa gloated as he captured the rook on a8 with his bishop.

"And I have the edge," Red Reaper sneered as he captured said bishop with his queen.

As Numakawa moved his knight to f3, Yuzuha began to see a glimmer of hope. "I don't know how much Numakawa-kun enlarging his brain is truly helping, but it looks like his odd plan might work," she thought as Red Reaper moved his knight to e5.

"And that is check! Your castling rights are relinquished!" Numakawa gloated as he moved his queen to a4.

"I don't need to castle," Red Reaper retorted as he moved his king to d8.

"Oh, but you oh so needed to, because now, your king is mine. Behold, this is what you get for not countering with the Double Grob; mate in 2!" Numakawa declared as he captured the knight at e5 with his knight.

Indeed, if Red Reaper moved his queen to b7, Numakawa could capture the pawn at f7, forcing the king to c8. Then, he could move his queen to e8, winning the game, but that scenario was only probable in Numakawa's idiotic mind.

"Well that was easy. Checkmate, Herr brain boy. Looks like your remains will be scooped into a dunce cap," Red Reaper sneered as he captured the rook at h1 with his queen, winning the game.

Numakwa stared in disbelief at the board. "I- Impossible! How could I lose!? The Grob is the ultimate opening. Only the Double Grob can counter it and even then, the Coca-Cola Gambit ensures victory for white!"

"So delusional. Well, auf Wiedersehen."

Numakawa's head and body suddenly began to bloat and expand rapidly. "W- What is happening!? I can't-"

Before Numakawa could finish, his head and body exploded, sending his blood and guts flying everywhere. Yuzuha screamed in terror as she became drenched in Numakwa's blood, and bits of his guts and bones flew into her hair.

"And nothing of value was lost. Now, let's move on to you, fräulein," Red Reaper sneered as he pulled out his pistol and "killed himself".

Yuzuha stared in horror as Red Reaper resurrected before her and summoned the Ultima-master. "Wh- What is that thing!? H- He killed Numakawa and summoned that thing... W- What's he going to do!?"

Yuzuha got her answer as Red Reaper received a new DESPER. In the glow of the Ultima-master's red eye, Red Reaper turned to face Yuzuha. "That's one down, six to go. Though I guess there will only be five left once I'm done with you, fräulein."

PTSD from her match against Haruki began to overtake Yuzuha as she began scurrying away in fear and shouting for help at the top of her lungs as Red Reaper began to approach her.

...

"THIS dummkopf!" a raspy voice roared. 

Everyone turned to notice Red Reaper holding a severed head. 

Ina began to tear up. "No, that's..."

The full game:

White: Syouma Numakawa (404) Black: Red Reaper (2773)

1. g4 d5

2. Bg2 Bxg4

3. c4 dxc4

4. Bxb7 Nd7

5. Bxa8 Qxa8

6. Nf3 Ne5

7. Qa4+ Kd8

8. Nxe5 Qxh1#