A grave oversight

Okisato stared at the sky for a bit, before he was suddenly overcome with a wave of fatigue.

"Tanabe-san!" Yuzuha cried as she ran towards him with Ina.

"I'm fine... Now, where are the others?" Okisato grumbled.

Ina led the two into an old, but fancy hotel. Taking them to a secluded area with nothing but a dimly-lit fountain, Ina pressed the stone nose of the lion, causing a passageway to open. Following it in led to a familiar, but startling sight.

"This... This is a secret puzzle cafe... But I thought there wasn't one here."

"There used to be an DSPCM here, but with the rise of the Fairies, he ended up getting killed, and the cafe was thus abandoned. Of course, it still does function," Ina snickered as she knocked on the counter, causing a screen with the face of an elderly gentleman on it to light up. "This is the AI replica bot of the DSPCM who used to work here. Until we formally replace him, he's pretty much the DSPCM here."

"YO! Oki-kun!" Iori cheered as she rushed up to Okisato.

"Glad to see you're well. I heard about What happened while I was away."

"D- Did you find the others," Mimoko asked as she hid herself behind a table.

"Why ya hidin', Mimo? Come on out," Carol grinned as she began dragging Mimoko out.

Upon seeing the sight of Mimoko now completely smooth and shiny, Okisato nearly lost consciousness as blood gushed out of his nose.

"FUCK! Mimo-chan aroused him more!" Iori cried as she sunk to the floor in despair.

"Arous- what!? Tanabe-kun, don't you dare say you find me more attractive bald," Mimoko trembled as her cheeks went red.

"I... do?"

Slap!

"Baka, I told you not to..."

"And me?" Iori smiled as she twirled around and stroked her bald head.

"Hot too."

"Whoo! I got lover status!"

"Iori-chan, what are you- Never mind," Mimoko grumbled.

"Now the tricky part is getting you all out of here. We could have folks warp you to WWCF HQ, then have you spend points to get sent directly to a secret puzzle cafe in Japan, but the problem is all your other friends have likely been captured by the Fairies," Ina frowned.

"But in that event, we do have leverage as a last resort," Daria stated as she warped in.

"Maestro Himitsu?" Okisato mumbled.

"My, my little Mimoko knock you out with her sexy? I know what you're thinking; Ina informed you of the chess center, so why'd Me and Hagemi spawn there instead of here? Well, the answer is we didn't want the Fairies to catch wind of this, thus we had a chess center built in secret to throw them off the trail. And speaking of which, I just came from there to find all entryways to the chamber it's in have been sealed."

"But considering how vital this place is, the last thing we want is it getting compromised," Ina scowled.

"A little too late for that," a voice snarled.

Everyone turned to the entryway to see Scharlachrot, Heather, Melania, Sorcha, and a squad of grunts.

"We had rats in our ranks, but at least they were kind enough to lead us to their base. You! Who are you really!?" Scarlachrot glared as she pointed at Ina.

"Um, Grunt I?" Ina nervously smiled as she displayed her WWCF card.

"Oh change it back to your real name so I know who the hell you really are!"

"Nope! That's a secret."

"Then heed your queen's-"

"Heathy, she's a traitor, she doesn't give a shit what you say."

"B- But Scharlachrot-"

"That being said, I doubt she's working alone. I feel we got a pretty good surveillance system here, but sometimes things slip through. Melania, care to explain where you took Medeucesa when Sorcha stepped out?"

Melania went pale. "What!? I have no idea what you speak of!"

Sorcha smirked and grabbed Melania's wrists, pulling them behind her back as Scharlachrot displayed a video of Melania, seemingly entering the salon and warping away with the now bald and tattooed Medeucesa.

"I never captured her, nor did I ever set foot in the salon... It was HER!" Melania angrily thought.

"And thanks to your slip-up, I was able to connect the pieces and find further proof of your treason. Guards reported that you were the one that brought Iori unconscious into the prison, claiming you had beaten her."

Melania clicked her tongue. "No talking out of that. But the one winning this war is the WWCF."

"You sure? We now have a new bargaining chip thanks to Heathy freaking out and knocking said chip out like a light."

"And I led a challenger directly to Baron von Borg. You know what that means?"

"What!? Scharlachrot!" Heather cried.

"Must've been the big guy since he's the only one I'm not seeing. Fine, everyone out, except the maestro. Everyone else, follow me! Back flank! Once we're all out, barricade the route so the maestro doesn't try to come after us," Scharlachrot ordered.

Once everyone was outside, with the exception of Daria, Scharlachrot pulled out a radio and scowled as she heard the news. Thanks to Melania, Rodeo had been delivered directly to Baron von Borg's location just as she had claimed, meaning by the rules of the gauntlet, everyone had a chance to be free of the game if they could beat Heather. However, that wasn't the news that had truly unnerved Scharlachrot.

"Plum's dead... The kaiser killed him."

Heather's knees began to quake, but she managed to muster the strength to remain standing. "H- He's the one that drives you mad... How dare he... HOW DARE HE INVADE MY KINGDOM AND KILL MY MEN!"

The outburst surprised all but Scharlachrot as not once had anyone ever seen Heather get angry before.

"Ah, my queen... Is this a bad time?" a man in gold armor nervously asked as he slowly trudged up.

Okisato quickly recognized the man as Baron von Borg, meaning this was the Desperado allied with the Fairy league. Rodeo was with him, while grunts soon marched over Yuusuke and Utami.

"Where's Hagemi?" Ina asked.

"Sorry, we don't count her as part of your team, thus she doesn't get to leave if team Mimoko's friends beats Heathy," Scharlachrot sneered.

"... Zenihara... You're all good," Rodeo sighed in relief.

"I might be alive, but Numakawa-san... ..."

Okisato began to scowl as he realized no one else knew about Numakawa's death. But before the revelation could fully hit everyone, screams rang out as Fairy grunts flew out of the hotel as a VERY pissed off Red Reaper marched out.

"You can't be serious. I sent you into a black hole!" Okisato cried.

"And it hurt. Herr Oni-tiger... you are lucky. Lucky I'm not a man that will challenge you again and again, willing to sacrifice elo all for taking you down, abandoning my true goal in the process. I came here originally not for you, but her," Red Reaper snarled as he glared at Scharlachrot.

Scharlachrot began to tremble, but still managed to put up a brave front. "Sorry, but we're in the middle of something. BORG!"

Baron von Borg nodded and pulled out his DESPER, aiming it at Okisato and Heather. "Now, ye both agree to duel in the realm of Gothic chess? The boy wins..."

"I, Mimoko-senpai, my clubmates, Ina, and Iori-chan's friend..."

"Carol!"

"...Carol are warped back to Kawaguchi, Saitama in Japan," Okisato declared.

"AHEM!?" Melania scowled. 

"Oh, and I guess you can be sent back to WWCF HQ." 

"And have it so my hair grows back to where it was before it was all shaved off!" Mimoko pouted.

"Ah! Didn't think of that! Do me too!" Iori waved.

"And me!" Carol smiled.

"You all look good bald, though," Okisato shrugged. 

"Ta-na-be-kun!?"

"Fine, restore their hair to how it normally is." 

"And when I win, all become my hostages with the ones we captured... Uh, what are your names?" Heather asked Yuusuke and Utami.

Both refused to say.

"Ngh, Blondie and Reddie become new grunts loyal only to me!"

"I'd never serve anyone other than Mimoko-sama!" Utami fumed as she struggled to break free of her restraints.

"If she learns the Fairy way, I'll promote her to Rainbow Executive and have you serve in her squad. Now, the rules all good?"

"Ah, if you lose, you gotta have sex with me!" Scharlachrot snickered.

"Sch- Sch- SCHARLACHROT!"

"No objections. Let's begin," Okisato nodded.

"What!? You'll be warped away so you won't see it- Wait, no! I'm not going to lose!"