Chapter 85:

True beauty

En Passant Grandmaster

Once Iori and Okisato returned to the spectator area, Safumi stepped forward. "Alright, guess me n' Mizuse are up since the others had to take care of Crispy," she sneered as she whipped out her DESPER.

"I'll face you both," Mimoko glared as she stood up.

"Hoh? Well guess we are the biggest threats now, so it makes sense for ya to jump in. Who ya draggin' to hell with ya?"

"I'll be aiding Mimoko-sama in vanquishing YOU!" Utami glared.

"Alright. You lose, you two die. We lose, the punishments we agreed upon when we first lost our free wills occur," Safumi stated as Mizuse activated her DESPER.

Okisato glared at Safumi. "'Punishment we agreed on'? They didn't set forth any punishments, unless... So that's it. That must be why that girl was freed from her mind control before being killed," he thought.

"Whtcha thinkin' about?" Iori asked as she nudged up to Okisato.

"The punishment. I think that woman is referring to the fact that her punishment from a previous DESPER battle will take full effect if she loses. That also means, I've got an idea on what the full nature of the original punishments for the SPCMs were."

Before Okisato could elaborate, the scenery changed to that of a nighttime highway. The board was now situated on top of a moving semi-truck, while the spectator area now resembled the stands at a racetrack.

"You're lucky chess racing ain't an officially recognized variant. Otherwise we'd be racing laps on this DESPER highway instead of playin' 4-way on top of a semi," Safumi sneered as she sat down at the red end of the board.

Mizuse sat down at the yellow end while Mimoko took the blue end, leaving Utami with the green end.

"Going 2nd instead of last?" Mizuse sneered.

"Is going last an advantage? If so, all the more reason to trust Utami-chan with the role," Mimoko glared.

Utami immediately shot Mizuse a nasty glare causing both her and Safumi to scowl.

"How hideous. I believe that for your deaths, you are to both be encased in cement and spend the rest of your days being adorned with bird feces outside my hotel in Okinawa. Though as a mercy, I shall allow you both to experience the pleasure of the Mizuse Niimi look yours truly is sporting," Mizuse sneered as she licked her lips and rubbed her head.

“How dare you suggest such a vulgar fate befall me and Mimoko-sama!” Utami roared.

“‘Vulgar’ you say? Perhaps it will be considered vulgar since your bodies are nowhere near as beautiful as mine. Besides, you should be honored that I’ll allow you both to achieve peak femininity before being immortalized as statues.”

“‘Peak femininity’!?”

“Yes, just look at me. I not only chose to shave all my hair off, but also cover every inch of my prized porcelain skin with the most “vulgar” variety of tattoos, and adorn my body with piercings as well. Yet despite how many might judge my appearance to be “hideous”, I AM STILL beautiful and the embodiment of peak femininity.”

Mimoko stared at Mizuse and sighed. “I will admit, if you truly decided to embrace your radical look in order to prove that women can be beautiful no matter what kind of radical makeover they choose to undergo, I will respect your decision. However, it feels more like you’ve been corrupted by the fake maestro’s influence, and thus I’m afraid to say you are not the embodiment of “peak femininity”, but rather the embodiment of Corrupted femininity”.

“That is quite the insulting thing to say, young lady,” Mizuse glared.

“How so? Your mind has clearly been corrupted. You said my mother was your savior, yes? So why would you aid in harming her?"

Both Mizuse and Safumi glared at Mimoko before replying in unison. "That woman deserves to suffer for all the grief she gave me."

Mimoko didn't understand what they meant, but nonetheless, pressed onward. "You'll both come to your senses and return to how you were before Ai Kamuro usurped Maestro Himitsu when Utami-chan and I win."

"Heh, very well," Safumi sneered as she opened by moving her pawn to h4.

Everyone else decided to move a pawn as well with Mimoko moving hers to d5, Mizuse moving hers to g11, and Utami moving hers to k8.

On the next move, Safumi moved her knight to k3 while Mimoko moved her knight to c6.

"Oh my, you're wide open. Check," Mizuse sneered as she captured the pawn at b8, putting Mimoko in check.

"You scum! How dare you attack Mimoko-sama!" Utami roared as she moved her queen to m8.

"Them's called strategy, dumbass. Why wouldn't we go after the stronger- Nah, here, Mimoko's the dumb one since everything is different from regular ole chess here," Safumi sneered as she moved her queen to h2.

"I'm well aware of 4-way chess teams rules," Mimoko glared as she captured the queen at b8 with her queen.

"That doesn't help you since we have a strategic advantage from playing and supervising so many 4-way chess games," Mizuse sneered as she moved her bishop to g13.

"Mimoko-sama can easily adapt and win, as will I for her sake," Utami glared as she moved her queen to j11.

"Well aren't you a riot. Check," Safumi sneered as she captured the queen at b8 with her queen.

Mimoko promptly captured said queen with her bishop, before Mizuse captured that very bishop with her own bishop.

"Bishops have increased strength in 4-way chess. This is why they're worth 5 points instead of 3 like in normal chess," Mizuse sneered as Utami moved her bishop to m8.

Safumi then gazed at the board for a moment before shrugging and moving her pawn to h5, allowing Mimoko to capture the bishop at b8 with her knight. Neither Mizuse or Safumi seemed phased as Mizuse moved her pawn to k12.

"Check, you vile hairless aristocrat," Utami glared as she captured the pawn at g11 with her queen.

The SPCM team didn't seem phased though as Safumi promptly captured the knight at b8 with her bishop, prompting Mimoko to capture it with her other knight. Mizuses meanwhile moved her knight to g13, prompting Utami to rethink her strategy and move her pawn to k7. Safumi then took the opportunity to castle on the king's side, as did Mizuse after Mimoko moved her pawn to d7. Utami thought for a moment before opting to move her bishop to k6.

As soon as Safumi moved her pawn to g4, Mimoko captured the pawn at e2 with her bishop. “My aren’t you getting aggressive,” Mizuse sneered as she moved her knight to i12.

“Don’t think you’ll be able to do as you please,” Utami glared as she moved her queen to g10.

“That’s my line, bitch!” Safumi snarled as she captured the bishop at k6 with her bishop.

“So you’re abandoning your rook then,” Mimoko glared as she captured the rook at d1 with her bishop.

“Don’t need it,” Safumi snarled as Mizuse moved her pawn to h11.

“Then I guess you don’t need this bishop either,” Utami huffed as she captured the bishop at k6 with her queen.

“YOU BITCH!” Safumi roared as she slammed her pawn down on g5.

“So that’s how it will be then,” Mimoko nodded as she captured the pawn at h5 with her bishop.

Mizuse began to get a little nervous as she moved her knight to e12, while Utami appeared to be getting more confident as she moved her knight to l9.

“THE HELL YOU GETTIN’ ALL SMUG FOR!? YOU AIN’T EVEN CLOSE TO WINNING!” Safumi shouted as she slammed her rook down on h1.

Mimoko began to smile. “She’s lost her cool,” she thought as she moved her bishop to c10.

“Why is she so confident? Even I can’t foresee her victory, but nonetheless, I must be weary as I press for victory,” Mizuse thought as she moved her pawn to d11.

Utami seemed to understand exactly what Mimoko’s plan was as she smiled and castled on the queen’s side.

“THE HELL YOU BOTH SMILIN’ FOR!? YOUR F****** ASSES ARE GONNA GET SKINNED ALIVE AND BATTERED WITH MOLTEN LAVA SO STOP ACTIN’ LIKE YOU’RE WINNING, CUZ YOU’RE NOT!” Safumi roared as she slammed her rook down on h10.

“SAFUMI, NO-”

“Too late,” Mimoko grinned as she slid her bishop down to h5.

“The hell were you shoutin’ about, Mizuse!? Her dumbass is just tryin’ to act tough-”

“Safumi! Look at the board! Do you realize what you’ve just done!” Mizuse cried.

Safumi’s eye twitched as she scowled and looked at the board. A few seconds later though, her eyes widened in terror as she began to go pale. “No… NO! MIZUSE! DO SOMETHING YOU IDIOT!”

“I CAN’T THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO!” Mizuse cried as she moved her knight to d10.

“And with that, you shall be liberated. Checkmate,” Utami nodded as she moved her queen to f1, winning the game.

Both Safumi and Mizuse immediately clutched their heads as the brainwashing wore off.

“No, I lost again! That means-”

Before Safumi could finish, blood suddenly erupted from her wrists causing her to let loose a blood curdling scream as she fell to the ground in pain and unintentionally rolled off the top of the semi-truck, causing her to hit the ground and tumble away. Her tumble didn’t last long though as the scenery quickly returned to normal which resulted in Safumi’s tumble coming to a halt as she slammed into a wall.

“So this is it then. Before I- Mmph!?”

Before Mizuse could properly convey her message, her mouth immediately turned to marble. Her DESPER immediately flew out of her breasts and landed before her as she quickly found herself immobilized as her clothes and body quickly became encased in marble.

“So I can’t even redeem myself in the eyes of these children. A shame. The world will likely scorn me as a heretic thanks to my brainwashed actions. Still, though I may have undergone multiple radical makeovers, I am still beautiful, or so I like to think. I’ll admit, I did pull off the bald look quite well, though the tattoos and piercings really were too vulgar. Perhaps that’s why she forced me to get them, because she wished to ruin my beauty. At least she decided to have mercy when deciding my punishment. Now at the very least, I shall die as a beautiful marble statue and have my beauty immortalized, even though my actions will be forever regarded as heretical,” she thought as the marble finished encasing her.

Her DESPER then emitted a puff of smoke, as Mimoko and Utami somberly gazed at her.

“So the only way to end this is to beat the maestro then,” Mimoko sighed as she shot Ai a nasty glare.

“Such a nasty glare. But all you gotta do to challenge me is ante-”

“In that case, I’ll pay to challenge SPCM Himitsukun since she’s the only SPCM I have left to beat. That should reduce the cost of challenging you, yes?”

Ai scowled for a bit before a malicious smile appeared on her face. “Sure, I’ll allow you to play her in a normal match. Of course that means that a special condition will be implemented when we face each other.

“And that is?”

“Hi-mi-tsu. Ahahahaha!”

The full game:

Red: SPCM Himitsusan (Safumi Bouzi) (2550) Blue: Mimoko Inoue (2714) Yellow: SPCM Himitsusama (Mizuse Niimi) (2599) Green: Utami Enoki (1201)

1. h4 d5 g11 k8

2. Nk3 Nc6 Qxb8+ Qm8

3. Qh2 Qxb8 Bg13 Qj11

4. Qxb8+ Bxb8 Bxb8 Bm8

5. h5 Nxb8 k12 Qxg11+

6. Bxb8 Nxb8 Ng13 k7

7. O-O d7 O-O Bk6

8. g4 Bxe2 Ni12 Qg10