Chapter 111:

The overwhelming Irish gambit

En Passant Grandmaster

Sorcha giggled as Iori and Carol finished up their game. "Oh I wonder what Mimoko will predict."

"I'm sure she's gonna lose, but hey, as long as you film everything and upload it to Ewetube, we'll let you take as long as you want, at least until your shift is up," Iori grinned.

"My, 7 hours of makeover for Mimoko? What a mischievous friend you are."

"Hey, she'll slap me later."

Sorcha nodded, but began scowling as she turned. With a heavy sigh, she turned back around and stared Carol in the face. "Seems like luck might just be on your side."

Before Carol and Iori could react, a group of people clad in pink uniforms suddenly formed a circle around Sorcha and Carol.

"Whoa, whoa, the hell's this!?"

"My apologies, but not all the other executives are as playful as I. Thus I decided to challenge you to ward them off. Of course, this means we'll have to play each other. As for these soldiers, they're known as the arbiter squad. Should you lose, you'll be whisked away by them to the prison area."

"Wait, so if I win, that bet with Mimo is off!?"

"Not necessarily, but on the contrary, should you beat me here, Mimoko will be freed, and if you so chose to take advantage of her immobilized state, you can resume the bet as planned. Seo le cluiche maith [Here's to a good game]," Sorcha smiled as she displayed her WWCF card.

Carol blinked in confusion. While Sorcha's rating of 777 was certainly impressive in its own right, what had her wracking her brains was what Sorcha had just said.

"Ah my apologies, what I just said was Irish for "Here's to a good game"," Sorcha smiled as she moved her pawn to e4.

"Irish is a language!?" Carol gasped as she moved her pawn to e5.

"Yes, and it is predominantly spoken in Gaeltacht districts in Ireland, though sadly faces a decline. I actually grew up speaking both Irish and English and am fluent in both."

"Your Japanese is good too."

"I seem to be a polyglot so I'm told," Sorcha smiled as she moved her knight to f3.

"So do you wear green cuz you're Irish?" Carol asked as she moved her knight to c6.

"It's the reason I pushed to be the green fairy executive. Though I won't deny that I'm quite prideful of my heritage. Am chun do thóin a chiceáil [Time to kick your ass]!" Sorcha happily shouted as she captured the pawn at e5 with her knight.

Iori stared in shock along with Carol at the play

"Uh, isn't that a free knight?" Iori asked as Carol nervously captured the knight at e5 with her knight.

"Yes, it's called the Irish gambit," Sorcha smiled as she moved her pawn to d4.

"Wait, like for real!?"

"Yes. Though I imagine your friend Mimoko would call it bad. But it can turn into an Irish Chicago gambit," Sorcha smiled as Carol moved her knight to g6.

Iori shrugged and nodded as Sorcha moved her bishop to d3. Carol thought for a bit before deciding to move her pawn to d5, which was actually the best response. With the ball in Sorcha's court, she opted to move her pawn to e5, putting Carol's knight in the bishop's firing line and prompting her to move it to h4.

Starting to sense she had an advantage, Sorcha castled on the king's side and smiled as she awaited Carol's next move.

Carol didn't seem deterred and immediately captured the pawn at g2 with her knight, prompting Sorcha to capture said knight with her king. "YES! You fell for it!" she shouted as she moved her queen to h4.

"Ara, ara, seems you're truly just a beginner," Sorcha giggled as she moved her king to h1.

"Huh? What are you giggling about!?" Carol fumed as she moved her pawn to c6.

Iori bit her lip as she stared at the board. "If Mimo-chan were here, what would she say? ...Ugh, it'd be bad," she thought as Sorcha moved her pawn to c3.

Sure enough, Iori's fears gained traction as Carol moved her pawn to h5, allowing Sorcha to regain the advantage by moving her rook to g1. Had Carol opted to capture the hanging pawn at f2 with her queen, she'd be in a better spot, but instead she moved her bishop to e6 allowing Sorcha to move her bishop to g5. Carol decided to capture the pawn on f2 with her queen, but now her position was compromised and after Sorcha moved her rook to g2, her queen was trapped.

Carol quickly began to panic and instead of trading queens by moving her bishop to g4, she instead captured the rook at g2 with her queen, forcing Sorcha to capture said queen qith her king. At this point, Carol had little to no chance at winning unless Sorcha made a massive blunder. She dejectedly moved her knight to h6, however, that just made her situation worse when Sorcha captured the pawn at h5, pinning the knight at h6 to the rook on h8.

With no idea on what to do next, Carol moved her pawn to b6 while Sorcha moved her knight to d2. She then moved her rook to b8 while Sorcha moved her pawn to c4.

As soon as Carol moved her bishop to d7, Iori began to shake her head. "Now she's definitely gonna lose, she sighed as Sorcha captured the pawn at d5 with her c-pawn.

Carol responded by capturing said pawn with her c-pawn, but Sorcha was one step ahead of her and moved her pawn to e6, forcing Carol to move her bishop to c6. Sorcha continued her attack on the bishop by moving her rook to c1, but then Carol blundered both her bishop and the game by moving her bishop to b4.

Sorcha immediately captured the bishop at c6 with her rook, while Carol, unaware of the mate threat, captured the knight at d2 with her bishop. She then captured the knight on h6 with her bishop and even though Carol captured said bishop with her g-pawn, it was still mate in 2 for her.

"Check. I think this is the first check I've delivered all game," Sorcha smiled as she captured the pawn at f7 with her queen, leaving Carol with no other choice but to move her king to d8. "And that's checkmate. Good game, but sadly it's off to the prison area for you," she smiled as she moved her queen to d7, winning the game.

The arbiter squad quickly descended on Carol and hauled her away before she could even scream. Now just Iori and Sorcha remained.

"So if I challenge you, I can free both Carol-chan and Mimo-chan?" Ioir glared.

"Unfortunately not. You can't challenge an executive right away. Not to mention, Mimoko is not being held in the prison area where your friend is being taken to."

"So I gotta bust her out on my own then. Great."

"I'll give fair warning that the one currently on guard duty at the prison is Bette, and she's got a rating of over 2300. Whether you chose to go after me or Mimoko is up to you. Farewell, and best of luck," Sorcha nodded as she threw down a smoke ball.

When the smoke cleared, she was gone. Iori scowled and looked around but no one else was around but her. However, she sensed a presence and immediately zeroed in on a figure hiding behind the wall.

"Get your ass out!"

A woman in a blue raincoat emerged and approached Iori. Iori cautiously went on guard yet the woman simply passed her by, but not without shoving something into her breasts.

Curious, Iori pulled out the object and discovered it was a metal case, containing 8 gold skeleton keys. It appeared that there were 9 slots though, meaning one was missing. A note was also present and was from Raymond Redfield.

"To the talented sadist, I trust my associate has delivered these DESPER keys to you without fail. In that case, they are to be used to take down the one behind your abduction, Senator Manny Pewler of the United States of America. While you're currently in Britain, I expect he plans to drag you to America because of Zinnia Broadstone. I'm sure you know who she is. You'll need those keys to save her as well, as should you fail, Mimoko Inoue will suffer once more. Focus not on the Fairy's games, but make sure to reunite with everyone and then be on your guard. Pewler has the fairies in the palm of his hand."

Iori scowled as she skimmed the additional note on how the DESPER keys worked.

"So if I'm within 10ft of a Desperado, this can forcibly activate their DESPER. And these things even glow when a DESPER is nearby huh? Well thanks Mr. president. You just unsealed a psychopath," Iori thought as a malicious smile spread across her face.

The full game:

White: Sorcha Glas (777) Black: Carol Cooke (569)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Nxe5 Nxe5

4. d4 Ng6

5. Bd3 d5

6. e5 Nh4

7. O-O Nxg2

8. Kxg2 Qh4

9. Kh1 c6

10. c3 h5