Chapter 127:

One annoying asshole

En Passant Grandmaster

Daria quickly approached the five and ordered them to disperse. Katie and the young man initially refused, but eventually let up. However, their ire soon found a new target in the form of Carol. Yet unlike with Iori, the two began shooting her glares of pure disgust and contempt.

"Traitor."

Carol began to tremble as Mimoko came to her defense.

"Don't you dare beat her up."

"Um like, that girl's a traitor. She like, lied about Manny and like, faked her death-"

"Shut up! You don't know a damn thing about Carol-chan!"

Katie's eyes narrowed as a scowl appeared on her face.

"Mimo, it's OK. This girl is Katie Knox, one of the Misericordia party's top activists. She has every right to feel the way she does about me," Carol trembled.

"But you said-"

"She's not the one I went to school with-"

"UM, LIKE, WHISPERING IN FRONT OF OTHERS, IS LIKE, RUDE!"

"Yeah! And a filthy heartless traitor like her has no right to so much as breathe! I say we finish the deed those brave protesters started and kill this heartless heathen!" the young man shouted.

Yet much to Mimoko and Carol's surprise, Katie was the first to shoot the man a death glare.

"Clifford, I hate her. I know you hate her, but we don't just kill. Our party's core tenant is compassion. We can yell and lecture, use force if necessary, but killing is reserved only for the truly heartless."

"But Manny said she was a heartless liar! And did you forget all she did in the past!?"

As the debate seemed poised to escalate, Sandy intervened, gently patting both Katie and Clifford on their shoulders. She kindly asked the two to chill which seemed to work as Katie nodded and headed over to one of the couches.

Clifford on the other hand refused to back down, prompting Sandy to invoke the right for any to challenge him should they have enough points.

Much to Clifford's dismay, Iori was the first to claim the honor, forcing him to back down.

"Tch. Well, it will be a service to a woman like Katie to put you in your place. Her support for Manny and our movement is invaluable."

"Then let's tango, ya heartless douche."

"Y- You dare call ME heartless!? My family and I have been die-hard Misericordia supporters for generations! We are the embodiment of compassion!"

"Yeah sure, now let's play."

As the two headed towards the main table, Sandy let out a sigh and approached the broken table while the others coalesced around the main table as Clifford stated the rules for the match.

"Normally, I have no issue with ladies going first, but you're the absolute worst kind of woman out there. Luckily, Armageddon rules are in effect, so a draw means I win even though you get more time."

"Wow, so you want ladies to go first just so you get better win odds. Talk about heartless," Iori snickered as she opened by moving her pawn to d4.

Clifford responded with a tongue click and moved his pawn to d6.

"Not a standard d5, huh. Well, not like it mattered. Get fucked!" Iori snickered as she flipped off Clifford and moved her king to d2.

Clifford's face began to contort in furry. "Do you know that I am rated above 2200 and am a candidate master!? Such insolence won't be tolerated!" he shouted as he moved his knight to f6.

"Candidate? So you're running for office? Which one? City douchebag?" Iori taunted as she moved her pawn to e3.

"Not that kind of candidate! A candidate master is one that has achieved a rating of 2200 and/or those who perform excessively well at tournaments which I have done. No norms are required, and best of all the title is for life, so I need not worry about losing it," Clifford glared as he moved his pawn to c6.

"More like you're afraid of losing elo. Bet you quit and became an SPCM so you could preserve your rating," Iori taunted as she moved her pawn to c4.

Based on the fact that Clifford's face began to contort even more, Iori figured she had hit the mark.

"Oof, that's his sore spot. Shortly after he got the title, he lost a big tournament and nearly dipped below 2000," Sandy sighed as she walked up.

"SANDY! Do have some compassion for me!" Clifford shouted as he moved his bishop to g4.

"Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have said anything. Your opponent isn't the kind of compassionate person to try and offer you words of encouragement."

"Damn right bitch. Now let me show you all why this sucker quit; he was a pussy all along," Iori snickered as she moved her pawn to f3.

Clifford retaliated by moving his bishop to f5, while Iori moved her queen to b3.

"I AM A GIFTED MAN!" he shouted as he moved his pawn to e5.

"More like an egotist. Bet that's also why you try to be so active in politics, not to make anything better for people, but to inflate your ego and make others think you're some great human being. But you're just some pussy ass delusional nerd," Iori snickered as she captured the pawn at b7 with her queen.

"And you are a heartless degenerate imbecile. Protecting the b-pawn is overrated, especially when I can simply defend the rook like this," Clifford scoffed as he adjusted his glasses and moved his b-knight to d7.

Iori merely shrugged and moved her knight to c3, prompting Clifford to capture the pawn on d4 with his e-pawn. Iori simply captured said pawn with her e-pawn while Clifford moved his pawn to c5, allowing Iori to move her knight to b5.

"Things look even, maybe he'll draw," Sandy mumbled as Clifford moved his rook to c8.

"I can't blame him for stopping after the title. Like, I achieved the IM title, but then dipped below 2400 after two bad tournaments. I was against high-level players, but like it showed me that grandmasters were a league of their own," Katie rambled as Iori moved her knight to e2.

"Oi, can we stop talking about titles?" Sheila glared.

Katie went quiet and nodded as Clifford moved his pawn to g6.

"Hmm, wonder what that's all about. Well, I'll find out soon enough," Iori thought as she moved her knight to g3.

Clifford then captured the pawn at d4 with his c-pawn, prompting Iori to capture the bishop on f5 with her knight. Clifford simply captured said knight with his g-pawn, however, Iori captured the pawn at a7 with her queen, giving her an edge. The game was still pretty even at that point, until Clifford made a massive blunder and moved his knight to d5.

"NO! I-"

"No take backs, sucker!" Iori laughed as she mercilessly capitalized on the blunder and captured the knight at d5 with her c-pawn.

"Ngh, whatever! Your pawn is trapped!" Clifford fumed as he slammed his rook down on c5.

"Sure, take it," Iori thought as she moved her pawn to b4.

Clifford saw through the trap though and quickly moved his rook to c8.

"What's wrong, thought you said my pawn was fucked," Iori taunted as she moved her king to d1.

"I said it was TRAPPED! Well, whatever. It's useless there anyway," Clifford scoffed as he moved his queen to e7.

"Heh, we'll see," Iori thought as she moved her bishop to f4.

Clifford responded by moving his queen to f6, prompting Iori to move her rook to c1, setting up a rook trade. Clifford refused the trade and moved his knight to c5, unknowingly blundering into mate.

"Oh the delicious irony. Time to get fucked! Check!" Iori gleefully shouted as she slammed her knight down on c7, forcing Clifford to move his king to d8.

As Iori moved her knight to e8, Mimoko shook her head in disappointment. "What is she doing? That was mate in 9, but now it's no longer guaranteed. Though I imagine she's still going to win anyway," she thought.

"And here I was afraid. Well, you may have gotten lucky for a bit, but it ends here," Clifford scoffed as he tried to hide his nervousness and captured the knight at e8 with his king.

"Lol, that's a long ass nose ya got there, Pinocchio," Iori taunted as she moved her bishop to b5.

"My nose is VERY small!" Clifford retorted as he moved his rook to c6.

"Guess that makes you a lying master then," Iori snickered as she captured said rook with her bishop.

"I bet you cheated! Yes, you cheated!" Clifford shouted as he desperately moved his king to d8.

Everyone let out a collective sigh.

"Sorry Cliff, but you know matches like these are sanctioned, plus we've been watching the whole time. You lost," Sandy sighed as Iori moved her queen to b8.

Clifford immediately went pale as his hand began to tremble.

"What's wrong? E7's the only move you can make, so no use thinking about it," Iori snickered.

Tears began to pour out of Clifford's eyes as he realized what was about to happen. He was going to lose, not just to a Queen's Bongcloud, but also get mated thanks to the pawn at d5 he had deemed useless.

"No... NO! I'm elite... I'm special," he cried as he struggled to move his king to e7.

"Nah, your pathetic self just came to the surface. Guess I was right since to the victor, go the spoils. Checkmate," Iori snickered as she moved her queen to e8, winning the game.

The full game:

White: Iori Ishikiridokoro (1344) Black: SPCM Clifford Glassblower (2000)

1. d4 d6

2. Kd2 Nf6

3. e3 c6

4. c4 Bg4

5. f3 Bf5

6. Qb3 e5

7. Qxb7 Nbd7

8. Nc3 exd4

9. exd4 c5

10. Nb5 Rc8