Chapter 129:

Collective responsibility

En Passant Grandmaster

Iori smirked as Horner and the mob stared her down. "Now I just wanna ask one thing, you all united as one?"

"We are one! We will vanquish you, heartless trash!" the mob chanted.

"You heard the voice of the people. We are united against degenerate and heartless scum like you," Horner sneered.

"Good, then losers die after getting sucked into a F5 tornado," Iori snickered.

"A tornado? Well aren't you malicious, but also stupid. DESPERs don't drag in innocent bystanders so my comrades aren't going anywhere."

Iori stared down at the key and DESPER before silently heading for the chessboard. Once Horner was also seated, she angrily moved her pawn to e3 while Horner moved his pawn to e6, all while the mob hurled jeers at Iori and angrily pounded on the barrier surrounding her and Horner.

Then, Iori moved her king to e2, causing a nasty smirk to form on Horner's face. "And why are you smirking?" Iori scowled.

"Because you've given up. I suppose you're trying to go out flashily, which I don't think you deserve, but sadly, seems you'll get," Horner sneered as he moved his queen to f6.

"Who said I was giving up? I'm just showing you some disrespect," Iori snickered as she moved her pawn to d4.

"HEARTLESS WHORE! HEARTLESS WHORE!" the mob chanted as Horner moved his queen to f5.

"Sheesh, can't those losers shut up?" Iori grumbled as she moved her king to e1.

"They have every right to jeer. After all, you're a vile and heartless villain that murdered her own mother and sister," Horner sneered as he moved his pawn to h5.

"Yeah, don't care what you think," Iori glared as she moved her bishop to d3.

"Oh but society does care. Why should a woman who murdered her mother and sister in order to kill a compassionate champion of social reform like Rio Segawa be celebrated and even allowed to live a life?"

The mob quickly began chanting in support of Horner as Iori shot them a scowl.

"Nothing you do or say can save you. Your dark secret has been revealed, so naturally people will retaliate against you. This is check, Iori Ishikiridokoro," Horner sneered as he moved his queen to a5.

"What makes you think I'm done? I got over 4 million subscribers. Some of which would beg to have me murder them," Iori glared as she moved her bishop to d2.

Horner couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Oh, you only further dig your grave you stupid degenerate. Birds of a feather flock together, and naturally fall together as well. Once we deal with you, we'll simply clean up any remaining trash worldwide that still supports you. After all, if they like someone like you after learning of who you really are, they themselves are heartless trash by proxy and must be cleansed or eradicated," he sneered as he moved his queen to b6.

"So you plan to go after my loyal subscribers if you beat me?" Iori asked as she moved her pawn to c4.

"Why wouldn't I? Clearly anyone that enjoys the brain rot you call content needs to either be euthanized or reeducated," Horner scoffed as he moved his knight to f6.

"Yeah, my subscribers would all kick your ass," Iori glared as she moved her knight to f3.

"WE WILL WIN! WE WILL WIN!" the mob angrily chanted as Horner captured the pawn at b2 with his queen.

"Huh? You all stupid!? He just hung his queen!" Iori shouted at the mob as she moved her knight to c3.

"Lying is common for despicable degenerates like you," Horner mockingly sighed as he moved his bishop to b4.

A smirk began to for on Iori's face as she moved her rook to b1. "Well guess you are an expert on all things fib and falsehood. You're the biggest slanderer I've ever seen."

Horner appeared to take offense to that statement and immediately slammed his queen down on a3. "I'm a journalist! A truth-seeking, fact reporting, journalist of high integrity. Don't demonize us to try and save your heartless skin!"

"Uhp, looks like we got a hit! So Salazar Slanderer, ready to finally get exposed?" Iori snickered as she moved her rook to b3.

The mob angrily began hurling jeers at Iori as Horner slammed his queen down on a5. "That is NOT my name! I really do hate you. You have no redeeming qualities, you vile offensive, degenerate, lying, murdering, shitbag, scumbag, heartless whore!"

"Whoa, thought you were the type that showed the ladies some respect, but you've been hurlin' insults at me and slammin' your queen into the board like crazy," Iori taunted as she captured the bishop at b3 with her rook.

"I only respect compassionate women as do all my comrades and the worldwide masses as a whole," Horner glared as he captured the rook at b4 with his queen.

"And "compassionate women" must be the women who'll proudly grovel before your ugly fuck of a leader and blindly support him-"

"LIES, SLANDER, VILE WHORE!" the mob chanted as Iori ignored them and moved her knight to b5.

Horner meanwhile stared at the board and clicked his tongue as he moved his queen to f8.

"Guess you saw the fork. Bye bye rook. Check!" Iori snickered as she captured the pawn at c7 with her knight, forcing Horner to move his king to d8, allowing her to capture the knight on a8 on her next turn.

"The game is far from over, in fact no matter what you do, we will win," Horner thought as his smug grin returned.

He then moved his pawn to b6 while Iori, who was scowling in confusion at Horner's sudden mood shift, moved her queen to a4. However, Iori was scowling for the reason Horner thought she was.

"I get it. He's probably thinking this is like the ending of that Glasstone book. Well too bad for him, I ain't the goody-two shoes protagonist of that book," she thought as Horner moved his knight to c6.

As the mob continued to chant and bang on the barrier, Iori tuned them out and moved her knight to e5 prompting Horner to capture said knight with his knight. Iori however, just captured said knight with her d-pawn, forcing Horner to move his remaining knight to g4.

"Now bye bye queen," Iori thought as she moved her bishop to b4.

"You think that childish threat will work on me? Rubbish," Horner scoffed as he moved his queen to e8, unaware that he had just blundered the game.

"RUBBISH! RUBBISH!" the crowd chanted.

"Go ahead, shout your lungs out now. It won't stop the mate, and it'll make your screams much quieter when the F5 hits," Iori thought as she captured the pawn at a7 with her queen.

Horner paused and stared at the board before suddenly recoiling in shock. His smug smirk quickly began to fade as an annoyed scowl took it's place. "Just like in Glasstone. Seems I'll be the martyr," he snarled as he moved his queen to e7.

"What do you mean?" Iori glared as she moved her queen to c7.

"In the book, Minister Tyran was challenged by Duos to a chess game in similar fashion to our current scenario. Duos won the game, however, the masses rightfully couldn't accept such a travesty and promptly descended upon him, beating him to near death before dragging him off to his long-term execution. He had even stayed behind in hopes that his friends could escape and that he could peacefully change the world by winning a chess game. How naive. He was trying to ruin the grand utopia and return the world to it's former degenerate and heartless state. Once I fall, my comrades shall subject you to a similar fate."

"Uh, I'll just kill them all."

"Desperation, or perhaps delusion. You can never beat a mob, you can only run, but mobs can run too, and work together to drag you out of hiding. Even if you manage to flee the country, we WILL find you and drag you to the hell you so just deserve," Horner coldly sneered as he moved his king to e8.

"Why don't you answer me a question; what's the one natural law of combat?" Iori coldly glared as she captured the bishop at c8 with her queen.

"I'm not entertaining excuses. You don't deserve them, heartless trash," Horner scoffed as he moved his queen to d8. As soon as he took his hand off the piece, Iori burst into maniacal laughter. "Are you trying to terrify us? We are not afraid. Though I may fall, my comrades will continue my will, thus neither I nor them are afraid-"

"Guess you hivemind idiots all forgot what I asked ya at the start," Iori maliciously smiled.

"More deflection-"

"You and your mob said you were one. Therefore if you lose, you all lose, right?"

A chill suddenly went down Horner's spine as color began to vanish from his face. "No, that's impossible. The DESPER would never allow-"

"I was looking at it while I stated my conditions, and it said it was good. Check em yourself."

Horner immediately pulled his DESPER out of his pocket and ordered it to state the conditions for the wager. To his and the mob's horror every single person in the mob would also be killed by the F5 tornado if he lost, due to them all consenting to being part of the wager according to the DESPER.

Quickly, the mob changed from an angry one to a terrified one as they began desperately banging even harder on the barrier. Some members tried to flee, but found themselves frozen in place. All the while, Iori watched in amusement.

"Huh? Why are you all so afraid? Don't you know the ironclad natural law of combat? Once you decide you're going to use violence, you fully consent that violence can be used against you as well. Think of it like carrying a knife. You can use it to kill others, but others could swipe it from ya and use it to kill you. Simple right?"

"STOP SPOUTING SUCH HEARTLESS DRIVEL! KILLING US ALL WOULD BE INHUMANE MASS MURDER!" Horner shouted as he desperately swatted at the board, only for his hand to phase through the pieces.

"You should know DESPER matches don't count as murder."

"HAVE COMPASSION! IS YOUR MORAL COMPASS-"

"Why? Murdering 1 or 1000 makes no difference to me. In fact, it makes me feel excited knowing I just pulled off a major flex," Iori maliciously snickered as she grabbed her knight.

As Iori began moving her knight, Horner found himself frozen in place. It was in that moment that he came to a horrifying realization. "When I was researching the case with her family, the police mentioned the possibility that it was likely the work of the Japan's biggest mass murderer, the case chiller. Over tens of thousands of cold cases over the span of a decade were supposedly committed by a single mass murderer who was never caught. But, the timeline doesn't add up! She would have been a child when the killing first- No, that look in her eyes, she's a devil in human skin. Manuel, I'm sorry, I made the worst oversight in my entire life," he thought as Iori slammed her knight down on c7, winning the game.

"Checkmate, now let's see you scream," Iori sneered as she whipped out her phone and began recording.

A massive dark tornado instantly appeared and began violently sucking up members of the mob as well as surrounding structures and plants. Iori leaned back and maliciously smirked as she watched the mob descended into to terror as they were sucked into the dark tornado.

"WHY!? I- I DIDN'T LOSE THE GAME! I NEVER EVEN PLAYED!" one person frantically screamed.

"Nah, you all said at the start you were 'united as one'. That means when your rep dies, you all die," Iori sneered as the person was sucked into the tornado.

Horner meanwhile desperately clung to the table as his followers were killed by the tornado. "YOU MADWOMAN! THIS IS MASS MURDER! YOU-"

"DESPER battles don't count. Besides, did I not say earlier, the moment you decide to commit to something that could hurt someone, you sign an unbreakable vow that you accept that what ya intend to do to others can be done to you without remorse. I should know, I upended so many families, and as a result, my own family life was upended, all due to my addiction," Iori coldly grinned as she whipped out a knife and slashed Horner's wrists, causing him to let go and be sucked into the tornado.

The tornado continued to spin for another minute before fading in an instant. It had fulfilled it's purpose and had killed Horner and every member of the mob he had led, leaving Iori as the sole living human in the area. The board vanished and Horner's DESPER emitted a puff of smoke before crashing into the ground. Iori approached the device and stared down at it before gazing back up and surveying the carnage of the tornado. The area was completely ruined while blood and remains adorned the immediate and surrounding area. Iori then noticed Horner's remains a few feet away and stared at the terrified look forever etched on his now lifeless face.

"Outrage is indeed a powerful tool that can be used to harness the masses and rally them into a mob or army. I bet that ponytailed fucker will try to pin all this on Mimo-chan and use the incident to rally his troops to his crusade. It's a natural response, a popular figure is killed by the enemy, so his buddies martyr him in order to maintain the momentum of their anger and further intensify it. Many have done this throughout history. However, all those mobilizers forget that there's a very easy way to deflate their rage and momentum; overwhelming demoralization. Fear is the key to achieving that, however, many would argue and say that humans either fight or flee when faced with fear. This could be tied to fleeing, but I disagree, cuz resignation is not fleeing, it's acknowledging that you can't beat or run from the enemy, you have completely and utterly lost. This is what leads to resignations in chess and surrenders in combat. Of course, that ponytailed fuck is probably the type to fight to the death, so he'll try to keep anger and resentment peaking, but it will fail. Here's how it will go, that slanderer who is akin to a general falls in battle, and to demoralize the ponytailed fuck's support base, I sever the slander's head and place it on a pike. The sight of one of their strongest generals reduced to a severed head on a pike would naturally demoralize many, but it could also lead to martyrdom and a renewed fighting spirit for the general's surviving comrades and countrymen. However, if not just the general, but the entire army was reduced to severed heads on pikes, that would cause mass demoralization, and reduce resistance to minuscule levels as the offending army descends upon the country. A majority of the ordinary citizens would be unable to overcome the logic and instincts telling them that they can't win against the overwhelming power of their foe, thus, resignation either by suicide or submission is the only way forward. Of course, if I actually went through the wreckage and took the time to sever everyone's heads and put them on pikes, it would instead be my blunder as that would likely instill more anger than fear and demoralization thanks to that ponytailed fucker still being alive. That's why I chose to have everyone killed by a tornado. Tornadoes are natural disasters and can't be stopped. All humans can do is curse at the skies before, during, and after. Even if the ponytailed fuck decides to play the "We used DESPERs" card, it won't change much. In fact, it could backfire on him since his guy was the one with the DESPER. Not to mention, if he tries to claim that me, Mimo-chan, and Carol-chan are carrying these weapons that can force people into death games and inflict natural disasters upon cities, many will choose to flee in fear rather than fight, assuming they don't resign. Mimo-chan having two keys and the box makes things even better, though I imagine the key to the ponytailed fuck's reaction will be how he hears of the news. If he just hears about the tornado, he might overlook the possibility that DESPERs were involved, especially if he finds out Mimo-chan has the key box. Even if he does decide to access the match data, it will only put his mental state on edge, as now I could attack him from anywhere at anytime. Now, let's get to work capitalizing on all this," Iori thought as she picked up Horner's busted DESPER.

The full game:

White: Iori Ishikiridokoro (1344) Black: Jacque Horner (2021)

1. e3 e6

2. Ke2 Qf6

3. d4 Qf5

4. Ke1 h5

5. Bd3 Qa5+

6. Bd2 Qb6

7. c4 Nf6

8. Nf3 Qxb2

9. Nc3 Bb4

10. Rb1 Qa3