Chapter 150:

The Red Reaper of Prussia [Season 5 Intro]

En Passant Grandmaster

In London, Heather sat on the verge of tears as she ate breakfast.

"Ara, ara. Are you still upset about the game?" Sorcha giggled.

"Y- Of course not! Th- They cheated and lost. Simple as that!"

"You sure are acting nervous. Are you perhaps afraid Sorcha's pissed you tried to sell her off?" Scharlachrot snickered.

"Huh!? Y- You were the one who pushed for it! In fact, you were complaining we didn't get enough money out of the deal!"

"But you're our leader so all that moral responsibility falls on you. So Sorcha, think our fairy queen needs to become our bald fairy queen?"

A playful smirk formed on Sorcha's face. "Hmm, I think she'd look quite nice bald. Even if you shave her eyebrows off too."

"HUH!? SORCHA! You'd sell me out!?"

"Ara ara, you don't really have a say on that front. Besides, Táim sexy gan aon ghruaig ná malaí [I look sexy with no hair or eyebrows]."

"More like smooth as glass," Plum nodded as he bobbed up and down while honking his nose.

"Yeah, you're smooth n' sexy. I shaved my head once, but never as smooth as you," Vittoria stated as she began massaging Sorcha's head.

Sorcha giggled in bliss while Heather began to sweat buckets.

"Don't worry, it's not that bad, and you could always ink it or grow your hair out," Bette shrugged.

"I- INK IT!?"

"Oh great idea Bette. Heathy's got a cute face, so in theory it should still look cute covered in tattoos," Scharlachrot snickered.

Poor Heather could no longer handle the teasing and fainted on the spot. Schalachrot attempted to continue the teasing, but was quickly stopped by Medeucesa.

"Just saying, but couldn't the game resume when the fabled oni-tiger arrives?"

Heather immediately revitalized and leapt atop the table. "Of course, the game was merely put on hold. In fact, I daresay the REAL game begins now! Yes, that was just the warm up."

"So does that mean I can participate again?" Sorcha giggled.

"N- NO! Have some standards! When a villainess loses, she must curse the defeat and swear to win the next time!"

"Ara, then here I go. Ah mo, mallacht ort banlaoch as mé a ruaigeadh agus mé a bearradh maol [curse you heroines for defeating me and shaving me bald]! Sorcha pouted and fake cried.

Her reaction was so cute, everyone couldn't help but collectively think, "So cute!" at her acting.

"Well, I guess having two cute baldies would ruin the shtick. Though if you lose Heathy, I'm gonna make you break the record for baldest girl in the world," Scharlachrot snickered as she licked her lips.

"D- Don't joke! I- I'm the fairy queen! I won't fall in battle!"

As everyone began to head out, Melania remained. She had been quiet for the entire conversation, so much so that no one had really noticed she was even there. Which allowed Melania to stealthily do as she pleased without anyone batting an eyelash. Though that didn't mean she'd just assume no one would notice her. She was a very cautious woman after all. Seeing that the coast was clear, she hid her phone in her napkin and held it close to her mouth, pretending to wipe her mouth while secretly conversing with someone on the other end.

...

In the skies above London, a man's muffled screams rang out. The poor fellow was gagged and restrained in a Sopwith camel, though this was no ordinary bi-plane.

"Hurry up now, you'll run out of time if you don't make a move," a raspy voice echoed through the plane's radio.

The man stared nervously at the chessboard before him. While his arms were restrained, he was able to move them enough to properly move the pieces. However, he had never played chess and was a complete beginner. Deciding to take a chance, he opened by moving his knight to f3 as a red Fokker closed in behind his plane.

The scenario looked like an aerial dogfight straight out of WWI, with the Fokker's pilot being a literal ghost from the past at a glance. Clad in imperial German military attire from the early 1900s along with a bright red scarf, it was fair to assume the Fokker's skeletal pilot was none other than the ghost of the Red baron himself. However, just like the Sopwith, the Fokker also had a chessboard inside it.

"My, my, so you open with Zukertort. I shall play with you. Try my Herrstrom on for size," the skeleton cackled as he moved his pawn to g5.

The terrified man, unsure of what to do, moved his pawn to e3.

"Very well, then I shall give you another chance with my Red baron gambit," the skeleton declared as he moved his pawn to e5.

Once again, the poor man had no clue what to do and moved his pawn to a4.

"And you failed to provide entertainment Herr Beagle, now I shall show you the full might of Red Reaper von Richthofen! Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte, VORRÜCKEN [German Air Force, ADVANCE] !" the skeleton shouted as he moved his pawn to d4, terrifying Mr. Beagle to the point where he moved his knight back to g1. "Ah, a coward. Well you can't hide in my skies," Red Reaper sneered as he moved his knight to c6.

Poor Mr. Beagle had no clue what he was doing and moved his knight to a3. Red Reaper, meanwhile, had full control of the battlefield and could toy with his pray as he pleased, opting to move his pawn to d5. Mr. Beagle responded by moving his pawn to c4, but rather than capture it, Red reaper instead moved his knight to f6.

"You fancy yourself a threat? Nein," Red Reaper scoffed as Mr. Beagle moved his bishop to e2.

He then moved his pawn to d4, prompting Mr. Beagle to capture it with his e-pawn, however, Red Reaper simply captured said pawn with his knight. Now back to making questionable plays, Mr. Beagle moved his pawn to h4, while Red Reaper simply marched his pawn past it to g4.

Now getting desperate, Mr. Beagle moved his pawn to d3, though Red Reaper didn't seem to care and moved his bishop to c5. Mr. Beagle then decided to initiate a paw trade on e4, by first capturing the pawn there with his d-pawn, then watching as Red Reaper captured said pawn with his knight. Then, he made the not so brilliant move of moving his queen to d2.

"Oh poor Herr Beagle, you have just hung your queen on the gallows," Red Reaper sneered as he captured the queen on d2 with his knight.

Mr. Beagle's eyes widened in horror as he realized he had just lost his queen. He began screaming wildly, though the gag effectively prevented his screams from escaping his lips. He then captured the knight on d2 in retaliation with his bishop, but Red Reaper simply captured the knight on a3 with his bishop. Mr. Beagle promptly captured said bishop with his rook, however, that was a mistake.

"Check, Herr Beagle," Red Reaper sneered as he moved his knight to c2.

Mr. Beagle panicked and moved his king to d1, but then realized he was only getting closer to death as Red Reaper mercilessly captured the rook on a3 with his knight. He tearfully retaliated by capturing said knight with his b-pawn, but at this point, he had no chance of winning.

"Now, how long will it take to mate?" Red Reaper mused as he moved his bishop to f5. He quickly got his answer as Mr. Beagle blundered into mate by moving his bishop to f3. "Matt in zehn [Mate in ten]," he snickered as he moved his queen to d3.

Mr. Beagle then moved his bishop to e4, deluded that he could capture the queen, but it was his very bishop that ended up captured by Red Reaper's bishop. Now out of options, he moved his pawn to f4, allowing Red Reaper to perform en passant by capturing it with his g-pawn. This did delay the checkmate, and allowed Mr. Beagle to live a little bit longer by capturing said pawn with his knight, however after Red Reaper castled on the queen's side, Mr. Beagle hastened his demise once more by moving his pawn to g3.

"And I even decided to perform that French pawn capture move to give you a chance to squirm, yet you strangled yourself. Oh, you are a comedian, Herr Beagle," Red Reaper sneered as he captured the knight at f3 with his queen, forcing Mr. Beagle's king to e1. He followed up by moving his bishop to d2, but as soon as Mr. Beagle moved his rook to f1 in a futile attempt to capture the queen, it was over.

"Schachmatt [Checkmate], Herr Beagle. Auf Wiedersehen," Red Reaper sneered as he captured the rook at f1 with his queen, winning the game.

Immediately, the machine gun on Red Reaper's Fokker began firing and blasted Mr. Beagle and his plane to bits. Mr. Beagle's now bloodied corpse then fell along with his burning plane into the waters below.

Red Reaper then took control of his plane and flew back to the mainland. As he landed, he was swarmed by Fairy League grunts.

"State your purpose! You stand on the Fairy queen's lands!"

"I heard there was a game being played and decided to join in. I do love a good hunt."

"Who do you think you are!?"

"Red Reaper von Richthofen, Kaiser of the German empire of Prussia."

Immediately, the fairies went pale and bolted. For Red Reaper truly was Germany's, now renamed the German empire of Prussia, or Prussia for short, kaiser. He had forsaken his humanity, casting aside his original name, Frederick along with his flesh for the title of Red Reaper. He was feared not just worldwide, but within the Desperado league as well, since he was said to be the only one that could break the Desperado code and kill Desperados.

Red Reaper watched the fairies run off and pulled an old pistol out of his coat. As a gunshot rang out, a figure hid in the shadows, watching. Waiting for the opportunity to approach the monster.

Red Reaper sensed their presence, but was more focused on summoning a giant metal structure. Once he was done with his ritual, he turned to find the figure begore him.

"And what do you want?"

"A business deal. You see, there's a Desperado here I want you to kill..."

...

Okisato yawned as the plane began its descent. It had been a long 12 hour flight, but he and the others were finally about to arrive in London. Of course, the question weighing on his mind was what the state of things were. Due to being airborne, he had been unable to use the internet or communicate with anyone until the plane landed.

Immediately after getting through customs, he attempted to contact Mimoko, but was unable to get through. Unbeknownst to him, Mimoko was in the middle of attempting the daily puzzles following her victory over Maestro Wiley Frisch. Next, he tried calling Iori.

"What's up, Oki-kun, finally landed?"

"Iori-chan, the state of things?"

"Oh, we're all back in Japan."

Okisato let out an annoyed sigh. "So this was all a ploy to drag me here. Are you all ok?"

Iori quickly informed him of all that went down with Pewler and how SPCM Sandy Shores had just literally been arrested.

"So this was a wasted trip. In that case, we'll all head back, or at least the others will. I'm gonna make a pit stop in China."

"The others all came with you? Then better get their asses outta there cuz-"

Before Opri could finish, the call was cut off as a message suddenly played on the loudspeaker announcing that all planes were grounded until further notice.

Okisato scowled as he realized this meant the Fairies were likely going to force him and the others into the game Iori had just mentioned. The others didn't seem too concerned about things though as they were pretty tired from the long flight.

"Mimoko-sama... You hear from her?" Utami grumbled as she swayed to and from.

Okisato quickly formed the others in as they all exited the airport.

"So they got caught up in some game here, then warped to America, and then back to Japan? Talk about roundabout," Yuusuke grumbled.

"No, everything was carefully coordinated. Skaberghast is a top Desperado and a smart one at that, so I imagine he colluded with Pewler to make this plan a reality."

"At least Mimoko-sama is safe. I can rest easy," Utami smiled as she conked out, forcing Yuusuke to carry her much to his dismay.

However, she chose a bad time to rest. As everyone soon found themselves surrounded by the Fairy League.

"Welcome to London, England! You're all our hostages!" Heather declared.

Everyone glared as Scharlachtot stepped forward to explain the rules of the game.

"Wait, so all we gotta do is beat everyone and we can leave? That's easy," Yuusuke grinned.

"And to make things even easier, your friends managed to take out Bette and Sorcha so you don't need to worry about them. Plus, we just so happened to find another Desperado trespassing here; a knight named sir Grobhand. He is technically a British citizen, but fuck it, he ruined the game so feel free to kill him for sport."

"And get a free ride home if we beat him?" Okisato asked.

Scharlachrot glared, but remained silent. While they most certainly could, she didn't want them to know that.

Now, once we disperse, the game begins-"

"NEIN! My hunt begins now!" a raspy voice rang out.

Scharlachrot's heart began to thump as color began vanishing from her face as she recognized the voice. Then to her's and everyone's shock and horror, a large monstrous skeleton of a man slammed into the

the ground before everyone, causing the earth to shake as lightning flashed illuminating the monster as he slowly rose and towered above all, setting his glowing red eyes on Okisato.

"So you are the fabled oni-tiger. I am Kaiser Red Reaper von Richthofen of the German empire of Prussia. And you are to be the first I hunt."

The full game:

White: Charlie Beagle (n/a) Black: Red Reaper (2780)

1. Nf3 g5

2. e3 e5

3. a4 e4

4. Ng1 Nc6

5. Na3 d5

6. c4 Nf6

7. Be2 d4

8. exd4 Nxd4

9. h4 g4