Chapter 209:

Chicken bone chaos

En Passant Grandmaster

As the final round of the day ended, the girls finally had a chance to sit down and talk with each other.

"Ugh, that 2nd round lasted longer than expected," Carol groaned.

"But at least you managed to get a win, and continue that momentum into the 3rd round," Mimoko smiled.

"So that means she's 2 1/2 out of 3. Lol, I'm 3 for 3," Iori gloated.

"I, my mother, and Utami-chan are also 3 for 3, as are about 6 other participants."

"Ugh, they're not gonna have us all play each other, are they?"

"Hmm, I do see your point. If I were to play against my mother and lose, it could hurt my chances of finishing in the top 5 regardless of if I win all my games."

"Actually, there was some fine print in those rules," Daria stated as she strolled up to the group. "It's not just overall point total, but tournament rating too. In otherwords, a player that gets 6 out of 6 for beating opponents all ranked under 2000, won't be getting in over a player that gets 5 out of 6 but had a performance rating of 2700."

Carol stared in confusion at the mention of performance ratings, prompting Daria to explain that performance ratings were the rating level a player performed at in a tournament or match based on the number of games played, the player's total score, and the ratings of their opponents.

"Trust me, the national team isn't gonna select someone far less skilled that has more points, over someone talented that just got a loss from facing me. Plus, there are some players the team does want to have on them, so you can bet they'll put their thumb on the scale with the pairings to ensure we don't face each other in order to maximize our performance ratings. That being said, unknowns like Iori and Utami might end up facing us."

Everyone's food arrived and the conversation was ended as everyone ate. However, it quickly resumed once everyone was finished.

"So remember what I was saying about why my family was so dangerous?" Carol asked.

...

At the park, a foreign woman with frizzy red hair, clad in purple witch-like attire pressed her hand against the barrier imprisoning Theresa. "So my witchcraft cannot pierce this barrier. What inhumane scum would subject her to this? I shall need to report to Mother Salem."

As the woman walked away, Skaberghast opened an eye and began smirking as he sat up. His mood improved even more as Jackie suddenly arrived carrying a key case.

"I have brought the DESPER keys from the lab as you requested, all in the name of science!" Jackie smirked as she opened the case.

"Good. Now for the field test," Skaberghast smirked as he shoved his DESPER into Jackie's breasts.

...

As the witch-like woman entered Ryokoma, Rika immediately went on guard, but didn't let her wariness show as she greeted her. While the woman was harboring bloodlust and had most certainly killed before in her life, Rika didn't seem to sense that the woman was here to target her or her family, but remained vigilent none the less.

The woman ended up ordering some chicken drumsticks, and as Rika went back to the kitchen to fulfill the order, the woman noticed Carol and Iori seated across the way.

"I should eliminate that degenerate that Zinnia shares her blood with. Though I'm unsure if my magic will work properly on her, as it requires careful prep work."

As soon as the woman's food arrived, she devoured instantly before arranging the chiken bones on the plate and pulling out a vile of blood. She poured the blood on the bones and began an incantation.

Across the way, Carol suddenly went blue in the face and began coughing violently.

"So that shit about your family dabbling in witchcraft was right. Well good thing ya told us," Iori grinned as she grabbed a knife and fork and hurled them towards the woman doing the incantation.

It was a direct hit, resulting in the woman coughing up blood and stopping the incantation, causing Carol to return to normal. The woman meanwhile grimaced in pain as she pulled the fork out of her neck and the knife out of her right hand. But before she could begin again, she found Iori and Carol hovering above her.

"So it was cousin Lynessa," Carol glared as she immediately snatched away the chicken bones.

"So how does this shit even work?" Iori asked.

"She attempts to warp a fresh chicken bone into the throat of her target, however, she must be within a 30 meter radius of her target, nor can her incantation be interrupted."

"But if the targets are in close proximity, I can simply shove chicken bones down their throats the old fashioned way!" Lynessa shouted as she pulled out some old chicken bones from her coat and lunged towards Iori and Carol.

The two dodged with ease, though Lynessa managed to nail the landing and immediately pulled out a boney wand. "Chiken bone, chicken bone, chicken bone, chick. I summon old chicken bones to invade thy throat!"

The old chicken bones suddenly began levitating and flew towards Iori and Carol, causing the two to cover up their mouths with their hands and dive out of the way as the bones chased them around.

"Well, things are sure looking lively. Now proceed with the experiment," Skaberghast's voice crackled on an ear piece.

Jackie nodded and began dragging Mimoko over to Lynessa.

"Numakawa-kun!? What's the meaning of this!?"

"Fear not Inoue, we are about to fight sorcery with science!" Jackie delcared as she secretly shoved Skaberghast's DESPER into Lynessa's pocket, before shoving a DESPER key into Mimoko's hand and thrusting her towards Lynessa.

The DESPER activated and Lynessa suddenly found herself seated at a chessboard overlooking a vast futuristic city.

"So you're a Desperado, then?" Mimoko glared as she found herself seated across from Lynessa.

Lynessa went pale as she had no idea what was happening, but her anciety only grew further upon seeing the pieces. "T- These aren't spell chess pieces..."

Jackie had also been brought in as a spectator along with Iori and Carol and giddily watched as Mimoko opened the game by moving her pawn to d4.

Lynessa began trembling, but quickly calmed down and moved her knight to f6. "Calm down. Chess is just Spell chess without the spells. I know how to at least play decently. And this girl appaers to simply be a friend of Zinnia's. Perhaps killing her would help throw Zinnia into despair. As I recall, Mother Salem mentioned there were devices that could trap foes in chess death games, therefore, I shall kill this innocent as a sacrifice, to hurt Zinnia," she thought as Mimoko moved her bishop to f4. "Upon my victory, you shall suffer a death of chocking on 1000 chicken bones," she cackled as she moved her pawn to d5.

Mimoko simply glared and moved her knight to f3 as Jackie watched intently. Iori took notice of Jackie's focused look, and decided to turn her focus towards observing her.

"Why're ya looking at that girl?" Carol whispered.

"She sus. Besides, Mimo-chan's gonna win," Iori whispered back as Lynessa moved her pawn to c5.

"Oh, she's doing a London. I saw a vid that said Londons were unstoppable," Carol nodded as Mimoko moved her pawn to e3.

Despite Iori's confidence, the game remained even as Lynessa moved her knight to c6 and Mimoko moved her b-knight to d2. But after Lynessa moved her queen to a5, Mimoko pounced on the misstep by moving her pawn to c3.

"Tch, go forth foul king," Lynessa scoffed as she moved her king to d7.

"Uh, and what was that move supposed to be?" Mimoko glared as she captured the pawn at c5 with her d-pawn.

"I am merely putting the frail king to use as I believe everything should be pot to use," Lynessa huffed as she captured the pawn at c5 with her queen.

"That's not a bad philosophy per say, but moving the king does have risks," Mimoko sighed as she moved her knight to c4.

"And just who do you think you are lecturing me!? You have no right! I'm the master of chicken bone witch craft and I am good at spellchess and have a rating of 664!" Lynessa glared as she moved her pawn to h5.

"And I'm a grandmaster with a rating of 2750," Mimoko glared as she moved her pawn to b4.

"Huh?"

Lynessa's confidence shattered like glass as sweat began flooding down her face. "G- G- G- GRANDMASTER!? No way, NO WAY! She's gotta be bluffing. Yes, there's no way some plain-looking girl- ...!"

Lynessa's thoughts skidded to a halt as she realized her queen was screwed. Even if she moved it to the only safe square, b5, it wouldn't be safe for long as Mimoko would simply deliver a check by moving her c-knight to e5, allowing her bishop to deliver the coup de gras to her queen. Thus, Lynessa nervously captured the pawn at b4 with her queen, hopping Mimoko wouldn't recapture, yet capture the queen with her c-pawn was exactly what Mimoko did.

Lynessa began going pale and desperately moved her pawn to b5, yet Mimoko simply moved her c-knight to e5, delivering a check and prompting Lynessa to capture said knight with her knight.

"Check," Mimoko stated as she captured the pawn at b5 with her bishop, completely blindsiding Lynessa, causing her to panic and move her king to e6.

"Perhaps if you reconcile with Carol-chan, I'll be able to give you some pointers on how to improve your game," Mimoko sighed as she moved her knight to d4.

"'Reconcile'!? She needs to die for the good of the Broadstone family! Otherwise our legacy will be forever tainted!" Lynessa fumed as she moved her king to d6.

"Then just disown her," Mimoko suggested as she moved her queen to c2.

"Impossible! Blood can't be disowned. She must die, she must die..."

Lynessa began to trail off as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop the checkmate. "Y- You're just going to tutor me when I lose, right?" she nervously asked as she moved her rook to h7.

"Only after you reconcile with Carol-chan. Checkmate," Mimoko stated as she moved her queen to c5, winning the game.

The scenery quickly returned to normal as Lynessa found herself trembling before Carol. The words, "I'm sorry!" quickly flooded out of her lips much to her own shock, however, that was only the beginning of her torment.

Suddenly, Lynessa found herself hacking up blood and howling in pain as her bones began to burst from within. Everyone stared in horror as this was not supposed to happen, except unbeknownst to everyone, but Jackie, a tiny transmitter had been attached to the DESPER and had been constantly emitting conditions for a wager at a high-pitched frequency. The conditions; Loser dies after having all their bones explode from within.

As Lynessa laid dying on the floor, she gazed up at the ceiling. "Mother Salem... Forgive me..."

And just like that, her skull exploded, killing her on the spot. Jackie then smiled and took advantage of the chaos to slip away without anyone noticing.

"I take it the experiment was a success?" Skaberghast's voice crackled on Jackie's ear piece.

"Yup, I'll send ya the video results," Jackie smiled as she did just that.

The full game:

White: Mimoko Inoue (2750) Black: Lynessa Broadstone (664)

1. d4 Nf6

2. Bf4 d5

3. Nf3 c5

4. e3 Nc6

5. Nbd2 Qa5

6. c3 Kd7

7. dxc5 Qxc5

8. Nc4 h5