Chapter 211:

Toil and sadism

En Passant Grandmaster

Mimoko felt conflicted as she watched the game unfold. Emmie had moved her pawn to g4, while Iori had moved her king back to e8. But after Emmie moved her bishop to a3, Iori had a much better position. When she heard from Carol that Emmie could see a bit into the future, she assumed that meant Emmie would be able to create perfect counterplay, yet she was playing at her elo level of 669, leaving Mimoko to wonder where her supposed confidence was coming from.

"Is Iori-chan going to make a fatal blunder?" she thought as Iori moved her pawn to h5.

It was then that Emmie began to grin maniacally and moved her pawn to g5. "Now bishop captures a3, knight captures a3, and d6. Then just 7 moves to go until you say, "This looks so horrible, I'm gonna resign soon.". Oh and Mimo must be tormenting her brain wondering how you could possibly lose, but declaring your resignation is how that comes to be. Welp, guess I'll just let Mimo get bewildered," she thought.

As all the moves Emmie predicted came to pass, Mimoko began to get a little nervous as Simone too began to smirk. "I saw it too. Though our foresight doesn't extend too far into the future, it went far enough to show victory," she declared aloud as Emmie moved her pawn to h4.

"Oh? You claim your prediction is right? Then why do you always botch your tests?" Skaberghast snickered.

"Because those results were foreseen."

"And you didn't try to answer questions differently?"

"I only foresaw so far, and I did not foresee the final result."

"Interesting," Skaberghast smirked as Iori moved her bishop to g4.

Emmie decided to move her bishop to h3, offering up a trade, yet Iori refused, and instead moved her pawn to f5, eliciting a delighted cackle from Emmie. "You fell for your own en passant!" she laughed as she performed en passant and captured the pawn at f5 with her g-pawn.

Iori gasped in shock and trembled for a bit before calming down enough to capture the offending pawn at f6 with her queen.

"And now the end approaches," Emmie thought as she castled on the king's side.

Now Mimoko began to get more frustrated than nervous as she stared at the state of the board. "This is completely winning for Iori-chan. How could she possibly blunder!? Her face looks worried, but she's been playing perfectly ever since the bongcloud and with her life on the line, how the hell does she lose!?" she thought as Iori made the best move and captured the knight at f3 with her bishop. "

The mystery became even more baffling as Emmie moved her bishop to g2, allowing Iori to capture her queen at d1 with her bishop. She promptly captured said bishop with her rook and began trembling with excitement as Iori moved her knight to d4.

"Here it is! After this move, resignation and victory!" Emmie thought as she confidently slammed her king down on h2.

Before Mimoko could even fathom as to how Iori could possibly lose, the prophesized moment occurred.

"Wow, this looks so horrible, I'm gonna resign soon," Iori trembled.

Carol went pale with horror as Mimoko's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Yup, so good game. Hope ya enjoy a life of slavery," Emmie sneered as she extended her hand.

"Hah, you stupid? Verbal agreements are null and void in DESPER battles," Iori snickered.

"Huh?"

"She's right. Oh, and she technically never said she'd resign either. Just that the position looked so bad she was likely going to resign SOON," Skaberghast snickered.

"Yeah, meaning it's subject to change, and I sure as heel ain't resigning when I'm about to win!" Iori maniacally grinned as she slammed her rook down on h6.

"Um, she clearly resigned so-"

"DESPER says no verbal agreeing to resignations or draws no matter how much you bitch and moan. Oh, and your clock's still going by the way, so it's your move," Skaberghast snarled.

Emmie shot him a nasty glare and slid her bishop to h1. "There, now-"

"CHECK!" Iori shouted as she captured the pawn at h4 with her queen.

Simone immediately began to go pale as she realized mate was inevitable. Yet before she could wallow in disbelief, Iori answered the burning question she had on her mind.

"Huh? How'd I know about your foresight? Simple, I was still able to see you rubbing baldy like a crystal ball. Then all I had to do was try to influence fate a bit by thinking hard about saying those words right after Shitslut blundered into mate," Iori snickered as she moved her rook to g6.

"M- MATE!? No way! Are you saying- No... the vision-"

"-Didn't show ya the full picture. Welp, you heard the man, verbal resignations are forbidden, so either make the move or let the clock run out. What's it gonna be!?"

Emmie began to tear up and began to tremble as she stared at Iori's maniacally grinning face before her. "H- How did I ever empathize with you?" she shuddered as she meekly moved her bishop to g2.

"Simple, we're both sadists, and humans are sadistic. You just had your sadism overwhelmed with fear, cuz you realize you're about to be on the other end of it. Checkmate!" Iori snickered as she moved her knight to f3, winning the game.

The scenery quickly returned to normal and as soon as it did, metal tentacles sprung out from the DESPER and restrained Emmie. Iori gleefully whipped out her phone and began filming as Emmie was stripped and shaved balder than her brother. Once that was done, she was released and fell to the ground with a thud.

"W- Wow. Th- This feels so weird," Emmie blushed as she trembled and slowly stood up.

"Well guess now you can empathize with the bald," Simone groaned as the DESPER flashed a mirror before Emmie, causing her to gasp in shock at her new appearance.

"W- Well, at least I can say I got shaved bald by my favorite streamer," Emmie nervously chuckled.

Suddenly, Emmie began coughing up blood as she clutched her chest in pain.

"Oh right, there was an added condition that your heart would explode. Well, it's not too life-threatening thanks to science. But not sure you'll survive after all your skin melts off," Skaberghast snickered.

"Huh? Wh- What do you-"

"I never SAID that condition was nullified."

Emmie went pale with horror and slowly turned to face Iori, yet to her even greater horror, Iori was grinning more maniacally then she'd ever seen.

"Y- You didn't-"

"I figured he'd keep it in, but the false hope made your defeat all the more savory," Iori grinned.

As time began to slow, Emmie's eyes frantically darted towards Carol and Mimoko. Carol appeared to feel a bit sorry, but also not for her while Mimoko began sighing in disappointment, presumably at Iori's antics.

Then, Emmie let out a bloodcurdling scream as her skin began melting off. The horrific sight cause both Mimoko and Simone to scream while Carol shut her eyes and turned away. Kristalo stood with a blank expression on his face, though a tear did trickle out of his eye, showing that at the least, his body was crying. And Iori and Skaberghast just watched in amusement as Emmie sunk to the floor and floundered around in the pool of her blood and melted skin before her body went limp.

"Welp, guess we got a new specimen," Skaberghast snickered as Simone desperately ordered Kirstalo to grab Emmie before making a retreat.

Skaberghast also made a tactical retreat before Iori could use her DESPER key, though Iori likely wouldn't have used the key anyway as that was designated as her "emergency use only" key. Though Iori soon found herself in a new problem as she turned to face a traumatized Mimoko and somber Carol.

"Uh, I go too overboard?"

Mimoko glared and angrily slapped Iori. "YOU THINK!? THAT WAS HORRIFIC! I don't care if she tried to kill you both, that was too cruel!"

"Eh, I was just trying to help her empathize with me a bit. Anyway, we got more games to play, so don't let a little face melting cause you to blunder away the whole tournament," Iori grumbled as she walked away.

Carol merely sighed and gently patted Mimoko on the shoulder. "I know it was rough, but try not to let it destroy you. Iori would feel terrible if this led to you losing the rest of your games."

Mimoko stared at Carol before sighing and regaining her composure. "I'm sorry to worry you, but still that was too cruel. I'll have to slap her again later."

The full game:

White: Emmie Broadstone (669) Black: Iori Ishikiridokoro (2044)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Ke7

3. b3 Nc6

4. g4 Ke8

5. Ba3 h5

6. g5 Bxa3

7. Nxa3 d6

8. h4 Bg4

9. Bh3 f5

10. gxf6 Qxf6