The king of Assïac

Angela scowled as she rode in the backseat of a sedan.

"Why am I the one that has to drive? My feet hurt from all the running," a young man at the wheel groaned.

"Yes, we did just go through quite the ordeal. I believe rest is necessary," a young woman in the passenger seat concurred.

"Courtney, Gofer, this is part of our responsibility for failing in such humiliating fashion. We can't allow innocents to be hurt because of our negligence."

"Y- Yes, ma'am."

Galvin Gofer and Courtney Fortuna were the two college students Angela had drafted into Mystery Trading co. Courtney was a spirit medium, and generally billed as eccentric, but amongst MT co, she was more often than not the voice of reason.

Galvin on the other hand was a womanizer, and often the source of most of the groups ires. True to his name, he often served as the gofer of the group, always being forced to carry bags and equipment like a pack mule.

Finally, there was the real Angela Nakiri. Like her fake counterpart, she prided herself on her intellect, though unlike her had radiant silver hair and was far more beautiful. Now 27 years old and semi-sidelined from adventuring due to an injury, she now took on more of a backseat and advisory role while her pupils handled the more hands on things.

"Still, it was quite foul for that fiendish witch to make off with our van," Courtney scowled.

"Yes, but it was the smart play. The question though is why she decided to go after the sisters. I'll confess pop music is not my area of expertise. Gofer, the floor?"

A glint appeared in Gofer's eyes as he gleefully began explaining everything there was to know about the Lovesung sisters. Courtney let out an audible groan and began absorbing herself in her tarot cards as Angela sat silently and listened. Once she heard enough, she pulled out her phone and went to dial Sick-O.

"Yes, Sick-O the industry's best production-"

"Hello, I am Angela Nakiri, could you please patch me through to Maya Lovesung?"

"Wait what!? Look lady, I don't have time for-"

"You wish to same them from a serial killer lose at the Angus farmlands, yes? Then give me the numbers of the Lovesung sisters' members so I may contact them and tell them how to best the whore impersonating me."

Sick-O went silent, but considering Angela knew info that supposedly just him and the police knew, he decided to take his chances.

"So what are you gonna do now that you have the numbers? Oh, can I-"

"No, I'm not telling them to you. As for the first question, I'm assuming they don't know that the king of Assïac is hidden within the back passenger side tire along with a pistol filled with three silver bullets."

The king of Assïac was a powerful artifact said to contain remnants of the Chess Devil, Assïac. Assïac was the younger twin sister of Caïssa, the goddess of chess, and had frequently been at odds with her. One day, they competed in a no holds barred chess match, from which Caïssa emerged victorious from, resulting in Assïac being sealed in Tartarus. However, Assïac managed to preserve some of her power in the form of the king of Assïac, a golden chess piece that could force anyone into a chess match. It could either be used to force two separate people into a match, or to force one other person the play the one wielding the king of Assïac.

The only caveat was that victims could only be forced into matches if they were deemed to be less skilled in chess than the one wielding the king of Assïac, otherwise, they could simply refuse the challenge and the artifact would deactivate. As for how it determined a chess player's skill; elo ratings. Shana boasted an official elo rating of 1366, however, both Lovesung sisters had dabbled in chess enough to achieve ratings of 1527. Thus, there was no issue regarding whether the sisters would be able to force Shana into a match.

The real kicker was that once the match began, wagers could be placed. This often resulted in great benefits for the winners, such as healing injuries, becoming more powerful, or simply having an ice cream materialize before them to eat. The losers on the other hand would be subject to whatever punishment the winner decreed upon them, though the penalty of death would often supersede all.

"How do we know the fakes haven't tampered with it?" Gofer asked.

"I assume they won't touch it, as there is a powerful talisman on each hubcap which would prevent them from so much as touching the wheels without receiving a nasty shock," Shana replied.

"But who are you going to call?"

"Mia, naturally."

"Hold on, she can't speak! Then how's-"

"It's exactly that reason, why our faker will be so prideful as to let her seize the artifact."

...

Mia threw the phone down and immediately pried off the hubcap of the back right wheel, getting lucky and finding both the artifact and a pistol. There was also a note instructing one that in order to use the king of Assïac, one had to either point it at an opponent they wished to challenge, or two people they wished to have play each other and activate it by saying, "DESPORA DIMITTIS!".

Mia quickly grabbed both the king and gun and fired two shots. One hit Courtney in the shoulder, causing her to wail in pain before turning into a horse and running off. The other flew towards Shana, who simply blocked it with a shield of lightning.

"Sorry, but I command a great variety of spells, for you see I'm the great witch empress of yore. That means I'm on a completely different plane of existence than you, meaning you can't so much as hurt me with your petty silver bullets," Shana sneered as she levitated Mia into the air.

She then began twisting Mia's right hand, causing her to drop the gun as a meek squeak of pain escaped her lips. However, she persevered through the pain and screamed "DESPORA DIMMITTIS!" in her mind as she aimed the golden king in her left hand at Shana. However, nothing happened.

"WHAT AN IMBECILE! You needed to recite the words, but you can't so much as even muster a sound! What luck, I'll enjoy making you despair," Shana sneered as she twisted Mia's other hand, causing her to drop the king of Assïac.

At this point, all Mia could do was tearfully glare at Shana as she continued to mangle her hands and fingers. It looked like all hope was lost, until suddenly...

"DESPORA DIMITTIS!"

Shana froze as her magic was suddenly cancelled out, and she found herself seated at the black end of a chessboard. Mia plopped down to the ground, before getting up and sitting down at the white end of the chessboard, further baffling Shana.

"How!? How could you activate-"

"She didn't, I did," Maya grinned.

Shana turned to notice Maya had a phone in one hand and the king of Assïac in the other. "Damn that woman."

"That's my line. Now miss Lovesung, the conditions for the wager?" Angela's voice asked on the other end of the line.

"Mia wins, her hands get restored to normal, my wound heals up, and her opponent gets burned to death and has her soul eaten by the board."

Shana scowled and quickly affirmed that when she won, the Lovesung sisters would suffer an inhumanely gruesome death and become her thralls in the afterlife.

"Very well, then I wish you the best for your match," Angela smiled as she hung up.