Chapter 242:

Back from Streama festivalen [Season 7 Intro]

En Passant Grandmaster

Mimoko drowsily sat at the dining table as Daria placed her breakfast before her. After being subject to countless turmoils at Streama festivalen, she had immediately elected to return home and had been resting for days.

"Didn't even tie your hair up. Want me to do the honors?" Daria asked as she ruffled Mimoko's now disheveled hair.

Mimoko responded with groan before dunking her face into the bowl of rice before her.

"Still out of it? Want me to nurse you with some warm milk in a bottle?"

"No."

"A chess puzzle?"

"Brain fried."

"Then just rest some more. Oh! how about I book you a SPA appointment?"

"No... I don't wanna. They'll shave me bald again..."

Daria was at a loss on what to do. She'd never seen Mimoko this out of it before.

"What on earth happened at Streama festivalen?"

...

"You wanna know what went down? Didn't see the stream?" Iori asked as she lounged at an outdoor table.

"I can't comb through all the footage, especially when I have prep work for the chess Olympics," Okisato grumbled.

"You gotta prep? I thought you were talented."

"You've got it easy. With Maestro Himitsu and Inoue-senpai, your team has a good chance of winning the whole thing. Just looking at statistics, I'd argue you'd be the top seeded team if your rating matched your skill level."

"Oh yeah, I actually went elo farming while I got isekaid. Even saw that red skeleton baron guy. Fucking bastard cheats and respawns after he dies! That's like the worst matchup for me! And what the hell is that metal statue orb thing he summons!?"

"That... is likely the Ultima-master."

Iori's jaw hung open as even she was surprised by that revelation. "... THAT GUY'S A FUCKING CHEATER!"

"Maybe in life, but sadly not chess. Worse, Prussia will be at the Chess Olympics and are said to be one of the strongest teams."

"Ugh. Oh yeah, Mimo-chan had a rough time. You heard anything from her?"

"I'd assume you'd be more likely to hear about her than me."

"I'll try Carol-chan. She works for Mimo-chan's mom after all."

...

Everyone gathered at Triple cedar's secret puzzle cafe to discuss some new business. Mimoko had gained enough energy to get dressed and leave the house, but that was only thanks to Daria escorting her.

"Alright, in order to heal Mimo-chan's brain, I'm gonna recap one of the chess games that went down at Streama festivalen!" Iori declared.

"There were a bunch of them, which one?" Carol asked.

"The first one against that respawning skeleton guy."

...

Back during Streama festivalen, an incident occurred where all attendees were sucked into a portal and brought to another world. There, it was revealed that Red Reaper, Nyoan, and Skaberghast had joined Jester's makeshift group of evil streamers.

When Iori first came to the world, she found herself grouped with fellow streamers, Kumi, Leona, and Madoka. The heroine team as they dubbed themselves. Soon after they got aquainted with the world, they were confronted by Jester and his evil streamers...

"Professor Skaberghast, how much longer must we wait before the hunt?" Red Reaper snarled as he hovered in the air.

"Oh you can go. In fact, everyone disperse."

"Then I'll handle the girl," Red Reaper glared as he leaped down and landed before Iori.

"You better use that DESPER," Iori growled as a sinister smile began to form on her face.

"Naturally, it shall be a 1 minute bullet match and should I lose, I die."

"Yeah, you get blown to bits!"

"Then the same death shall befall you," Red Reaper glared as he activated his DESPER.

Iori suddenly found herself inside a Sopwith Camel flying through the air, while Red Reaper flew behind her in a Fokker. A chessboard was present in the cockpit of the plane, prompting Iori to open by moving her pawn to e4.

Red Reaper responded with e5, and the two then brought all their knights out to f3, c6, c3, and f6, respectively, all while the others watched from below.

"Surprised the game's being streamed from down here," Kumi grumbled as she looked at her phone.

Iori taking notice of the fact that the game was being streamed, decided it was time to show off. "HAPPY HALLOWEEN, MOTHERFUCKER!" she laughed as she captured the pawn at e5 with her knight.

"What the hell!? Can't the knight take her knight!?" Madoka cried as Red Reaper did just that and captured the knight at e5 with his knight.

"Relax viewers, this here's called the Halloween gambit, and old graveyard just fell for it!" Iori maniacally grinned as she slammed her pawn doen on d4.

Red Reaper scowled and quickly moved his knight to c6. "Schizer! I should have gone to g6 instead. Though I have more time on the clock than her. Perhaps I'll go for running her out of time," he thought as Iori pushed her pawn to d5.

Red Reaper quickly moved his knight to e5, but Iori was waiting for that and pushed her pawn to f5, sending the knight to g6, but now she could push pawn to e5 without worry, sending the knight back to it's starting position of g8. Then knowing the opening, Iori pushed her pawn to c6, prompting Red Reaper to capture said pawn with his c-pawn, leading to Iori capturing said pawn with her e-pawn, and Red Reaper capturing said pawn with his bishop.

"WHOOPS! YA FUCKED UP!" Iori taunted as she captured the bishop at d6 with her queen.

Red Reaper scowled in annoyance, but realized her still had 40 seconds left on the clock while Iori only had 30. "I just need to catch her off guard, and she'll lose on time," Red Reaper thought as he moved his queen to a5.

Iori was on top of things though and moved her bishop to d2, prompting Red Reaper to capture the pawn at f4 with his knight, yet Iori saw that too, and captured said knight with her queen before a second even passed.

"Damn her speed. So this is why herr Jester referred to her as a ninja," Red Reaper snarled as he moved his queen to h5.

Iori instantly moved her bishop to e2, prompting Red Reaper to try a surprise attack and capture said bishop with his queen, however, Iori was able to quickly capture said queen with her knight, once again in under a second.

Enraged at Iori's insane speed and reflexes, Red Reaper angrily moved his pawn to d5, hoping to somehow throw Iori off enough to win on time.

"This shit's going down to the wire! Girl's barely got 15 seconds left!" Leona cried as Iori moved her bishop to b4.

"But she's making great time. Though I'd still be faster," Kumi smirked as Red Reaper moved his knight to g8.

Seeing blood on the water, Iori quickly moved her queen to d6 as Red Reaper angrily moved his knight back to g8 and stared at the clock. "13 seconds!? And she knows the moves. Damn her!" he fumed as Iori moved her queen to f8, forcing his king to d7.

Iori then castled on the queen's side, bringing her time down to 10 seconds, but all she needed to do now was make 3 more moves at most, which quickly went down to 2 moves after Red Reaper moved his knight to f6.

"Plenty of time to spare! It's over. CHECK!" Iori snickered as she moved her queen to d6.

Red Reaper stared in fury at Iori's time. "9 second left!? Verdammte Schlampe! Ich werde sie dafür umbringen [Fucking bitch! I'll kill her for this]!" he shouted as he was forced to move his king to e8.

Then without letting a second pass, Iori moved her queen to e7, winning the game. "CHECKMATE! Back to hell!" she snickered as she gave Red Reaper the middle finger.

The Sopwith she was riding in then maneuvered behind Red Reaper's Fokker and opened fire, destroying the plane in a fireball, sending it's remains, along with fragments of what was left of Red Reaper, crashing to the ground.

"YO! You film that shit!?" Iori grinned as the Sopwith landed and she ran out to greet the others.

"Yeah, shit was streamed live! Guess maybe all this does count as Streama festivalen," Kumi nodded.

"But what channel is it streaming on, and who's recording?" Leona asked.

Before anyone could offer a hypothesis, Madoka went pale with horror as she began pointing towards the wreckage of the Fokker. Everyone turned and to their horror, saw Red Reaper regenerating before their eyes.

"Oi... NO FUCKING FAIR! YOU CAN'T JUST REGENERATE AFTER YOU DIE!" Iori fumed.

"Seems you don't know of me," Red Reaper glared as he finished regenerating and picked up his DESPER, which was now emitting a puff of smoke. "Anything on me when I "die" regenerates with me. That being said, DESPERs will always be destroyed upon each "death" meaning I have to both acquire a new one and re-register with the Desperado league. Now let's see how accurate Professor Skaberghast's theory was."

Red Reaper then slammed his palm into the ground, causing it to rumble as an ominous structure began to appear behind him.

...

"And as he summoned that ultima-whatsit, we ran," Iori grumbled as she finished her story.

"Iori-chan, you played a Halloween gambit?" Mimoko grumbled.

"Uh, yeah? It's pretty damn solid, and badass to boot."

Mimoko sighed and checked the game logs, going over Iori's game move by move.

"It was 1 minute bullet, yes? ...Not bad. You capitalized on your opponent's mistakes well."

"Mimoko-sama, are you feeling better?" Utami nervously trembled.

Mimoko replied that she was still miserable from the humiliating escapades she experienced at Streama festivalen, but she could at least refocus her mind a little with chess.

Daria smiled as she watched from afar. "Seems like Mimoko will be back on her feet in no time."

The Full game:

White: Iori Ishikiridokoro (2044) Black: Red Reaper (2780)

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. Nc3 Nf6

4. Nxe5 Nxe5

5. d4 Nc6

6. d5 Ne5

7. f4 Ng6

8. e5 Ng8

9. d6 cxd6