The sed game began.

  This time, Cato was more atteo the way Fiona developed her pieces. That whippersnapper was certainly pnning to sneak past Cato’s wall of defines again, so he had to make sure to catch the burgr in time.

  I remember this line. Cato realized. Thus far, the game has been progressing in a very predictable dire. I researched this li week.

  Sihe game began, the two of them have only been exging theoretical by-the-book blows. They were both familiar with these positions, so they knew how to optimally respond to each other’s moves. They were essentially pying on autopilot from their memory.

  But, like in any match, the position gradually deviated from known theory. They were approag unfamiliar territory for which memory wouldn’t be enough. At least, for one of them, it shouldn’t be.

  I remember cheg this position out. Cato thought ba the extensive research he did with the chess engine just the other week. She's going to stump me with that knight in two moves. That’s how it pyed out the st time we reached this position.

  It was impossible tet that nasty move. It was a sneaky knight that slipped past his attention. It was a mistake that cost Cato the game about a month ago.

  Naturally, being the theory lover he was, ade sure to record the game and add it to the many other losing positions he had to research. It took him a couple of weeks to finally get around to studying that position, but it was a good thing he did.

  That knight is bad news. Cato thought ba the engine’s board evaluation.

  The position was more or less even until Fiona moved her knight, then the odds shot up astronomically in White’s favor. At that time, Cato vaguely uood it was a blunder on his end, but he didn’t expect that one py to be SO devastating. Acc to the e rehe entire game unwinnable for Bck.

  As such, Cato absolutely had to research that devastating position and learn how to prevent such shenanigans iure. And, after aensive research session, he found a couple of ahe engine approved of.

  Allow me to casually move this pawn over here. iled impishly. , now go for the same line. You got a series of "good" moves ahead of you, so you wouldn't miss them, will you? Just py like st time, it'll be good for you~

  But, Fiona didn't mht away. U time, when she went for the “good moves” right away, this time around she was taking her sweet time.

  My, is something wrong? Cato's smile twitched a little. You got all this great setup, so it’d be a shame if you don’t utilize it, right? Last time, you went for it without batting an eye. Why not this time?

  Yet, Fiona tihinking. It was a little uncharacteristic for the La Princess, who was known for her fast and precise pystyle. The way she carried herself always made it seem like she could find the best move for any situation ihan a sed.

  But of course, chess wasn't such a simple game. There were always moves and positions that stumped pyers, and the La Princess was no exception.

  "It lendid response," Fiona said as she finally made her move. Unfrotatuenly, it wasn't quite the move Cato was expeg...

  "My, that's new." Cato did his best to maintain a smile but his brows joined into a frown. "I was sure you'll capture my knight."

  "I almost did," Fiona admitted. "But, then I remembered we pyed a simir position a few weeks ago."

  "Impressive memory as always," Cato said. It wasn't sarcasm, he truly meant it.

  For him, that game was memorable because he found himself mopped by a nasty move he wao research. However, for Fiona, that game was just another victory, one of tless. A, she seemed to have a vague recolle of it.

  "I'm surprised you noticed what I was aiming for," itted.

  Even with how much time Fiona took to analyze the board, the trap Cato id out should've been difficult for a human to spot. The importance of the pawn he moved was only going to reveal itself ter, in a tricky way that wasn’t immediately obvious. Therefore, unless Fiona literally had an engine installed in her head, she shouldn't have been able to figure it out. At least, not this quickly.

  "Truth to be told," Fiona fused. "I still 't quite tell what this pawn is supposed to achieve. But, it looked like a very deliberate move. Knowing you, I am sure you have researched this position after losing. So, if that's a respohe engine advised, then it must be a trap of some sort."

  "Haha, maybe..." Cato was too naive. Just because he spent hours researg this position and found a strong ter, it didn't mean he'd be able to coast to victory just from that.

  What a bummer. Cato grumped. I demand pensation for all the hours I spent researg this position. Sigh.

  After Fiona sidestepped the trap, the pawn’s position became a little suspect. As the game went on and Fiona sistently refused to take the bait, the pawn’s position became one of the ots in Cato’s defense.

  Don't people always say that "hard work is rewarded"? iled sfully. That's a load of bullcrap when you're faced with gealent.

  His game theory was weaker, his analytical skills were inferior, and even his research wasn't good enough. On all fronts, Cato was losing to Fiona. She was like an almighty goddess with no openings.

  Looks like I have to rely on some good old psychological warfare to shake her up. He no longer felt like he'll be able to win through regur means. It was time to try attag Fiona's mental state.

  "By the way," Cato started. "About Yuel."

  "Yes?" Fiona's eyes immediately uhemselves from the board.

  Good rea. Cato already found one weakness he could strike. "Remember how he was supposed to py for StormBlitz?"

  "Of course."

  "So, you won’t believe it. About a week ago, he pyed in a scrimmage... as part of Stratus!”

  "...........” Fiona blinked with a frozen expression. It seemed that information was too much to process, even for her.

  “Oh, in case you don't know, Stratus is supposed to be the weakest team in the region."

  “... yes, I have heard as much. It is a team that has never gone past the first round in the regionals."

  "Yeah, that's the one. And, for some ungodly reason, Yuel pys for that team! What do you think of this development? Bizarre, isn't it?"

  "Yes, it is." Fiona's stoic expression cracked for the first time today. There was visible disgust on her fabsp;

  Good, good. iled to himself. Let the anger e you~

  “Do you know for what reason is he pying on Straus instead of StormBlitz?”

  “Apparently, he switched schools.” Cated. “I doubt his goal was to switch teams, but who knows. Any ideas?”

  "None. In truth, I never seem to uand what Yuel Fermond is thinking. It appears his as tio be as bizarre as they have always been."

  "I knht? Imagine leaving the 2eam in the region to joitom-tier underdogs. Even for a sports drama story, that'd be a stretch."

  "Right. I also found it hard to believe the first time I heard it."

  "Wait, you already knew about it?"

  "Yes, I happeo e across this unfortunate information a short while ago." Fiona sighed deeply. "I believe it is imperative for me to familiarize myself with all the teams in the region, so I watched a repy of the Taurus-Stratus scrimmage. It was... quite different from what I expected."

  "Yeah, I don't think a single person out there expected to see anything quite like it." iled wryly. Drat, even this news couldn't catch her off guard! Then again, I guess it's too te to call it "news" at this point.

  It was o think that Fiona wouldn't be at the top of her game in terms of information. Even though she picked up Cssmancers only retly, she already knew everything about the regional se. That’s the kind of perfeist Fiona La was.

  Despite possessing unparalleled talent ihing she touched, this girl never ed her studies and practice. Thus, it was virtually impossible to catch up to her.

  How are we, oners, supposed to defeat a genius who practices just as hard as us? Cato pouted. That should be illegal. It kills any ces of hard work triumphing over talent. Life be such a shitshow sometimes. Sigh.

  The news Catht wasn’t even news for Fiona, but at least the topic itself seemed to weigh on her mind a little. There were subtle hints of irritation on Fiona's stoic expression now.

  It took a really keeo notice them, but Cato was more than qualified. After all, he has been Fiona’s mask for years now, always searg for the fai cracks. And, whenever Yuel was the topic of discussion, these cracks often showed up, small as they were.

  Yuel was like an anomaly in the fabric of reality. Whether it was luck or not, he was one of the very few oppos who successfully tore down Fiona's stoic mask and flustered her with unorthodox moves. Therefore, she probably won’t fet this grudge until the day she dies.

  I thank you kindly, Yuel. Cato snickered. Thanks to you, I now always have a topic I annoy Fiona with~

  Ever since Yuel was mentioned, Fiona clearly lost some of her edge. Of course, she still unleashed strong tempo moves and terrorized the battlefield with her queen, but Cato found a couple of openings here and there. His defensive pawn formation hasn't been broke and he was slowly, but surely, advang on the enemy king.

  "Check." Fiona decred. Her queen cut through the ter of the board and iraight into Cato's territory, bypassing his marvelous defensive formation.

  My, aren’t you overextending a little with that queen? Cato had no choice but to move his king out of harm's way, but that's all Fiona’s “scary” move achieved.

  Now, Fiona’s queen was deep within Cato’s territory. She was eying one of his pawns and trolling the rank she was one, but that was the extent of her threat. Nothing to worry about.

  I think this is time to attack. Cato ighe queen a on the offensive. Her moves are clearly softer than usual. This is the time t her down!

  Cato delivered oack after another. He forced Fiona's king to turtle up at the er of the board with few options of escape. In addition, he even forced some unfavorable piece exges on her. Slowly but surely, Cato was driving the La Prio a er...!

  I should be good from here. Cato was almost vinced. Let’s see here. I capture, then she captures, then I capture. Then probably captures, captures, and captures. Then, I go in with the rook and that's GG, right?

  But, Fiona threw a wren that predi at the very start. She didn't capture Cato's knight in respoo his capture. Instead, she moved her overextending Queen even further into Cato’s territory.

  "Ack!" Cato couldn't help but produce a silly sound. This dang queen...!

  It was an ued factor. The queen had beeending in his territory the eime with minimal options, so he didn't care much for her presence while he was busy mounting his offense.

  If anything, it was a joyous situation. For once, Fiona's queen wasn't pced on the most oppressive spot possible. She wasn’t terrorizing the entire board, allowing Cato to breathe in relief.

  But, I was naive. Cato bit his lip. The joy was temporary. Eve was a little dulled, Fiona's brain was sharp enough to slice a mountain. From a seemingly osition, she returned her queen into the game with a tempo, f his knight and rook. It stopped Cato's offense in its tracks.

  My, this is not good. Not good at all... Cato recalcuted his options.

  With the queen simultaneously applying pressure on his attag pieces and also on his king's general dire, the entire evaluation of the board flipped on its head. Now, Cato was the one who had to rack his brain to find a way to defend himself.

  "That was careless of you," Fiona criticized. "You had a strong game going, but you pushed a little too hard and a little too early."

  "That I did." Cato had no reason to deny it. He blundered somewhere in that offense.

  Most likely, the critical move was three turns ago, when he made his rook join the offense. He reparing to harass Fiona's king by trolling the D file, but he created an ued opening in his bae in the process.

  My, what a disaster. That's what happens when you try to be a smartass and pn your offense many turns in advance. Cato sighed at his own rashness. He felt like a kid who got baited by a dy.

  Just because Fiona wasn't at the top of her game for a moment, Cato was tempted to go for all that uncharacteristic aggression. Offense has never been his forte, s to dabble at it out of the blue became his undoing.

  That's a . Cato sighed.

  In the end, he couldn't recover from that oempo move of the enemy queen. After the unpleasant fork, Fiona followed up with a flurry of tempo moves, most of which were handled directly by the queen.

  Rather thaing the soldiers do the lifting, Her Majesty left her throne and traveled all around the battlefield, terrorizing everybody with her supreme might.

  Through unparalleled flexibility and raw strength, the queen almost single-handedly tore Cato's position apart. It's like the queen was Fiona herself, flexing that godly talent she had.

  And so, another match came to an end. Yet again, Cato lost...

  DarkestCymore