"This was the mistake that cost you the game." Fiona quickly rearrahe position from memory and showed Cato just how greedy his rook move was.

  "The engine will be able to tell for sure, but overall I agree." Cato nodded. "I should've waited a few more turns with that."

  "If I had to share my ho opinion," Fiona said. "No offense, but your skills have dulled."

  "Did they?" iled wryly. "Maybe you just became that much better this year."

  "I don't believe that's the case. At the very least, I haven't had an easier time against anybody else in particur. However, matches against you have been disappointing as of te."

  "Haha, harsh..." Cato tried t it off with a ugh, but he couldn't deny that Fiona’s words pierced through his chest like a knife.

  So, what did this mealy? That, instead of getting closer to his ultimate goal of beating Fiona, he was only drifting farther and farther away. And worst of all, he felt that too even without Fiona saying that in his fabsp;

  "It seems that managing a petitive team is taking its toll on you."

  "I guess it does." Cato sighed amd threw his back at the fy sofa. "It's no easy job, especially now that we have a scrimmage every other week. I'm busier than ever. We have to review every eeam, strategize against them, and then practice all these strategies. There's o the amount of work."

  "Sounds rough." Fiona nodded in uanding.

  "Heh, weakling." Karen lifted her . "Sis is also a captain now but she doesn't make excuses like that."

  "Karen." Fiona pced a hand on her sister's head as always.

  "Meow~" Karen rubbed her head against the hand like a kitten. It almost made her look cute, if not for the rest of her personality.

  "Speaking of being a captain," Cato said. "How is your fresh team doing? I heard you finally got approval to py at the regionals?"

  "Yes, that we did."

  "And here I thought it was a lost cause. Didn't they say it was too te to apply with a eam at this point?"

  "It was just a matter of their personal venience," Fiona said. "They have already started preparing for the uping season, so they didn't want to make any st-moment adjustments. Lazy of them, if you ask me. The sport is far from thriving in ion, so they should be thankful for any additional talent they get their hands on."

  "I'm with you there." Cato nodded. "To be ho, I'm even more surprised that your school allowed you to form a Mancers club. I was sure that 'video gaming' is as far as you possibly get from the image of a 'proper dy', or whatever they’re preag there."

  "Times are ging," Fiona expined. "Sports were traditionally sidered a men's activity, but nowadays it is not politically correct to disregard women's sports. Even an old-fashioned school like ours has no choice but to adapt to the times, or else they will hear pints."

  "For real, though." Karen spat a sigh. "I wish they hurried up with that 'adaptation' thingy. This school is like a fossil."

  "Don't say that." Fiona patted the cat's head. "It's a prestigious school with a long history."

  "More like, it’s stu history." Karen pouted for a moment, but soon dropped the topi favor of rubbing her head against her sister's hand.

  "All in all," Fiona said. "Things are proceeding smoothly on my end. We successfully arrahree scrimmages, one of which is against your team."

  "Oh, so Ruez pulled through, huh."

  "Yes, he was very helpful throughout the entire process," Fiona said. "As the only middle school coa ion, and one who sistently delivers his team to the nationals, his words carry siderable weight. I'm very thankful for his hard work."

  Well duh, of course he'd work hard. Cato snickered. I bet there was a fine sum involved in the process.

  Fiona, or maybe her father, must've e forth with a juicy offer in order to vince Ruez to join this expedition. After all, Coach already had his hands full managing the Leopards and the gigantic club, so he shouldn’t have time for anything else.

  A, Ruez agreed to serve as Fiona's personal coad eveiated with the tour ao enter Fiona’s team into the regionals. Surely, no adult man would go to such lengths without appropriate pensation.

  Well, I'm sure part of it is passion. Cato gave credit where credit was due.

  Ruez wasn't some clout-chasing coach who only cared about ing his personal team as the champions. He genuinely cared about the petitive se in the region and worked to promote it at any opportunity. Therefore, adding a prestigious girls' school like St. Mary to the petitive se must've been an appealing opportunity for him, regardless of any potential cash involved.

  Of course, Fiona deserved much of the credit as well. This girl successfully vinced her father that Cssmancers was a legitimate modern sport, and she somehow pressured for old-fashioned school into allowing a Cssmancers club to exist. As always, It felt like this girl could achieve anything she set her mind to. Truly, a human from a higher pne of existence.

  Then again, with enough money and the right es, nothing is impossible.

  As a renowned politi, Fiona's father could make many unthinkable things happen thanks to his reputation alone. Fiona merely had to introduce herself as the man's daughter and people would roll out a red carpet for her. Ihe niame "princess" sounded quite fitting here.

  "So, you'll have a scrim against us, huh." iled impishly. "Don't worry, we'll go easy on you."

  "No need for that," Fiona asserted. "By the time we get to face you, our team will already be at a national level."

  "My, that's quite the decration. Is your team filled with a bunch of geniuses?"

  "Not at all. I simply believe that, as long as our team trains hard enough, it will reach that level. You do not have to be a ‘genius’ to get results."

  If only real life was that simple. iled wryly. There are plenty of people out there who don't achieve their goals no matter how hard they work. Then again, I guess a true genius wouldn't uand the struggles of us oners.

  There was no ce that Fiona La, the natural-benius, would rete to the struggles of normal people. She was the type to succeed in anything she tried her hand in, no matter how difficult it was or how many such activities she was busy with at the same time.

  Even now, she was active in trad-field and volleyball at school, as well as practiced piano and chess. She also apparently had regur swimming lessons, alongside other fitness activities. And, these were only the things Cato was aware of. Who knew what else Fiona squeezed into her packed schedule.

  On top of all that, she retly set her eyes on Cssmancers as well. This girl was like a mae. She was a master of both sports and strategy, the kind of perfect being that wasn't allowed to exist in this world.

  Whenever she cims she do something, it always feels like she'll definitely achieve that goal, no matter how unrealistic it seems. Cato thought. So, she’s right. I better not take her lightly just because her team is filled with greenhorns. She might catch me off guard.

  Of course, Cato didn't really believe that a pyer with less than one year’s worth of experience would pose a real challeo the Leopards. heless, a little bit of extra caution never hurt. There was no question that Fiona La wasn't a girl to be uimated, regardless of her experience.

  "So," Cato tihe versation, hoping to distract his oppo some more during the game. "What's your impression of Mancers so far?"

  "It's an iing game," Fiona said as she shot a strong move that stumped Cato on the spot.

  She isn't losing her focus at all! Cato ranted internally. In fact, it felt like Cato’s performance was the ohat dropped the most during the versation. My, what an ironic example of 'you reap what you sow'. Well, no matter. At least, I use the chit-chat to distract myself from this agony.

  "So, you like Mancers more than Chess?"

  "Hard to say," Fiona answered. "They're pletely different games. But, Cssmancers does demand an acceptable bination of study, practice, and skill in order to master it. In that regard, I fully uand how it became a petitive game."

  "That's right!" Karen tuned in. "It's one heck of a deep game! Sis and I gonna master it and win nationals this year!"

  "You'll try," Cato retorted with a smirk. "Hoy, I expect much more from Fiona who just picked the game, than from you who’s been pying it for years."

  "What was that!?" Karen shot him a gre, but soon rexed after giving it some more thought. "Well, of course sis is amazing at anything she does. I'm sure she'll reach pro-level in no time, so yeah, I guess I kinda agree with that."

  "My, no faith in your own skill?"

  "Of course I got skill," Karen asserted. "Enough skill to beat some kids' team like the Leopards."

  “My, the snder.”

  “Just you watch, we’ll mop the floor with you!” Karen asserted. “You’re small fry for sis. She gonna reach pro level real soon.”

  "These are very high expectations." Fiona smiled softly as she patted her sister's head. "I doubt my level will reach that of a professional pyer in just a year. However, within the realm of rivaling other pyers my age, I am quite sure I reach the top."

  "My, such fidence. Keep in mind there are some scary pyers even at e," Cato warned. "Even at our very club, we got one guy who is... special, for the ck of a better word."

  "Yes, I've heard about the Korean traudent," Fiona said. "Acc to Ruez, he hold his own against C-League professionals."

  "Indeed, I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. In the few times we got to scrim against pros, that guy actually gave them a hard time. He’s something else."

  "From what I have heard of his backstory, I do not think I will be able to reach his level in a single year. Apparently, he has been w himself to the bone for many years to reach his current level."

  "That's what I’ve heard too." Cated. "I dunno how brutal the training regime in Korea is, but the guy is definitely a beast. There's even one very proud pyer on our team who really hates losing to others, but even he had to admit the Korean pyer is on a whole different level."

  "Heh, no problem!" Karen grinned. "By the time we get to the regionals, sis will be ten times better than that Korean dude!"

  "I appreciate the faith you have in me.”

  "Real talk though," Karen said. "I still 't believe sis and I gonna pete together in a video game of all things. I hought you'd give them a try."

  "Admittedly, due to the way I was raised, I have never held video games in high regard," Fiona expined. "I was taught that video games are a cheap form of eaihat solely exists to lure kids into spending all their time and money. As such, I always imagined video games as some evil creature that wanders around, tempting kids into braindead fun in order to suck dry their souls and wallets."

  "My, that's quite the image." Cato giggled. The picture Fiona painted was eaining enough on its own, but Cato had even more fun imagining a small Fiona living with that image in her head.

  A small and ho little girl, traversing through the foggy darkness all by herself. Behind her, a cag wrinkly wizard chasing her, his words echhout the area: "e py this video game, little girl~" Truly, it was a thing of nightmares~

  "Little by little," Fiona tinued. "My opinion on video games started ging after I watched Karen py them."

  "Mhm." Karen puffed her chest. "That's right, I'm the one who introduced sis to the fun world of video gaming!" She was really proud of herself for some reason.

  "That's true, though I still do not py them much," Fiona said. "I simply do not have time to get into them."

  Imagine a middle schooler saying they have no time to py video games. Cato shook his head. Worst of all, it’s 100% true in her case. I don’t know where she even finds the time to BREATHE with her schedule.

  "You could say Cssmancers is the first video game I am seriously getting into. Karen fervently ree and you picked it up as well. And, also..."

  "Yuel pys it too," pleted the sentence for her. "Admit it, you started Mancers just to get back at him~"

  "Not at all," Fiona said evenly. There were no visible cracks ioic expression, so it was hard to tell whether it was a lie or not.

  But, my gut is telling me I'm on the money here. Cato snickered. She got extra ied in the game after I mentioned Yuel was also pying it.

  Throughout Fiona La's impressive chess career, there was oain she couldn't wipe away no matter how hard she tried. It was her infamous match against Yuel, a one-in-a-million i in which she lost her cool and cracked under pressure.

  For this proud dy who held posure in the highest regard, losing herself during a match erhaps the highest degree of disgrace. And, Yuel was the one lucky oppo who drove her into that dark er, tearing her apart limb by limb.

  Naturally, being the sore loser she was, Fiona sought revenge against that offender. She practiced, practiced, and practiced some more, aiming to improve tremendously for their iable rematch... that never came.

  In the following year, Yuel became a pletely ged man. His i no longer id with chess and he didn't even reach the finals that year. Needless to say, Fiona was fuming over the fao matter how hard she tried to ceal her true feelings oter, it was clear as day to Cato.

  After all, I felt it on my owhat day. She shed hard at me. iled wryly as he recalled the finals from that day. It was a massacre, pure and simple.

  Fiona one-sidedly mopped the floor with Cato on that day. It was a tale of horrors.

  All the pent-up frustration Fiona accumuted throughout the year came gushing out, sweeping Cato away like a tsunami. He almost sidered quitting chess after that crushi. In fact, that soul-crushing experience robably what gave him the push to pursue Cssmancers more seriously, for it was an alternative for satisfying his petitive fix.

  Anyway, that was the eale of Fiona's reveory. Or, more correctly, it was a tale about undelivered revenge. In the end, Fiona never got a ce to enact revenge oarget. And, she pretty much lost the ce to do so forever that day.

  Yuel openly stated he was going to focus on Cssmancers from there onward, which expined why his chess skills fell so ft that day. And, his skill might never improve iure, not as long as he was so deeply ied in Cssmancers.

  In that sense, Fiona will never be able to get “true” revenge on him anymore. She'll never get to face Yuel at his peak. The guy became a shadow of his former self after getting into Cssmancers. At present, he was nothing more than a lowly being who wasn't worth Fiona's time.

  And so, Fiona had to find another way to deliver that pending revenge. And, what better way was there to get revehan to beat the guy at his own game? That's why the La Princess was n her hand at Cssmancers.

  At least, that's the way I see it. iled impishly. Even if I’m only half corre this, I’m still very proud of myself for how much oil I added to this fire~

  Cato felt like a puppeteer, maniputing Fiona into joining the Cssmancers se. And now, the proud queen found herself as an amateur in a plex game where Cato was already an expert.

  It's time for my sweet sweet revenge, muhaha! Cato barely held back his ughter. Finally, he got the pete against Fiona in something other than chess. He'll drag that amateur through the mud in front of everybody! It’ll be so fun~

  At long st, Cato will make up for all the years he suffered uhe queen’s merciless reign in chess. She had no power in Cssmancers! Muhaha!

  "Checkmate."

  "Geh..." Cato's shoulder slumped. It was a nice dream he had there. But for now, in the real world, he was still under Fiona’s heel when they peted in chess.

  Regardless, the tables will turn ohey face off in Cssmancers! There, Cato will be the bully~

  DarkestCymore