Red Roots

The Golden Prey-2

Rytho starts the countdown and each side prepare for themselves.

“Hunt on in.... Three.... Two.... One....”

Number two was mentioned on the former, which means that Lancel is allowed to make a move first. Without taking time, he lifts up his Knight and places it up front. A red square appears on the field, showing Mauvet where to move from his position. The opposing Chessmaster, Reya la Britannia of the west resident, moves one of his Pawns, causing another fighter to change position. Lancel proceeds by moving a Pawn of his. Reya seizes that chance to move a Bishop.

The battle of the chess pieces continues, but oddly, there is no real fight. None of the chess pieces has come down to an epic end yet. Nobody is fighting, and I can see from beside me of how sour Altore’s face is of not being able to see anything bloody at all. Lancel and Reya concentrate on their tactics a lot. Lancel keeps fishing him, and Reya eats all of this inducement unconsciously. His blunt desire to want to win badly really controls him. And before we know it, the game finishes, with Lancel checkmating Reya’s King with a Pawn.

“What a strike,” Rytho admits complementarily, “As expected from a previous champion!”

Nythalie cheers from her podium loudly, along with the rest of the spectators. Lancel comes down from his pod, along with Reya. They walk to the middle of the field and bows in the same time, placing their right hands on their chest, as a sign of respect. The first round ends without any blood spilled, but I know that Lancel was not completely holding back. This achievement itself is a way to release his stress.

The screen randomizes again, and this time it reveals two whole new set of numbers; ten and seven. Which means I get a black.

“Alright, Ladies and Lords. The first round might not be as bloody as you expect it to be, but I can assure you, these ones want blood to spill.”

My opponent Chessmistress is an elder ─ Elder Wilhelmina, to be exact. I can see her from a lower row slowly going rigid when her eyes locked with mine, before being able to turn away in time. I smirk at her, showing what ’ s hidden underneath, and she shivers. We both walk into our own pods, followed by each group members. She starts first, but I don ’ t mind it at all.

“Yeah, Big Sis! Knock ‘em dead,” Charlotte exclaims from our podium with an accent.

“Well, technically, we aren’t allowed to really kill them,” Elric tells her as he settles back into his sit.

“Oh. Sorry. I am just so in the heat of the moment,” she mumbles as a respond. Then to me, she corrects, “Then knock ‘em half-dead.” Which cause some of the participants on field to gulp.

And I will.

Once it’s my turn to move, I move a Pawn. Elder Wilhelmina has no other choice but to move the obvious. I take my turn and she does. By the time the third move comes, I strike her Queen down in one go, causing the spectators to cheer excitedly.

Dablovo, my Rook, takes his chance to claw his hand around Elder Wilhelmina’s underling. The underling screams out loud for help as he bites into her shoulder and rips her skin off. I catch his wife smirking at him from their podium, as if encouraging him to go on silently. Dablovo lets the underling go and she falls on the ground. He steps on one of her wrists and breaks it straight away, causing another wave of scream of go off.

“Blood, blood, blood, BLOOD!” The spectators rise.

I throw my own smirk at Elder Wilhelmina, really challenging her this time. She looks pissed, especially when one of her favorite servant is being tormented and there is nothing she or the other members can do about it. Gripping one hand into a fist, she uses the other one to moves one of her Bishops. A male vampire, stuck in the age of thirties, comes striking towards where Dablovo stands.

It is true that this game is not just about hunting the prey, but also to provide a chance. If Elder Wilhelmina had a plan, then this will be her biggest moment to shine it on.

Her Bishop raises his sword up high, but Dablovo doesn’t even make a move. At the final second when the sword is about to s***h him, the pureblood catches it with one hand, completely treating this small assault degradingly. The Bishop gets pissed, putting more force into his sword by using both hands. It’s no use though. As long as the Varnacular is facing a pureblood, there is nothing he can do.

Much.

When it is time for me to make my move, I use a Pawn and knock down one of the white’s Knight. The Knight doesn’t stand a chance when the holder of the Pawn is Wallow. The older pureblood rips a leg and throws the Knight out of the field so disposingly. The crowd emboldens for more blood.

Dablovo throws me a glance, knowing obviously that I do it on purpose. According to the rule, I have to move his chess piece if I want to let him strike back the Bishop. But right now he just have to stay still and keep up his defenses until I allow him to charge back.

Elder Wilhelmina takes my bait like a hungry lion, without even thinking twice sets off her Queen at Wallow. She is really giving her all, but she is also giving out her all. She is going reckless, and without even realizing it already giving up her protection shields. With an opening like this, being checkmated is bound to approach by any waking second.

Wallow stops the noble vampire by the head, taking strong yet simple grip on the skull. The shorter vampire struggles a lot, punching and kicking, but all he gets is the air. The older pureblood is really utilizing his unusual height to make fun of his attacker. But any more move and in defensive, then he will be disqualified.

My turn comes up, but I still do not checkmate her right away, which causes Dablovo to slightly frown in irritation. I know that it is meant for me, even when it is not me he is digging hole to but the sky. I use my chance every time to eliminate yet another member from Elder Wilhelmina’s group, just to haunt her by knowing what is coming for her. She will try to take down another of my chess piece, but I will always make sure that the opponents her group members get are even stronger than hers. It is so that every time she risks a piece, she loses one.

I let this little haunting game goes on until there is nothing left on her zone board than that one final piece, the King ─ herself.

Instead of using any other chess pieces though, I use mine instead. But since the Kings can only move one square per turn, it takes time to eventually catch up to her chess piece. That’s alright, though. The chasing itself is fun enough for me. Then, when it finally comes to an end, I checkmate her.

The second hand from the clock tower seems to stop when I dive down from my pod, down and pass across the entire field, before climbing up her white pod. I give her my Devil ’ s sneer, causing her to struck with shock, and then bestow her with a much higher level of shock when I punch my hand into her chest. My crawls achingly extort her heart ─ one last sign of mortality that she has left after being turned almost two thousand years ago ─ gouge it, before eke it out from her chest.

Her dead veins get pulled along when I tore her heart out. The cold red lump moves slightly, as if coming back from the grave by pumping up. Elder Wilhelmina can only watch as I extend my hand out, her organ still being held. My nails have gotten so sharp they barely scratch the outer layer of the heart. All the way, I keep my smirk on, the spectators voicing out their wishes.

“Crush it and shove it down her throat!” a male voice exclaims.

Thump.

“Put it back in her and tore it out all over again!” another male joins him.

Thump.

“Tear her heart and throw it on the ground, then make her crawl on dirt to pick it up!” a female gives me another idea.

Before I can do any of those vicious options though, I turn my palm upside down and let the heart slip off.

It lands on the ground with a surprisingly loud ‘pop’ sound, much like a balloon that is pierced by a needle. Elder Wilhelmina’s eyes roll back from the eye sockets before falling down from her pod oh-so-not gracefully.

The crowd goes wild as paramedics are ready to take her away. I kiss my blood-covered hand at her unconscious corpse to say goodbye.

Until we see again.

“What a show, what a show,” Rytho whistles in awe. “And that, Ladies and Lords, is why our crown princess is called the White Devil. Cross her and you are officially six feet under. Now, who’s ready for another round of madness?”

Another powerful wave of cheer comes from all over the stadium. Adults and elders, youngs and newborns ─ they all want the same thing.

“Wow, you really knock them all half dead. Not even a single one spared,” Charlotte states in awe-stuck once I get back to our podium, still not breaking any eye contact from the field I left behind.

“Yeah. You were so bad that I think that old haughty will not rise up until the next half a year,” Altore chips in.

“Half a year? I think she won’t be gone for that long. A month of recovery, perhaps. Two months top,” I say.

“Nah, I don’t think so. She’s so old that I don’t think even her corpse can function that properly. I will give her at least three months in the coffin.”

“Really?” I fold my arms underneath my chest. “And what makes you suddenly an expert in this? I thought I am suppose to make the analysis.”

“Because you totally kill out there,” Elric precepts, bending his body slightly to face me. Then, in a lower tone, he says, “You really got your vindicate done on her, didn’t you?” He is mentioning about the time when I overheard Elder Wilhelmina talking with her fellow elders as they passed a hallway after their meeting with the Emperor, which happened before he got sent away for his mission. Pompous ancient cadavers, they are.

“What can I say? A vampire never forgets. There might be those who are high and noble, but I am certainly not one to suppress my grudges like crazy,” I smile as I say that, more to the enjoyment of recalling the second I held that rotten heart in my hand.

“ That you totally don’t, Big Sister,” he shares a smile as sinister as mine.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

The next segments move up to yet another showdown. The system pulls out two set of numbers, and this time the screen shows number five and one.

“Alright. That’s more like it,” Altore jumps up his sit, inflamed. “Are you ready, Little Sister?” he throws a challenging look at her before walking up and jumps right off the podium, so he can land directly on the field in one go.

“You bet,” she resuscitates and overhauls him, bringing the mechanical doll along.

“What’s with you guys and jumping over the podium today?” I ask, noticing the repetition.

“It’s much more in a certain style. You should have done that,” Elric tells me.

“Maybe on my second orbed.”

“Oh, but I’m sure not Charlotte will be left victorious this time. It’s him they are facing against, after all.”

At the same time, Vilvia leaves a peck on her husband’s lips and joins with the rest of her group. She’s playing the part of a Pawn, while Charlotte becomes the Black Knight. The Chessmaster himself is a high-ranking noble named Cornelius Gaund, a Viscount.

On the other side, the White Knight is Altore, followed by Mauvet as one of the Pawns. The Chessmaster in the group is none other than my fiancé.