297 THE SOLITARY PAWN
"What are those fools doing?" Ramses bellowed, his frustration boiling over as he realized their tactic. "They're retreating from the chessboard!"
There was a minimum distance soldiers needed to be within for the chessboard's magic to ensnare them. The Sodom traitors had anticipated this and withdrawn to a safe perimeter.
"Emperor, what shall we do? They refuse to enter the chessboard," General Tokin asked, his voice laced with unease.
"Idiots," Ramses growled. "If they stay outside the chessboard, they cannot defeat us. They'll be forced to engage eventually."
Suddenly, to everyone's astonishment, a figure stepped boldly but unwillingly onto the chessboard, initiating the game.
He was a hybrid, part demon, part human—likely a human who had not fully succumbed to demonic transformation.
"A half demon?" Ramses asked.
"Lilleo Gullee, why did you send me in?" a voice shouted angrily.
It was Agathae, the last survivor of the demon army Ramses had previously decimated. Leo had captured him while fleeing from the city and thrust him into this battle first.
As Agathae crossed onto the board, the chessboard's magic designated him as the King piece for the white side.
"You stay there to fill that useless spot", Leo replied to him while hidden among the crowd.
It was a part of Leo's plan.
He played this game before. The last thing he wanted was to take the place of 'King'. So, he deliberately put Agathae into the game first, so he'll be automatically crowned 'King'.
Then, one by one, other figures joined him.
A tall man, Lord Gubana from Eoloth, claimed the Queen's position. Rabana and Bara took the Bishop slots, while General Nahum and his officers assumed the Rook and Knight roles.
Finally, the pawns' positions began to fill. But to Ramses' surprise, only one individual stepped forward. Clad in an invisibility cloak, his identity was obscured.
Ramses sneered. "Hah! Only one pawn? You'll lose the battle before it even begins!"
But the tension in the air hinted at a strategy Ramses had yet to uncover.
-----
The chess pieces on the white side—Sodom's side—remained eerily still, except for the solitary pawn. On the black side, Ramses' pieces also hesitated, waiting for their opponents to make the first move.
When none came, only the black pawns advanced cautiously across the board.
The first black pawn moved directly toward the lone white pawn. To everyone's shock, the soldiers within the black pawn froze the moment they neared the solitary figure.
"What's happening? Why have the pawns stopped?" General Tokin asked, his voice edged with panic.
"Surround him with more pawns," Ramses commanded, his frustration mounting.
More black pawns advanced, encircling the white pawn from all sides. Yet as their forces converged, something strange occurred. Their movements slowed, then ceased entirely, as though caught in an invisible web.
"What curse have you placed on my soldiers? What curse is slowing my units?" Ramses roared at the cloaked pawn, his voice echoing across the battlefield.
The cloaked figure remained silent, his presence ominously calm amidst the chaos.
Determined to break the stalemate, Ramses sent in additional pawns. "I refuse to believe one man can hold off an army of a thousand! His magic cannot restrain them for long," he shouted, his confidence bolstered by the sheer numbers at his command.
On the white side, General Talhasse turned to General Nahum. "Should we intervene?" he asked.
"No," Nahum replied with a faint smirk. "The young master planned this perfectly."
It was permissible in this chess realm for multiple pieces to engage in battle for the same spot although once engaged, they could no longer move to a different spot until the battle is resolved.
"See?" Ramses declared triumphantly. "I told you—this kind of magic can't last!"
As if on cue, the immobility of Ramses' soldiers suddenly lifted. Freed from the mysterious paralysis, they charged at the cloaked figure with renewed vigor. The black units poured onto the battlefield with the solitary white piece.
Soon, the solitary pawn on the white side was surrounded by units of the black side- the pawns and even the Knights and they engaged.
From beneath the cloak, a voice spoke, calm and cold.
"The slow curse wasn't meant to lock your units indefinitely, to prevent them to attack me. It was meant to draw them all to me at the same time," the solitary white pawn said.
Before Ramses could respond, the ground beneath the battlefield shifted.
Gnarly, clawed limbs of shadow erupted from the earth, twisting and writhing as they climbed toward the soldiers of the black pawns.
The shadows moved with terrifying precision, their slashes cutting through armor and flesh alike. The ethereal bodies of the shadow creatures made them impervious to physical attacks, and within moments, the battlefield was drenched in blood.
Limbs were severed, heads were cut off. The soldiers of the black pawns stood no chance.
In a horrifyingly short span of time, they were annihilated.
Their magic and souls, torn from their lifeless bodies, were pulled inexorably toward the cloaked figure, feeding the dark power that surrounded him.
"Dark Sacrifice."
One solitary white pawn had obliterated five black pawns in a single, devastating strike.
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"My… my guards. You are a Demon… or a demon practitioner!" Ramses shouted, his voice trembling with anger and fear at the lost of his entire army of footmen who were swallowed up by dark magic.
Demon magic practitioners were infamous mages who delved into forbidden demon magic, granting them powers rivaling or even surpassing demons.
Such individuals were outlawed, relentlessly hunted by the Hunter Associations across the realm.
And now, one such mage stood aligned with the Sodom invaders.
"Sodom traitors! How dare you employ a demon practitioner! Don't you know the consequences of this treachery?" Ramses screamed, his face contorted with rage.
On the white side, General Talhasse turned to General Nahum, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Who is that cloaked figure?"
"That is the demon Black Cock, Lord Gullee's secret trump card in this battle," Nahum replied, a sly smile playing on his lips.