291 THE QUEEN'S MOVE
Lady Dassa gave him a comforting gesture. "Don't worry, son. I'm always here for you," she replied.
Lord Harith's gloating was abruptly silenced by a thunderous clash as a new piece descended into his space.
It was the Queen.
"Yes, see how you deal with mother," emperor Ramses cried.
"Stop crying to mommy", Lord Harith replied and laughed. But his laugh was short lived.
Dassa surged toward Harith with a speed and ferocity that eclipsed anything her previous shadow minions had displayed in Sodom City. This was no shadowy fragment of her essence…. this was Lady Dassa in her entirety, the Godmother of the Temple of Hera, a force unbound, an invincible killer.
"You send me a woman assassin? Is this an insult?" Harith sneered, his voice dripping with sexist scorn. "To send a mere woman to face me, one of the greatest warri—"
Before he could finish, Dassa blurred into motion, her dagger slashing at his side.
Harith staggered, barely evading her initial strike.
"Don't look down on her because she's a woman. She's occupying the Queen piece. She must be vicious", Lord Argun reminded Harith.
Lord Harith wasn't hurt by Lady Dassa but she was relentless. Flipping over him with uncanny agility, her blade found its mark again, sinking into his back before she darted away.
"Argh!" Harith roared in pain, his confidence shattered as he spun, trying to anticipate her next move.
"Harith! Be careful! She's far stronger than you!" King Argun's warning echoed across the board, but it was too late.
Dassa's strikes came in rapid succession, each one precise and merciless. Her daggers left deep, poisoned cut across Harith's body, the venom coursing through his veins as he collapsed to his knees.
She was the Godmother of assassins.
"Harith! No…" Argun's voice broke, a rare crack in his stoic demeanor, as his most loyal general crumpled to the ground.
The Queen piece hovered above Dassa, claiming Harith's Rook piece.
"Huh, serves you right for killing my Pebble man", the emperor cried.
The devastation on the battlefield was swift and brutal, and it wasn't going well for the demon army. The ignorance of the rules of the chessboard realm disadvantaged the demon army.
Argun clenched his fists, his frustration mounting as he watched piece after piece fall. His rooks, bishops, knights—even his pawns—all lay in ruin, sacrificed to this cruel game.
"How do I win with this bloody battlefield?" Lord Argun complained.
The army of King Argun wasn't any weaker than the army of emperor Ramses. But the ignorance of the rules of the chessboard gave the white side a big advantage. Argun's army went into battle without any strategy at all.
He was doomed to fail.
"You'll never defeat me, you stupid demons, hahaha", the emperor gloated and laughed.
King Argun was still struggling to move into position.
"Damn, this King piece", King Argun complained again.
Before King Argun could move into position for battle, the battlefield was soon stripped bare until only Argun remained, a solitary King confined by his cursed movement limitations.
His voice trembled with fury as he spat, "Damn this bloody game!" The board's game mechanics shackled him, rendering him powerless to intervene where he was needed most.
As the last of his forces crumbled, Argun's mind raced.
He studied the movements, the unrelenting strategy of the enemy. A grim understanding settled over him.
"I see it now," he muttered, his voice low and bitter. "The strategy of this cursed game is to shackle the strongest piece—the King—while you dismantle the weaker ones."
From across the board, King Ramses's laughter resonated, cold and taunting.
"You are perceptive, King Argun. Indeed, in my chessboard, the King is not a symbol of strength—it's a throne for the weakest. Physical strength is irrelevant here. What matters is control of the board," he explained.
Ramses stepped forward, his frail form casting a shadow over the grim expanse.
He wasn't the strongest piece in the game.
On the contrary, he was probably the weakest. He wasn't a fighter or warrior. But his position was the most fortunate for him because he never intends to fight at all.
King Argun's glare burned with defiance. The rules of this game were clear now, and they were designed to crush him.
"You'll have your chance to fight, King Argun! The game has not ended yet," Dassa's voice cut through the silence, sharp and taunting as the last of the white pieces fell.
Only the King remained. Now, it was his turn.
The Queen piece descended into Argun's position with an ominous glow, signaling the final battle.
"Finally," Argun growled, his voice echoing with both wrath and anticipation.
His eyes burned like coal as he stepped forward. "Your chessboard may have restrained me, somewhat, but it will not save you. When I am done, you and all your kind will bow beneath my wrath."
The air around Argun crackled with dark energy, and a towering apparition drenched in fiery lava materialized above him—a demonic projection of his unbridled power. Massive, clawed hands stretched outward, their flames engulfing Dassa.
"Die…"
"Mother…"
With a roar that shook the board itself, the projection struck. Its monstrous hand descended upon Dassa with crushing force, aiming to annihilate her in a single, devastating blow.
But Dassa did not falter.
As the projection's hand loomed closer, another form emerged—a radiant, divine figure that countered Argun's darkness with blinding light. The hand stopped mid-strike, blocked by an equally colossal and luminous appendage.
It was Dassa's own projection, the embodiment of the Goddess Hera.
"Do you think I am only capable as an assassin? I'm the strongest conjurer in this kingdom", Dassa claimed.
Goddess Hera's form rose higher, her brilliance slicing through the shadows. Her gaze met King Argun's with an unyielding fury, her presence a challenge to his demonic might.
"Impossible… how can your conjuration meet my Man-tiered projection?" King Argun cried.
The two forces collided with an earth-shattering boom, sending shockwaves rippling across the board. Argun's demonic projection snarled, pushing against the divine figure, but Hera's radiant power pushed back unrelentingly.
"In this battlefield, my power is greatly amplified and strengthened. On the other hand, your strength is suppressed. This is the rule of my chessboard", Lady Dassa explained to him.
"No… this is not fair," King Argun complained.
"If this was fair, we would not have wasted effort to bring my domain into your camp", Emperor Ramses said to him.
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