Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

"… This is the fight you\'re giving me? A board game?" The werewolf asked in a deadpan, her disappointment levels rising through the roof. "And here I thought you were a purebred warrior."

"I do love breaking expectations." I said with a wink, my grin never leaving my face as I put on the best impression of a confident, mischievous person/gorilla. "Besides, you already accepted. Would you turn your back on the promise you made?"

"Well, aren\'t you a schemer." The werewolf sighed, her lips arching up ever so slightly. "Alright, fine. So, how do we play?"

"Simple. Take a seat and I\'ll give you the rundown of how the game goes." I took a seat on the side where my fellow allied Dungeon Masters gathered after noticing the temporary ceasefire between the two groups. It looks like some of them were disqualified, and judging by the lack of blood staining the ground, I would assume that there were no deaths on the either allied and enemy side either.

I can\'t rule out internal injuries, but I\'ll just assume that they were healed during their short time in the medical bay… Wherever it was.

The female werewolf took a seat right in front of me. Now that I saw her up close, and wasn\'t blinded by the sheer anxiousness I was having currently, I could see that she was quite a looker.

She had tanned skin, brown, messy short hair, and two wolf-like ears atop of her head. She had heterochromatic eyes; her left was a pale silver, and her right a chocolate brown. She also wore something akin to a belly dancer\'s attire back in Egypt, with a gold-themed pattern. She even had the veil, something I noticed earlier, covering her mouth and her neck from view.

"Before I go about the rules first, how about we introduce ourselves first. Once again, my name is Jionni, a recent addition to the Hemoglobin group." I said with a bow. "May I have the honor of hearing my lady\'s name?"

"Quite the charmer too." The werewolf noted, but otherwise, was unperturbed and unmoved. "Greetings, Dungeon Master Jionni. My name is Salama, the leader of the Lewko group."

"Greetings, Lady Salama." I smiled politely. "Anyway, as for the rules, there are a bunch of them, but otherwise, simple and easy to learn."

"First, the winning condition of the game." I said as the board was quickly set up in a matter of seconds by my deft hands. "Each of us has a king which we must protect. In order for a player to win, he must make sure the king piece has nowhere else to move while being under the condition called check."

Salama looked at the board and grabbed a white king, inspecting it for any kind of suspicious magic. Once she observed enough, she put it back down on the board.

"How does this \'King\' piece move? I assume that they are the strongest unit in the game based on their name and position." Salama tapped the white king piece with her finger. At that, I chuckled a bit and grabbed the black king piece from my side of the board.

"On the contrary, though, the king is the weakest piece in the entire board." I said, placing the black king piece back on the board in its initial spot.

"Oho? And why is that?" Salama asked, intrigued that such a piece with a fitting name was the weakest of all pieces. All around, the other Dungeon Masters who were watching the exchange nodded, some even scratching their either bald or hairy heads.

"It\'s because of how the king piece acts. Under no circumstances can the king be placed in danger when it moves, so they can\'t act as a viable fighting force when you sacrifice pieces for your offense or defense." I stated, causing the rest of the Dungeon Masters to ooh and aah at the rather realistic statement.

I mean, let\'s be real for a moment. Most kings stay behind while they watch their soldiers march forward. Those who led the charge themselves could be said to have nothing to lose, or were too stupid to see that in war, he was just a normal person with an army against another army, while he was at the front, a prime target for his enemies.

"Next, let\'s go over the units, or pieces, as they are called in the game." I picked up a well-placed pawn on the board.  "These pieces are called pawns. Each of us has eight pieces lining the front, as you can see on the board."

"They can only move forward one space at a time. Although, it could use three special moves during certain situations." I placed the pawn back on the board, Salama\'s eyes focused on the pawn. "The first time a pawn is moved, they can either move one or two spaces ahead."

I demonstrated moving the pawn forwards two spaces, or one space. "Do note that once the pawn has moved once, they can only move one space at a time on future turns."

I placed the pawn back on its initial spot and looked up to see Salama looking at the board with increasing interest.

"So, this piece is the cannon fodder of the game?" Salama asked with a genuinely curious expression, a far cry from her indifference earlier.

"You could say that, but they are also a game changer. I\'ll be tackling that later after I discuss all the other pieces." I said as I took some pawns from each of our sides and placed them strategically at the center of the board. "Now, as for how pieces attack the enemy, or in this game, capture, the pawn is a special case."

I used the pawn to diagonally take a black pawn. "The pawn can only take an opposing piece if they are diagonally in front of them. If there is a piece in front of them, however," I place the pawns back, only this time I place a black pawn in front of the white pawn. "The pawn cannot move, and will be stuck on that tile until it can take an opponent\'s piece, or if the obstruction is gone."

I returned the pawns to their original positions and cast a glance at the werewolf, whose interest grew stronger by the second.

"The next special move of the pawn is called the \'En passant.\'" I once again set up the positions of the pawns without much hassle. "Now, this is a special rule that can only be used during special circumstances. It could only be done if, and only if, the opponent\'s pawn moved ahead two spaces and landed adjacently to the already positioned pawn."

I demonstrated a pawn capturing another pawn that was adjacent to its position, due to it moving ahead two spaces on its first move.

"As for the third special move of the pawn, I\'ll discuss it later after we go through all of the other pieces." I placed the pawns back in their initial spots. I felt the gazes of dozens of Dungeon Masters on me once again after I had placed the pawns back on the board properly. Hell, even Oshurkova was interested in this board game, if her shining, blood-red eyes were any indication.

Next, I picked up the rook piece, holding it up high for everybody to see. "This here, is called a Rook. As for how it moves and captures, it can only move horizontally, and vertically without limit, as long as it\'s on the board. That\'s it."

I demonstrated how the rook moved by showing them a few moves, as well as capturing pieces. Once that was done, I placed it back on the board, with Salama looking at the board intensely.

\'I think she\'s captivated by the board game.\' I had to resist the urge to chuckle. \'Had no one invented this game here before? Even the reincarnees?\'

I put a stop to that thought and went back to introduce them to another chess piece. "This is known as the Bishop, and yes, I\'m referring to religious bishops." I sighed once I saw some of the Dungeon Masters, who were either human or demi-human, their faces darkening at the word.

"This moves like a Rook, but instead of vertically and horizontally, it can only move and capture diagonally." I made some demonstrations and promptly placed them back on the board properly.

Next, I picked up a piece resembling a horse. "Now, this right here, is probably one of the most infuriating pieces in the entire game." I held it out, causing all of the Dungeon Masters to look at the horse piece. "This is called the Knight, and unlike the other pieces who could move straight, either diagonally, horizontally, or vertically, this piece travels in a very unorthodox manner."

"Unlike most pieces, the Knight can hop over pieces, meaning that its movement is not restricted when it comes to pieces body-blocking their route." I demonstrated a knight hopping over a pawn to their destination. "Now, as for how they move, they move in an L-fashion, with three steps forward, and one step to the side."

I showed them all of it\'s eight possible moves when nothing was blocking it, and when some were also blocking it. I placed the knight back on the board, and picked up the piece right next to the king piece.

"Now, for every king, there must also be a queen, and in this game, the queen is the most powerful piece, making it able to do what a rook and bishop can combined, meaning that a queen can move vertically, horizontally, and diagonally if the need arises." I demonstrated once again the moves of the queen, how it captured pieces, and promptly placed it back on its original spot. "The next is the King piece, and as I said earlier, is the weakest piece in the game. It can move one space in any direction that isn\'t in the line of fire of one of the opponents\' pieces."

I grabbed a King and placed a pawn right next to it. "So, let\'s say there\'s a pawn here. A King can capture it no problem, but if you put a supporting piece, such as another pawn," I placed a pawn diagonally behind the forward pawn, "the King piece cannot capture it, otherwise it would be an illegal move and the game would end."

I placed the King back on the center of the board, and had a pawn move into capturing range. "And in this example, I show you that a pawn is attacking the King, or in this game, placing the King under check. Now, if there aren\'t any supporting pieces, the King can retaliate," I let the King capture the pawn, "and capture the offending piece, but if it has one," I undid the move and had the pawn place the King under check with a rook behind it, "then the King has no other choice but to move away, unless there is another move which can disrupt the line of fire from an opposing piece."

I had a rook check the king from a few spaces away, and had a bishop block it. "Sadly, this does not work for the Knight, since it can hop over pieces."

"Now, as for that pawn\'s third special move?" I made a pawn do a beeline from one side to the other side. "When a pawn reaches the last line of the board, it has the ability to promote into any other piece. Meaning, yes, you can have multiple queens on the board, making the life of your opponent a living nightmare."

I couldn\'t help but make a joke about that last sentence… Ah, good times against scrubs…

"Anyway, that sums up about the rules of the game we\'re playing. As for how we play, we each take turns after every move, with the white piece starting first." I finished, and Salama was looking at me with a very intense expression on her face. "… Uhh… Do you have any question?"

"… Yes, do you have another one of these?" Salama asked seriously, her eyes bordering on insanity as she looked at me with.

"Y-yes… Of course, I\'ll gladly give you one after the match." I said with a sweatdrop… Just by introducing the game, I seemed to have turned someone into a chess fanatic... Damn, I guess her boredom was catching up… In fact, I think her bored face was literally her being bored… "Anyway, shall we play the game now?"

"… Yes, remember the deal we made."

"Yes, you win, you get me, I win, you let my leader off." I said once more, our terms were set. "I\'ll let you be white and have the first move."

Once we both nodded and shook our hands, the match was on, with Salama opening with a pawn move forward to e4. I made my pawn move to e5, in response.

Next, she moved her knight to c3, and I moved my queen to h4. She then moved her other pawn to d3, and I quickly moved my bishop to c5. It was at this moment that Salama observed the board for a few seconds longer than usual, before settling on moving her other horse to f3 to pressure my queen.

And then I quickly captured the pawn on f2, at the same time causing a checkmate.

"… You planned this, didn\'t you…?" Salama said, once she realized that she had been caught in a checkmate.

"It was a 50-50 gamble, honestly…" I replied, scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

"… Haaah… A deal\'s a deal." She stood up and gave me her hand. We once again shook on it, before she grabbed the chess board on the table. "And I\'ll be taking this, as compensation for humiliating me in front of my subordinates."

She then looked at Oshurkova, her eyes momentarily shifting into serious mode once more, before she sighed.

"You better not let that happen again. Keep a proper leash on your sister, otherwise, if this happens again, I won\'t be as merciful, got it?"

"Crystal." And with that, the Lewko group left, not before Salama sent me a tiny smile as she mouthed the words \'rematch\' towards me. I nodded, and then they were gone.

I then felt a hand grasping my shoulder, and I turned to look at Oshurkova, who looked like a mix of thankful and livid.

"So, care to explain why you did what you did?"

\'Welp… When life gives you lemons… Make motherfucking lemonade with it…\'