Chapter 46: Checkmate
The silence after their encounter with the girl in white clung to them like fog.
Riya and Rin walked side by side, recounting the events to the others, but something was off.
Richard frowned, arms crossed.
Cú Chulainn tilted his head, and even Robin scratched his cheek, clearly bothered.
"So you're telling us there was a little girl, with Command Seals, going around this floor?"
Robin asked, skeptical. "And then she just vanished?"
"She wanted to play," Riya muttered. "Her name was…"
He trailed off. Rin looked at him, confused.
"You… forgot?"
"No. I had it," Riya said, a hand to his temple. "She said her name. I remember hearing it. But now…"
"Same," Rin admitted, her voice softening.
"I even saw her lips move, but the sound... it's like it never happened."
"She was a Servant?" Richard asked, clearly disturbed.
"No. A Master," Rin said. "But more like a ghost."
Cú Chulainn sighed. "Well, this whole floor's been one long acid trip. Creepy dolls, puffing mushrooms, time loops. Ghost girls. I'd almost miss the boring murder games downstairs."
Robin chuckled, but it died in his throat.
"You know what's worse? I can't even picture her face anymore."
They all paused.
The stillness around them felt wrong now, like the air itself was too still.
Like the world had already begun forgetting what they'd seen.
"Doesn't matter," Riya said eventually, pushing through the unease.
"We still need to kill two more Masters so that we will move forward."
Richard nodded. "Then let's stop reminiscing about dreams and keep our eyes open for reality."
With tension lingering in their minds like the memory of a nightmare, they pressed deeper into the castle.
The forest was dead.
They trudged through twisted, petrified trees that groaned in the windless air.
The puffing mushrooms hissed occasionally, releasing clouds of violet spores that drifted upward before vanishing like smoke.
No birds.
No insects.
Only silence and the soft, dragging crunch of boots against withered leaves.
It was Robin who first noticed the opening.
"There," he said, pointing with his dagger.
Between two half-collapsed trunks, a rusted iron gate jutted up from the roots.
Behind it lay stone stairs—spiraling upward with no railings, no support, floating impossibly in the air.
They shimmered faintly in the gloom, rising into the dark canopy above.
"I don't like this," Rin muttered.
"We've seen worse," Cú Chulainn replied, stepping forward.
The gate creaked open.
And the moment they all stepped inside—
They vanished.
Rin's eyes opened.
The sky was black above her, yet glowing faintly.
Beneath her was a field of giant white and black tiles stretching far into the darkness—a chessboard.
It stretched in every direction, and each square was large enough to hold a car.
Mist clung to the edges, and everything was silent.
She stood quickly, heart racing.
A blue blur shifted beside her.
"Cú?" she asked.
He stood, brushing dust off his tunic. "You alright?"
"Where the hell are we?"
He glanced around. "This is some kind of arena."
A low growl echoed across the board.
Both turned.
On the opposite side stood a massive wolf—sleek, shadow-black fur bristling, with deep red markings etched into its snout and paws.
Its eyes glowed gold, and a long chain dragged behind it, clinking with each movement.
Behind the beast stood a girl.
She had long, soft-pink hair with straight bangs and sharp pink eyes.
She wore a school uniform—skirted, with long white stockings and gray shoes.
Her presence seemed… ordinary, yet off.
A wrongness that pressed down harder the longer you looked.
She smiled.
"Hello again, Rin."
Rin blinked.
"I know you," Rin said, voice cold. "Amari."
The girl's smile twitched. "You remember. Good. I was afraid the world forgot me too."
Cú Chulainn raised his spear. "Friend of yours?"
"No," Rin said, stepping forward. "We went to the same school. That's how I know her."
Amari's lips twitched.
Her pink eyes locked onto Rin with a sharpness that had nothing to do with magic.
"So you do remember me."
"I remember your name," Rin said evenly.
"Of course you do. You were always good at remembering names."
Amari's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Just not faces like mine."
Cú stood silently beside Rin, his spear already lowered, sensing the tension.
Amari's voice dropped. "You were the sun. I was a shadow on the wall. Every club, every class, every hallway—you soaked up all the attention without even trying."
"Teachers praised you."
"Students followed you."
"I don't think you even noticed."
"Why would you? You never had to try to be seen."
Rin didn't reply at first.
Her expression was unreadable.
"I hated how easy it was for you," Amari continued, her voice tightening.
"How you never had to crawl for it. How your path was just… clear."
"Me? I had to scramble just to stay in the room."
"Even then, no one looked. No one cared."
"And now you're here," Rin said, her tone steady but not cruel.
"In the Holy Grail War."
"I made it this far on my own," Amari said.
"And when I saw you again—here, of all places—I realized it wasn't enough."
"My name means leftovers, you know?"
Amari's smile cracked. "My mother climbed the ladder with her body, and I was what was left behind."
"I'll never matter until I beat you."
"I don't care if this is a coincidence."
"Fate, magic, whatever."
"This? This is mine."
Rin's expression didn't change.
"I don't care."
That broke the tension.
Amari's fury exploded. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
She snapped her fingers.
A deep rumble surged from beneath the giant chessboard, like a growl shaking the marrow of the world.
Cracks spiderwebbed through the glowing tiles, and from the far side of the board, the mist parted.
Vánagandr's breath thickened into heavier mist, each exhale rippling across the board like steam over frozen tile—his hackles rising in response to his Master's escalating rage.
Cú Chulainn shifted slightly, spear glinting in his hand.
"Looks like this one's got a beast to match her bite."
Amari didn't flinch.
Her expression shifted—twisted, delighted.
Something in her eyes gleamed, unhinged and mocking.
"You know...After I kill you," she said softly.
"After I drag your name through the mud and wear the spotlight like it was always meant to be mine…"
She took a step closer, eyes never leaving Rin. "I think I'll take your man too."
Her hand trailed down her side, settling boldly over her chest.
"That hot, black-haired hunk? With that dumb loyal dog energy? He deserves someone who wants to be noticed."
Rin's jaw clenched.
Amari smirked, voice teasing. "You act like you don't care, but you do. He looked at you like you were everything. I saw it. So, maybe I'll make him look at me like that next. After all, you're about to be dead."
Rin didn't respond with words.
But her eyes burned.
And the dagger in her hand flared with magical energy.
"You think you can just take him? Like he's some trophy you deserve because you spent your life sulking in the shadows?"
Rin snapped, her voice sharp as glass.
"You don't get to lay a finger on him—not now, not ever."
"So back the hell off, bitch."
Rin's voice cracked like a whip, and the air around her shimmered with magical force.
The crystal dagger in her grip glowed white-blue, veins of mana crawling across its edge like lightning.
Her fury wasn't loud—but it was absolute.
The kind that made the world pay attention.
Amari stared at her for a moment, then began to giggle—short, sharp, manic little bursts that echoed eerily in the dead air.
"Oh, Rin, you're so dramatic."
"But you don't understand."
"It's not about him—not really."
"He's just another part of what you have that I don't."
"That's why I'll take him."
"Just like I'm taking your spotlight."
She pointed. "Vánagandr. Break them."
The massive wolf howled.
The sound shook the entire board, like ancient stone groaning under the weight of rage.
Vánagandr's red eyes locked onto Cú Chulainn—and the beast charged.
Marble cracked beneath his claws as he launched forward like a cannonball.
Cú didn't flinch.
Instead, he leapt to meet the attack head-on.
The two collided in midair with a deafening crack, shockwaves rippling across the board.
Cú twisted his body, planting his foot against Vánagandr's chest and launching off, flipping backward.
He landed in a crouch and immediately lunged again, red spear trailing light behind him.
He struck like lightning—precise and brutal.
But the wolf was a monster of muscle and mana.
It twisted, fangs snapping.
Cú ducked, pivoted, and slashed again, this time carving a gash across Vánagandr's side.
Black-red ichor hissed into the air.
The beast roared and countered, swiping with a massive paw.
Cú raised his spear, blocking it with the shaft.
The blow pushed him back several meters, boots sliding on the stone tiles.
He grinned through grit teeth.
"That all you've got? Hell, I've wrestled dragons nastier than you."
Vánagandr came again.
The fight became a blur—speed against savagery.
Cú's movements were fluid, honed, godlike in their precision.
Vánagandr was raw, explosive, primal.
The board cracked and cratered beneath their feet with every clash.
Trees in the distance bent from the force of their battle, even though no wind blew there.
Amari stood at the edge of the field, arms folded tightly, lips parted as she watched with rapt attention.
Her eyes were wide with manic delight, her breathing uneven—not from fear, but from anticipation.
Every time Vánagandr pressed Cú back, she let out a soft, eager gasp.
It wasn't just victory she wanted—it was to see Rin broken.
To see the perfect girl lose everything.
She bit her lower lip, trembling slightly.
"Yes… tear him apart," she whispered, voice low and breathy, like a prayer to cruelty itself.
Her fingers curled against her lower body, a flush rising as she focused on the sensation of control, savoring the idea of Rin feeling just how powerless she had once been.
"Yes! Yes! Let her feel what it's like to be powerless… to be me."
Rin, meanwhile, was glowing with anxiety —her eyes never leaving Cú.
He was bleeding now.
A line of red across his cheek, a deeper gash on his arm.
But he never slowed.
Every movement was poetry in motion.
Vánagandr tackled him again, and they tumbled across the board like two meteors colliding.
Cú found an opening—thrusted Gáe Bolg straight into the beast's leg.
The wolf howled in agony, blood splashing in a crimson arc.
But even wounded, the creature didn't falter.
"You're a stubborn bastard," Cú muttered, stepping back, breathing hard.
His stance shifted. He raised his spear.
"But it ends here."
The air changed.
Mana condensed around him, the temperature dropping with a sharp bite.
The chessboard seemed to darken, the world narrowing to the warrior and his prey.
He spun the spear slowly in his hand.
"You're strong," he said. "But you were never going to beat me."
His eyes locked on Vánagandr's heart.
Your heart is pierced, the target hit as I declare.
Gáe Bolg!
The name rang out like a bell.
Reality itself twisted.
Rin felt the pressure of the cursed spear's activation—like the future being rewritten in real-time.
Not a spear that aimed for the heart, but a spear that always struck it, warping causality to guarantee the kill.
Cú lunged.
The world blinked.
The spear didn't move forward—the result did.
And that result was a crimson line of absolute death drawn through space itself.
Gáe Bolg slammed into Vánagandr's chest.
The wolf's eyes widened—just before a shockwave of red energy erupted from the point of impact.
A pulse of destruction that rocked the entire battlefield.
Vánagandr let out a final, echoing howl that faded into the nothingness between heartbeats.
Then, silence.
The beast dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Amari stood frozen, lips parted, disbelief crawling across her face like frost.
Cú pulled the spear free and turned to her slowly, blood-soaked and breathless, but grinning with quiet satisfaction.
"Checkmate."
Amari's eyes flickered, a mix of disbelief and fury as the sound of the Gáe Bolg striking home echoed in the cold, still air.
The giant wolf was down, blood pooling around it in grotesque pools that spread across the chessboard like a twisted painting.
She stared at the scene in front of her, her hands trembling.
Her mouth was dry, her chest tight, as though the weight of defeat was crushing her from all sides.
She looked to Rin, her expression shifting from a mask of fury to something far more volatile—desperation.
"No…" Her voice cracked as she stepped forward, almost as if she were trying to reach her fallen Servant.
"This… this wasn't supposed to happen! It's supposed to be me standing on top, me who gets everything I deserve!"
Her breath was shallow, and her face twisted in anguish.
She clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white.
"Why? Why is it always you? Always the perfect one… always getting everything! It was supposed to be my turn, to show everyone who I am!"
She dropped to her knees, her eyes welling up with tears.
The tension in her body gave way to a burst of sobs.
"Why does she get to win?" she whispered, as if pleading with the very air itself.
Rin stood there, her eyes narrowed as she watched the spectacle unfold.
Her grip tightened on the dagger, but she didn't approach.
She wasn't going to let Amari try to play the victim, not now.
Amari's sobs grew louder, desperate.
She pounded her fists into the ground, the sound of her cries echoing through the empty field.
"I tried so hard, tried everything to be someone, to not be ignored! And yet... it's always you, Rin."
"Always the same damn thing."
Rin's voice was sharp, cutting through the breakdown like a knife.
"You think it's just about winning, don't you?"
"You think it's about getting some prize."
"It's not about that, Amari."
"You never learned that, did you?"
"You've been chasing something hollow, something empty."
Amari's eyes flicked up, burning with raw hatred.
"I didn't ask for your pity! You never understood what it was like to be forgotten—ignored—by everyone around you."
"To be the one left in the shadows while you stood in the light!"
Rin shook her head. "You weren't meant for this war."
"You didn't have the heart or the strength."
"You think it was all about taking from me, trying to get what I have."
"But what you didn't understand is that none of it is mine—it's earned."
Rin's words were hard and cold, each one hitting Amari like a blow.
The tears on Amari's face only made her look more pathetic, and Rin's expression hardened further.
"You'll never get it."
"You'll never be me."
"You weren't meant to be here, and you'll never be good enough to even stand in the same arena as me."
With a final step forward, Rin raised the crystal dagger, her movements deliberate, controlled, the cold gleam in the blade's surface reflecting the weight of her resolve.
"Goodbye, Amari. It's time for you to vanish into nothingness."
Amari's eyes widened as she looked up at Rin, her breath ragged, and in that moment, she finally understood—her battle was lost, and there was no one to blame but herself.
With no hesitation, Rin drove the crystal dagger straight into Amari's chest.
The girl's breath caught in her throat—eyes wide, mouth trembling—before her body dissolved into shimmering fragments, scattered like dust across the chessboard.
Rin exhaled through her nose and flicked her hair back with a huff.
"Tch. That's what you get for aiming too high."
She turned away from the fading glow, glancing around the empty space with a mild scowl.
"…Now where the hell did that idiot Riya run off to? Probably got himself into something stupid again."
And with that, she started walking, not waiting for an answer.