The Trial Board chamber faded like a dream.
The cold stone. The red fog. The broken knight piece.
Gone.
Yuuji opened his eyes to the Academy's medical ward. The sterile white glow of floating healing crystals hummed softly in the ceiling. He sat upright in one of the restoration chairs, half his uniform still scorched from the backlash of his final spell.
Across the room, Mira leaned against the wall, arms crossed, one boot resting against the stone.
"You burned through half your circuits with that last move," she muttered. "Stupid."
"I needed a reset field to force the end. Their magic wasn't bound to normal duel protocols," Yuuji said, voice calm but strained.
"You also could've died."
"And yet," he smiled, "I didn't."
Ayaka sat nearby with her legs kicked up on a chair, a bandage over her shoulder and an apple in one hand.
"We kicked ass, though. That guy's skull hit the wall like a drum. Real satisfying."
Clara was seated properly at Yuuji's side, flipping through a scroll. She didn't speak, but Yuuji knew the way her fingers twitched meant she was running scenarios in her head.
The silence was broken by a knock at the ward's door.
Not a student. Not a nurse.
It was her.
The Bishop.
Same wide-brimmed hat. Same smirk.
This time... no cloak.
She wore a tight student blazer over a laced black shirt, and that skirt was somehow shorter than before. Her thigh-high stockings ended just beneath twin belts with small spell scrolls holstered like daggers.
Even Mira blinked.
Yuuji raised an eyebrow.
"You're really committed to the whole aesthetic."
She grinned and stepped inside, hips swaying just enough to make Ayaka whistle under her breath.
"I'm here to deliver a message from the true Board," she said, her voice playful and clear. "And maybe to offer you... an invitation."
Yuuji stared at her.
"Another Trial?"
Her smirk faded slightly.
"No."
She leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
"This time, it's not a Trial."
She tossed something onto his lap.
It was a white chess queen.
One that glowed faintly.
And then she whispered:
"It's a declaration of war."
Yuuji turned the white queen between his fingers. It was cold at first, then warm. Not a simple artifact. A message laced with meaning.
"What's the symbol?" he asked.
The Bishop girl tilted her head. "You noticed it?"
Beneath the base of the piece, almost too faint to see, was a brand. A combination of sigils: a rook split in half, a crown falling, and a pawn rising from blood.
Clara leaned in, recognizing part of it. "Those aren't school symbols. They're... war marks. Ancient dueling factions."
The Bishop nodded slowly, her voice now serious for the first time.
"The piece marks you as chosen for the Queen's Gambit. An illegal tournament hosted outside Academy jurisdiction. A private war among high-tier families, rogue mages, and former champions. Once you're marked, you're a combatant—like it or not."
Ayaka whistled. "Sounds fun."
Mira just scowled. "Sounds suicidal."
Yuuji flicked the queen into the air once and caught it.
"And the prize?"
The Bishop's eyes glinted.
"Depends who wins. For some, it's blood. For others—titles, power, immunity from judgment. For a few... it's survival."
Yuuji stood up, jacket falling over his shoulders. "And what do they want from me?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then finally: "They want to see if you can take a game meant for kings... and flip the table."
Clara stood now too. "You haven't told us your name. Or who you're playing for."
The Bishop girl smiled softly.
"You can call me Arletta."
She turned to leave, pausing at the door.
"Oh—and next time we meet, I won't be alone."
Then she was gone.
Yuuji looked down at the queen in his hand.
A storm was coming.
And the board had just grown global.
Later that night, the queen still rested on Yuuji's desk.
He hadn't touched it since Arletta left.
Outside, the Academy grounds were quiet again. Fog still clung to the forest edge, like a remnant of the Trial, unwilling to vanish.
Yuuji sat alone in the briefing room. Maps, scrolls, and tactical models spread out before him.
Then a knock at the door.
He expected Mira.
Maybe Clara.
But when the door opened—he froze.
The girl standing there was dressed in a standard uniform. Not enchanted. Not elite. Just... practical. Her hair was short, dark brown, tied in a loose band behind her neck. Her eyes were sharp but familiar.
She didn't smile.
"Yo," she said flatly.
Yuuji stood slowly. "...Saki?"
The room went silent.
The air changed.
She stepped inside, not waiting to be invited.
"Didn't think I'd find you here of all places."
Yuuji kept his posture calm, but inside, his mind raced.
Saki Kirisawa.
Not just a name from his past life—
she had been his childhood rival.
His tactical equal.
His sparring partner.
And the only person who'd ever beat him at chess... more than once.
"You're not enrolled here," Yuuji said carefully.
"I was recruited last week," she replied. "By a different sponsor. And before you ask—yes. I've been watching."
She dropped a file on the desk. Inside were photos from the Trial match. Fog-enhanced stills. Magical records. Even a distorted image of Arletta.
"Someone's setting you up for something big," she said. "And I don't plan on letting you get wiped off the board."
Yuuji blinked.
"Wait. You're here to help me?"
Saki smirked—barely.
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm here to beat you."
She pointed at the queen piece.
"And if you survive long enough to face me in that tournament... I'm taking your king."
Saki left without another word, leaving only tension in her wake.
Yuuji stared at the chess queen on his desk. Then at the file she dropped. One thing was now certain.
He wasn't the only one moving.
Outside, House Checkmate was quiet. Mira had fallen asleep by the fireplace, her sword still leaning against her shoulder. Clara was cross-referencing sigils with an old tome from the Academy vaults, and Ayaka... had snuck into the kitchen again.
Yuuji stood at the top of the stairs, arms crossed, watching them all.
He didn't say anything.
Just observed.
They had no idea how far the board really stretched now.
Clara eventually looked up at him. "That girl. Saki. She's not just a rival, is she?"
"She's the kind of player who flips the board... just to see where the pieces land."
"She's dangerous."
Yuuji nodded. "So are we."
He moved to the old blackboard in the strategy room and erased everything.
Then drew a new board from scratch.
Not a chessboard.
A war map.
Multiple factions. Unknown players. One crown in the center, marked with fire.
Ayaka walked in with an apple in one hand and her hair still damp from the kitchen sink. "What's the plan?"
Yuuji looked at the board and smiled without humor.
"Step one: Don't play by their rules."
Mira appeared at the door, rubbing her eyes. "And step two?"
"Make new ones."
Far across the sea, in a fortress cloaked in silence, a figure in silver robes stood before a table lined with glowing chess pieces—each linked to a player in the Gambit.
One piece began to glow brighter than the others.
The silver figure touched it.
"So the King moves again..."
They turned to the shadows behind them.
"...then let the others be awakened."