The second game began.

This time, Cato was more attentive to the way Fiona developed her pieces. That whippersnapper was certainly planning to sneak past Cato’s wall of defines again, so he had to make sure to catch the burglar in time.

I remember this line. Cato realized. Thus far, the game has been progressing in a very predictable direction. I researched this line last week.

Since the game began, the two of them have only been exchanging theoretical by-the-book blows. They were both familiar with these positions, so they knew how to optimally respond to each other’s moves. They were essentially playing on autopilot from their memory.

But, like in any match, the position gradually deviated from known theory. They were approaching unfamiliar territory for which memory wouldn’t be enough. At least, for one of them, it shouldn’t be.

I remember checking this position out. Cato thought back on the extensive research he did with the chess engine just the other week. She's going to stump me with that knight in two moves. That’s how it played out the last time we reached this position.

It was impossible to forget that nasty move. It was a sneaky knight that slipped past his attention. It was a mistake that cost Cato the game about a month ago.

Naturally, being the theory lover he was, Cato made sure to record the game and add it to the many other losing positions he had to research. It took him a couple of weeks to finally get around to studying that position, but it was a good thing he did.

That knight is bad news. Cato thought back on the engine’s board evaluation.

The position was more or less even until Fiona moved her knight, then the odds shot up astronomically in White’s favor. At that time, Cato vaguely understood it was a blunder on his end, but he didn’t expect that one play to be SO devastating. According to the engine, it rendered the entire game unwinnable for Black.

As such, Cato absolutely had to research that devastating position and learn how to prevent such shenanigans in the future. And, after an extensive research session, he found a couple of answers the engine approved of.

Allow me to casually move this pawn over here. Cato smiled impishly. C'mon, now go for the same line. You got a series of "good" moves ahead of you, so you wouldn't miss them, will you? Just play like last time, it'll be good for you~

But, Fiona didn't move right away. Unlike last time, when she went for the “good moves” right away, this time around she was taking her sweet time.

My, is something wrong? Cato's smile twitched a little. You got all this great setup, so it’d be a shame if you don’t utilize it, right? Last time, you went for it without batting an eye. Why not this time?

Yet, Fiona continued thinking. It was a little uncharacteristic for the Landberht Princess, who was known for her fast and precise playstyle. The way she carried herself always made it seem like she could find the best move for any situation in less than a second.

But of course, chess wasn't such a simple game. There were always moves and positions that stumped players, and the Landberht Princess was no exception.

"It was a splendid response," Fiona said as she finally made her move. Unfrotatuenly, it wasn't quite the move Cato was expecting...

"My, that's new." Cato did his best to maintain a smile but his brows joined into a frown. "I was sure you'll capture my knight."

"I almost did," Fiona admitted. "But, then I remembered we played a similar position a few weeks ago."

"Impressive memory as always," Cato said. It wasn't sarcasm, he truly meant it.

For him, that game was memorable because he found himself mopped by a nasty move he wanted to research. However, for Fiona, that game was just another victory, one of countless. And yet, she seemed to have a vague recollection of it.

"I'm surprised you noticed what I was aiming for," Cato admitted.

Even with how much time Fiona took to analyze the board, the trap Cato laid out should've been difficult for a human to spot. The importance of the pawn he moved was only going to reveal itself later, in a tricky way that wasn’t immediately obvious. Therefore, unless Fiona literally had an engine installed in her head, she shouldn't have been able to figure it out. At least, not this quickly.

"Truth to be told," Fiona confused. "I still can't quite tell what this pawn is supposed to achieve. But, it looked like a very deliberate move. Knowing you, I am sure you have researched this position after losing. So, if that's a response the engine advised, then it must be a trap of some sort."

"Haha, maybe..." Cato was too naive. Just because he spent hours researching this position and found a strong counter, it didn't mean he'd be able to coast to victory just from that.

What a bummer. Cato grumped. I demand compensation for all the hours I spent researching this position. Sigh.

After Fiona sidestepped the trap, the pawn’s position became a little suspect. As the game went on and Fiona consistently refused to take the bait, the pawn’s position became one of the weak spots in Cato’s defense.

Don't people always say that "hard work is rewarded"? Cato smiled scornfully. That's a load of bullcrap when you're faced with genuine talent.

His game theory was weaker, his analytical skills were inferior, and even his research wasn't good enough. On all fronts, Cato was losing to Fiona. She was like an almighty goddess with no openings.

Looks like I have to rely on some good old psychological warfare to shake her up. He no longer felt like he'll be able to win through regular means. It was time to try attacking Fiona's mental state.

"By the way," Cato started. "About Yuel."

"Yes?" Fiona's eyes immediately unglued themselves from the board.

Good reaction. Cato already found one weakness he could strike. "Remember how he was supposed to play for StormBlitz?" 

"Of course."

"So, you won’t believe it. About a week ago, he played in a scrimmage... as part of Stratus!”

"...........” Fiona blinked with a frozen expression. It seemed that information was too much to process, even for her.

“Oh, in case you don't know, Stratus is supposed to be the weakest team in the region." 

“... yes, I have heard as much. It is a team that has never gone past the first round in the regionals."

"Yeah, that's the one. And, for some ungodly reason, Yuel plays for that team! What do you think of this development? Bizarre, isn't it?" 

"Yes, it is." Fiona's stoic expression cracked for the first time today. There was visible disgust on her face. 

Good, good. Cato smiled to himself. Let the anger consume you~

“Do you know for what reason is he playing on Straus instead of StormBlitz?”

“Apparently, he switched schools.” Cato shrugged. “I doubt his goal was to switch teams, but who knows. Any ideas?”

"None. In truth, I never seem to understand what Yuel Fermond is thinking. It appears his actions continue to be as bizarre as they have always been."

"I know, right? Imagine leaving the 2nd best team in the region to join the bottom-tier underdogs. Even for a sports drama story, that'd be a stretch." 

"Right. I also found it hard to believe the first time I heard it."

"Wait, you already knew about it?"

"Yes, I happened to come across this unfortunate information a short while ago." Fiona sighed deeply. "I believe it is imperative for me to familiarize myself with all the teams in the region, so I watched a replay of the Taurus-Stratus scrimmage. It was... quite different from what I expected."

"Yeah, I don't think a single person out there expected to see anything quite like it." Cato smiled wryly. Drat, even this news couldn't catch her off guard! Then again, I guess it's too late to call it "news" at this point.

It was naive to think that Fiona wouldn't be at the top of her game in terms of information. Even though she picked up Classmancers only recently, she already knew everything about the regional scene. That’s the kind of perfectionist Fiona Landberht was.

Despite possessing unparalleled talent in everything she touched, this girl never neglected her studies and practice. Thus, it was virtually impossible to catch up to her.

How are we, commoners, supposed to defeat a genius who practices just as hard as us? Cato pouted. That should be illegal. It kills any chances of hard work triumphing over talent. Life can be such a shitshow sometimes. Sigh.

The news Cato brought wasn’t even news for Fiona, but at least the topic itself seemed to weigh on her mind a little. There were subtle hints of irritation on Fiona's stoic expression now.

It took a really keen eye to notice them, but Cato was more than qualified. After all, he has been observing Fiona’s mask for years now, always searching for the faintest cracks. And, whenever Yuel was the topic of discussion, these cracks often showed up, small as they were.

Yuel was like an anomaly in the fabric of reality. Whether it was luck or not, he was one of the very few opponents who successfully tore down Fiona's stoic mask and flustered her with unorthodox moves. Therefore, she probably won’t forget this grudge until the day she dies.

I thank you kindly, Yuel. Cato snickered. Thanks to you, I now always have a topic I can annoy Fiona with~

Ever since Yuel was mentioned, Fiona clearly lost some of her edge. Of course, she still unleashed strong tempo moves and terrorized the battlefield with her queen, but Cato found a couple of openings here and there. His defensive pawn formation hasn't been broken yet and he was slowly, but surely, advancing on the enemy king.

"Check." Fiona declared. Her queen cut through the center of the board and invaded straight into Cato's territory, bypassing his marvelous defensive formation.

My, aren’t you overextending a little with that queen? Cato had no choice but to move his king out of harm's way, but that's all Fiona’s “scary” move achieved.

Now, Fiona’s queen was deep within Cato’s territory. She was eying one of his pawns and controlling the rank she was one, but that was the extent of her threat. Nothing to worry about.

I think this is time to attack. Cato ignored the queen and went on the offensive. Her moves are clearly softer than usual. This is the time to bring her down!

Cato delivered one attack after another. He forced Fiona's king to turtle up at the corner of the board with few options of escape. In addition, he even forced some unfavorable piece exchanges on her. Slowly but surely, Cato was driving the Landberht Princess to a corner...!

I should be good from here. Cato was almost convinced. Let’s see here. I capture, then she captures, then I capture. Then probably captures, captures, and captures. Then, I go in with the rook and that's GG, right?

But, Fiona threw a wrench in that prediction at the very start. She didn't capture Cato's knight in response to his capture. Instead, she moved her overextending Queen even further into Cato’s territory.

"Ack!" Cato couldn't help but produce a silly sound. This dang queen...!

It was an unexpected factor. The queen had been overextending in his territory the entire time with minimal options, so he didn't care much for her presence while he was busy mounting his offense.

If anything, it was a joyous situation. For once, Fiona's queen wasn't placed on the most oppressive spot possible. She wasn’t terrorizing the entire board, allowing Cato to breathe in relief.

But, I was naive. Cato bit his lip. The joy was temporary. Even when it was a little dulled, Fiona's brain was sharp enough to slice a mountain. From a seemingly weak position, she returned her queen into the game with a tempo, forking his knight and rook. It stopped Cato's offense in its tracks.

My, this is not good. Not good at all... Cato recalculated his options.

With the queen simultaneously applying pressure on his attacking pieces and also on his king's general direction, the entire evaluation of the board flipped on its head. Now, Cato was the one who had to rack his brain to find a way to defend himself.

"That was careless of you," Fiona criticized. "You had a strong game going, but you pushed a little too hard and a little too early."

"That I did." Cato had no reason to deny it. He blundered somewhere in that offense.

Most likely, the critical move was three turns ago, when he made his rook join the offense. He was preparing to harass Fiona's king by controlling the D file, but he created an unexpected opening in his backline in the process.

My, what a disaster. That's what happens when you try to be a smartass and plan your offense many turns in advance. Cato sighed at his own rashness. He felt like a kid who got baited by a candy.

Just because Fiona wasn't at the top of her game for a moment, Cato was tempted to go for all that uncharacteristic aggression. Offense has never been his forte, so trying to dabble at it out of the blue became his undoing.

That's a wrap. Cato sighed.

In the end, he couldn't recover from that one tempo move of the enemy queen. After the unpleasant fork, Fiona followed up with a flurry of tempo moves, most of which were handled directly by the queen.

Rather than letting the soldiers do the lifting, Her Majesty left her throne and traveled all around the battlefield, terrorizing everybody with her supreme might.

Through unparalleled flexibility and raw strength, the queen almost single-handedly tore Cato's position apart. It's like the queen was Fiona herself, flexing that godly talent she had.

And so, another match came to an end. Yet again, Cato lost...