Chapter 70: The Chess of Souls

Caesar retreated a few steps, her eyes glazed over.

“Is this your choice?”

Before the words fully left her lips, the blue lamp above her head suddenly plummeted, completely engulfing Caesar’s form.

The glass shattered into a myriad of fragments, each reflecting a thousand Alysias.

Nearly every shard was stained with a mesmerizing splash of blood, making her hair appear even more crimson.

The faint blue light gradually receded, and Chloe returned to her own body, yet her vision was once again obscured by darkness.

“Chloe?”

A biting cold enveloped Chloe, but that voice, like the warm sun of winter, brought her comfort. She softly called out, “Wuxu?”

“I am here.”

Wuxu’s voice drifted softly to Chloe’s ears, as if she were right beside her.

“I infiltrated your thought-field; that’s how I managed to meet you.”

“What was that just now?”

After several months, Chloe had finally reunited with the most important person in her life, only for it to end this way.

Why had her sister arrived in this world three hundred years before her? A profound sense of helplessness overwhelmed Chloe.

Wuxu remained silent for a moment, then spoke, “That was memory resonance. Alysia is on the verge of completely taking over your body.”

“No!”

Chloe clutched her head, absolutely unwilling to be possessed.

“I will help you, but you must buy an hour’s time.”

“An hour?! She’ll have devoured me whole by then!”

“…Good luck…”

Wuxu’s voice vanished instantly. Chloe looked around, crimson fire mist swirling around her.

“Alysia?”

“Mm.”

The fire mist coalesced into a human form, keeping Chloe company in the pure black space.

“Why are you trying to possess me?” Chloe demanded.

“One of the reasons I cooperated with Cliff was to test your capabilities.”

“Test me?”

“Precisely. However, you failed to unravel the trap Cliff laid, so I believe your soul is too weak to shoulder the great responsibility of the Divine Chosen.”

“Perhaps.”

Chloe snapped her fingers. The darkness swiftly receded, and a vast, boundless field of golden wheat grew from beneath her feet.

Alysia stood before her, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

Chloe sat on the ground, a chessboard appearing before her, with black and white pieces already set.

“Win against me, and the body is yours.”

“You… are serious? I have never lost a game of chess.”

“Mm.”

Chloe blinked her vermilion eyes and picked up a white chess piece.

“You’re playing white?”

“Mm, I like silvery white, just like the color of my hair.”

“But playing black allows the first move, offering a greater chance of winning.”

“Not necessarily.”

Chloe offered a faint smile, waiting for Alysia to sit opposite her.

“This is… international chess?”

Alysia picked up a rook, but the piece suddenly transformed in her hand.

Her beautiful eyes widened. Upon closer inspection, the piece had astonishingly taken on her own likeness, albeit a miniature version of herself.

“In our world, this little trinket is called an action figure. Transforming the pieces into action figures is just a small hobby of mine.”

Chloe picked up the king. The king had silver hair and red eyes, clearly resembling her own features.

Alysia lowered her gaze to examine the pieces. The king was Cliff, the queen was Longinus, while the true queen, Dorota, was represented only by a knight.

Alysia took up the rook representing herself and began the peculiar game.

The two battled fiercely, locked in a stalemate. Facing an opponent like Alysia, Chloe found herself struggling immensely, her defenses on the verge of collapse.

Just as her opponent’s Longinus was about to capture King Chloe, Chloe performed a castling move, saving her king. Even so, the situation remained precarious.

“I still don’t understand your intention. What is the meaning of this game?”

Alysia looked at Chloe, perplexed.

“Do you truly believe Cliff won?”

Chloe tucked a strand of silver hair into her mouth.

“As it stands, he is undoubtedly the victor.”

“That means my strategy of feigning naivete was successful.”

Chloe smiled charmingly, but Alysia’s face darkened.

“…?”

Chloe held up a finger, mimicking Cliff’s arrogant tone. “First, we hold a trump card: Princess Anna, who still has a claim to the throne and can expose Cliff’s actions.”

Cliff’s intelligence network was far superior to Chloe’s, yet he remained completely oblivious to Anna’s existence. Longinus, for some unknown reason, had also failed to inform him.

“This gives us the potential to contend with Saint Fros.”

Chloe moved her rook in front of the king, forming a pincer attack.

“She is merely a claimant. Moreover, the nobles Cliff has cultivated will not heed the words of a so-called Princess Anna.”

Alysia shook her head, moving her king away.

“Second, after Carloman’s death, Eledis is in a vacuum. It will take Carl some time to consolidate the empire’s forces.”

Chloe advanced her rook, but it fell directly into Alysia’s trap, who immediately captured it.

“To swallow an empire with a mere countdom is a pipe dream.”

“I have no desire to challenge the empire. More importantly, Cliff has alienated all the Elders, meaning that even the conservatives who have always opposed me will see Cliff as an enemy and, in turn, ally with me.”

Alysia used her queen to capture Chloe’s last bishop, but her face showed no trace of joy.

“You wish for those people to fight for you? That’s preposterous; they are preservers of order, not destroyers.”

“They are a deterrent force.”

“That’s why you hold a position in the Triumvirate, essentially a puppet representing the Elders. This, too, was part of Cliff’s plan.”

Alysia seemed to recall something, and she choked on her words.

“Wait, do you intend to…”

Chloe nodded. This was the loophole she had found by following Cliff’s line of thought.

“The only enemy that sustains this fragile alliance is the Elder Council, whose goal is to overthrow the Council’s rule and establish a new order. But there can only be one emperor in this new order.”

“You’re choosing a side?”

“I will join the empire, then gradually consume it, and then defeat Cliff. At that point, Carl will have his son-in-law, Norria, govern. I only need to present Anna, and then, in conjunction with the Saint Fros nobility, send the empire to its grave.”

“The No-War Edict…”

“Has been abolished.”

Silence fell between them.

This was the tactic Alice had taught Chloe: intentionally going along with the opponent’s intentions, then seizing the opportunity to find a breakthrough.

If events truly unfolded as Cliff had planned, he would only be tying himself down. He had overestimated humanity’s cooperative spirit.

Alysia surrounded Chloe’s sole remaining king with her queen and rook, declaring, “Checkmate. You lose.”

On the chessboard, Chloe was utterly outmatched by Alysia.

“Only the game is lost.”

“I apologize, but Cliff can offer me a tangible reality, whereas you can only offer a vague future. In this, you are just like Caesar, a pathetic fantasist.”

Alysia stood up, extending her hand, ready to annihilate Chloe’s last shred of consciousness.

“Of course. After all, I am her brother.”

Alysia’s eyes widened, trying to fully grasp the meaning of that statement.

Just then, Chloe deliberately leaned her face close to Alysia’s, their lips almost touching.

“Goodbye, Alysia.”

“‘Sever.'”

The next second, her upper body and Chloe’s simultaneously separated, not even allowing time for a ‘rejection.’

Was this Wuxu’s way of saving her?

The intense pain nearly caused Chloe to faint. Before she completely lost consciousness, she glimpsed Angelica behind Alysia.

Angelica withdrew her steaming hand, a faint smile gracing her lips.

“My apologies, Alysia. The life of the Divine Chosen can only be ended by me.”