GENERAL ROMULUS DRECHSLER SAT AT THE CHESS TABLE in his Emperor’s throne room. The two were playing against one-another as the string quartet continued to play in the background in their usual mechanical style. They ensured that they kept their dynamics constant, the attack of the notes uniform, and the articulations precise. The tempo had little to no rubato, and the phrasing was stiff as a way of preventing any other failures in the performance. This sense of soulless perfectionism permeated throughout the aesthetic movement of Kunshu’s time and, when considering the fate of his previous cellist, was not something that the quartet was willing to risk.
Kunshu moved his pawn once again, baiting General Dreschler into taking it with his knight. The emperor predicted this maneuver and used a rook to not only claim the knight, a much more valuable piece than the pawn he sacrificed, but also to put Dreschler back into check.
“How do you do it every time, Your Majesty?” Dreschler exclaimed, baffled by his emperor’s prowess. “Every single time I feel like I found a flaw in your plan, you hit me back tenfold. You’re an enigma with this game.”
“You have much to learn about chess, General,” Kunshu snickered at his opponent’s hopelessness and apparent incompetence. “Chess is a war game, not only in its presentation as a game stylized loosely after war, but also as a war of the mind. Your goal should be to get into your opponent’s head. Once you do, your actions can move their pieces just as much as you move yours. Strategies become obvious and you can count down how many turns you have before victory is secured. Make them second guess every pawn they move and make them doubt their pieces.”
As Kunshu was ready to reply to General Drechsler's move that he’d taken while Kunshu was talking, the door slammed open with the force of a battering ram. The two chess players turned toward the entrance and saw one of the few people in all of Aotoshi who could do something with that much force.
“Shirei, there was this thing invented called knocking,” the emperor greeted his right-hand man. “Please study this ritual and apply it to your daily life.”
“I apologize, my liege,” Shirei began, “but this is urgent.”
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“Nothing is more important than finishing a chess game,” Kunshu scoffed as he once more completed a rapport to Drechsler's move, putting him into check once again.
“I insist,” the commander continued. “We need to address this immediately.”
Kunshu let out a groan before Dreschler made another move, managing to take out his bishop. This was immediately retaliated with Kunshu’s knight taking Drechsler's queen and locking Dreschler into a checkmate.
“You’ve improved quite a lot, general. You are dismissed.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The general exited the throne room, passing by Shirei as he exited through the shadows. Once Shirei was sure Drechsler had left, he closed the door behind him and turned once more to Kunshu.
“King Yokina declared war on Aotoshi shortly after dawn,” he stated. “He is in the process of gathering his troops and enforcing their eastern border. The people do not know about this yet, but once they do, action will be necessary.”
“There’s no need to worry about Akuni,” the emperor replied. “I’d figured that stupid boy would try to get that king to declare war on us. I would’ve expected the king to dismiss him and he would leave Yukan to the wolves, but this is all the better. Why not knock out two birds with one stone? With this circumstance, we can claim the Omega Blade and Akuni in one fell swoop.”
“And you knew that this was to pass?”
“After all of these years you’ve known me, you still doubt my abilities? Yukan is not yet a man. He doesn’t yet know how to control himself, and a thirst for vengeance is insatiable for a boy like him. War permits him to commit regicide, after all.” The emperor grew increasingly thrilled as he spoke. “This is perfect. I can eliminate the Kenshi bloodline once and for all.”
“You’ve had this entire situation planned out,” the head of the Aotoshi army remarked. “Incredible work as always, my liege.”
“Assemble the troops, Commander Akui,” Kunshu demanded. “Phase Four is about to begin.”
The top commander exited from the door he entered from. Kunshu unsheathed the Alpha Blade before heading onto the balcony of the throne room and pointing the blade at the low-hanging moon.
“So Yukan managed to slip out of my grasp twice now,” the emperor sighed. “That doesn’t matter. That rat will soon find its trap.”