They all watched the man as he slowly walked into the forest, avoiding the frost on the ground. He smiled.
"There's no need to hide, we can all play together."
Then, he appeared to be rethinking his last sentence. He exhaled, touching his tattoo.
"I lied. There are five of us in total, so one of you needs to die in order for us to play chess. Ah, I know what I can do, I could just kill three of you and leave the last one."
From a blind spot, Tatsuya silently charged at the man. He summoned a sword, stabbing at the Tarot.
(You idiot! Don't move yet!)
Yoko communicated with him through telepathy.
Shared telepathy. Every single squad member had a specialised rune on them, making it so that they could communicate through two-way telepathy. The only reason this worked was due to the Intelligence Squad's hard work.
He dodged Tatsuya's attack with ease.
Ignoring his squad leader's instruction, he imbued mana into his blade, fiercely slashing at the Tarot.
"A pawn, I see. Moving forward without a way of going back. Truly a waste."
His fist flared with flames as he broke the blade of Tatsuya's sword. As soon as the sword broke, he summoned another weapon. A dagger this time. It barely missed the Tarot's cheek.
The man backed away, still proudly wearing a smile.
"Even a pawn can take out a king."
Tatsuya said.
"Only when used alongside other pieces. Just like..."
Qin swiped at the Arcana's head with his leg. He struck at him with his pistols, however, missing every strike.
"...this bishop here."
Qin shot at him. He easily evaded the shots, swiftly approaching Tatsuya. The man punched him in the stomach and kicked him away.
"Ah, I've forgotten to introduce myself. Is that not what you do at the start of a match of chess?"
Qin stayed silent and Tatsuya glared at him, raring for another go at the Tarot.
"My name is Eta. I am Lovers [VI]. As you can probably see, I love chess. Because it is a game of pure skill. No luck can help you win in chess. If you lose, that means you've made a mistake somewhere along the line. A mistake is unforgivable, it's—"
"Could you shut the fuck up?"
It happened in a flash.
Electricity curled around the girl's fist. She propelled her fist into Eta's face. The first hit left him stunned. Assuming a boxing stance, Anastasia hopped on her toes, putting her left leg forward and driving another fist full of electricity into Eta's face.
She did the same.
Again.
Again.
Again.
And again.
As Eta was falling toward the ground, she wanted to make sure he would be out for the count. For the final time, she drove her fist toward him.
"Hmph!"
Eta pulled his body upwards, stopping her fist from dealing full damage.
"What...?!"
He looked almost unscathed. He only had a single cut on his forehead and that was it.
Anastasia backed away, grouping up with Qin and Tatsuya.
Blood was dripping over Eta's left eye.
"You're probably thinking, 'why is he unscathed?' That's because I am a homunculus, just like the rest of them in there. The homunculi are trained to withstand torture. Of course, that includes electrocution."
"Why are you telling us this? Would it not be better to leave us in the dark?"
Qin asked.
Eta scoffed as he found what Qin asked amusing.
"To me, life is simply a game of chess. Playing all of your moves correctly until you make that one mistake and die. Chess is a game of skill, not luck. Revealing this doesn't do much for me nor you."
He scanned the three of them.
"Two pawns and a bishop. There was one more. I'm guessing they are your king. That is why they're not showing themselves."
The Tarot brandished both arms and flames ignited from the palms of his hands.
"No matter, I'll just leave the king weak and alone. Without a queen, you could not possibly defeat me."
"But are you not a king yourself?"
"Me? I'm a queen."
He shot multiple pillars of fire at them. They separated and approached Eta individually.
Through telepathy, Yoko gave them all advice. It was vague yet also helpful.
(There's no point in working as a team, attempting to adapt to each other's styles and spells would take too long. Do your own thing as long as it goes in accordance with the plan.)
Anastasia stepped up first.
She shot a bolt of electricity at him from afar before charging in behind it.
He raised his hand, engulfing the bolt of electricity, and everything behind it, in flames.
The girl had jumped, dropping down towards him. She swung at him but was thrown with a counter.
(It doesn't seem like he's comfortable with close-range!)
She thought to herself.
She suddenly crafted a whip of lightning. Eta dodged it, only by a hair. It was something that he did not expect. It angered him because he could not decide.
When he dodged the attack was it due to luck or due to skill? It was something he could not decide.
It infuriated him. Luck was something that Eta did not believe in.
"I'll stop playing around."
Without warning, the flames in his hands accumulated and he released them all around him. A ring of flames swept a small radius of the jungle area.
The flames crackled, burning trees and bushes, yet unable to melt the frost.
"!"
Tatsuya emerged from behind the flames. His left shoulder was slightly injured from the attack. He swiped at him, but he avoided the attack easily.
Abruptly, unbeknownst to Eta, Tatsuya smiled.
From the ground, a spear pierced upwards at Eta, creating a shallow wound along his chest.
Off balance for a second, two shots rang through the air. Eta was shot. One bullet in his shoulder and the other grazed his waist.
"Good..."
Yoko muttered from the top of a tree. She silently stared at Eta with her sniper rifle. Her finger reached for the trigger.
Eta looked over, firing a more concentrated attack. It was a flame needle.
"Shit!"
Yoko moved just in time, breaking her sniper scope and creating a wound on her forehead.
"He wasn't serious with us before?"
"I thought this would be a quick checkmate for me, however, I guess I was wrong. I'll have to play seriously."
He said.
Though Eta was the one who was more wounded than his enemies, he still had confidence. Confidence that he would win.
That confidence caused Tatsuya to waver slightly.
"Now, come at me."