Beelzebub pulled a red handkerchief from his suit’s breast pocket and dabbed it on his brow, leaning back on his throne-like chair. He sighed, then folded the handkerchief and placed it on the table.

He hadn’t felt so much pressure in a century of playing this game. His pieces were all locked up, any moves from them would break his defense, and his only free piece, his newest piece, was in a dire situation.

“I haven’t seen that expression on your face in a long time~” Vi cackled at him. “Absolutely delicious~”

-

[Fiffil]

[Race: Goblin] [Class: Joker] [Level: 8]

[Mind:16] [Body:17] [Soul: 14]

[HP:85][MP:40][SP:200]

[Skills: Wildcard, Roulette Slash, Shuffle, Card Flip, All In, Double Down, Ante Up]

[Akira]

[Race: Human][Class: Swordsman][Level: 8]

[Mind:15] [Body: 22] [Soul:20]

[HP: 120][MP:30][SP:250]

[Skills: Lightning Thrust, Thunder Breaker, Azure Blessing, Aerial Slaughter, Shocking Riposte, Jolt.]

Somehow, in the time since our first battle, we had become the same level again, and were close to even. However, those stats listed didn’t include the enchantment from my elemental blade, so my ability scores were actually higher than his now.

Incindra roared to life, flames coating the blade as my body filled with the magical power, strengthening me. We both lunged at the same time, our swords meeting in a thundurus clang.

We both jumped back, then shot forward with a Skill that allowed for a fast thrust of our blades. The swords scraped off each other, grinding hard from the force of our attacks as we slid past each other.

An upward slash sends Akira into the sky, and I soon follow. But somehow, he recovered midair, and launched a flurry of blows. Again and again our swords clashed, but neither of us got the upperhand.

“You monster… get out of my head!” he shouted, knocking me away with the force of his next swing. “Ever since that day, that day I can't forget! Every goblin I’ve fought, every kobold I’ve slain! I wonder, in the back of my mind if what I’m doing is wrong…”

“It is wrong, don’t you see it!” I responded, waving my hand towards the bodies of the adventurers I had just killed. “In your blind fury you see me as a nightmare that kills your friends, but look more closely!”

Past the bodies of the adventurers was another, a small, frail green body. In their arms they clutched a sack of apples, in their thin, emaciated arms.

“I…” he stammered, unable to come up with any words. “He must have stolen them, your kind are all thieves!”

“Guess I’ll have to beat some more sense into you still!” I replied, charging back in.

We exchanged blows, chipping away at our HP until we were both in the red. The next hit would be the last. He ran forward, I leapt in. a trail of flame from my sword, and electricity from his.

My sword struck his, but he activated a skill I didn’t recognize, and my sword was knocked from my hand. I was unarmed now, standing before him. Was this how my father felt when he fought against the Cobalt Knight?

Was wanting to live free as a goblin… really such a bad thing? His sword thrust towards my unarmored neck, aiming to end my life.

“Please…” a single word escaped from my trembling lips, tears welling up in the corner of my large, red eyes.

“...”

His blade stayed. A moment from my neck, a second from death. The fury in his eyes was not gone, but behind it was confusion.

“You’re just like I was. Scared, alone.” his arm dropped, removing the point of the sword from my neck. “I can’t, I can’t do it!”

“Akira?” his elven friend called out to him, taking a step forward towards us.

“Am I the one who’s wrong, Tyrael? Gox?” he addressed his friends, looking back towards them. “I thought I could push those feelings away, but was that a mistake?”

“Goblins are the enemies of civilization, they have been for a long time.” Gox replied stoically. “Since the beginning, really.”

“But why, what difference is there between you, a lizardman, and a kobold? What difference besides a finely smithed suit of armor and a tailored shirt!”

“I, I…” The lizardman was stumped, unable to even respond to him properly. For an individual who wasn’t a piece, could he even respond to such a question?

“What’s your name, little goblin?” Akira asked me, though I knew his name this whole time, he was unaware of mine.

“It’s uhh, it’s Fiffil.” I answered, honestly not expecting to have gotten through to him so easily. If I could get him to say it, wouldn’t that mean… we won the game?

“Fiffil huh, weird name.” he laughed a bit. “I guess I don't have much room to talk, my name isn’t even from this world.”

He held out his hand towards me, a smile on his face. Like everything clouding his judgement was cleared from his mind, he had completely changed sides. He wasn’t a coldhearted monster like I assumed the heroes were, he was just a person like everyone else.

I reached out to take his hand, but our fingers never met.

Akira’s face twisted in agony, and he pulled his hand back towards his body suddenly. His body began to shake, and he fell to his knees. Blood poured from the corner of his eyes, his nose, and he coughed up even more.

“H-Huh? What’s happening?!” he cried, blood spurting all across his body. “It hurts! W-Why… I’m supposed to be the hero! Somebody...”

Like an invisible force pushing down on him from all directions, his body began to break. And I was frozen in place, terrified not because I didn’t understand what was happening, like his friends.

I knew too much.

-

“Die, die, die you useless, pathetic, worthless pawn!” Vi’s voice howled in a furious rage, her fist closed tightly around a finely carved, blue marble figurine of a swordsman. Her confidence from before was gone, replaced only with her disheveled current look.

With a loud snap, Vi crushed the stone pawn in her fingers with an inhuman strength, the shattered pieces falling to the gameboard. Vi’s chest heaved raggedly, her anger noticeably affecting her breathing.

“That’s a foul, Vi.” Beelzebub calmly spoke, ushering in one of his maids to clean up the ruined game piece.

“I don’t care, punish me any way you want!” she shouted, her purple eyes twisted in rage. “I won’t allow that fool to live; I will never give in to you, Beezelbub! My pawns will never give into you, so the fact that he gave in… he’s no pawn of mine!”