"This situation is… Did you figure out this method after seeing me play with the King earlier? For these Divine Beasts, war is like a game, and games are like war, right?"
"Exactly. Didn't you use a rock to play with the King earlier? It made it act like a puppy, starting a 'game' around the rock. It seems that these little games are more appealing to the Divine Beasts than actual combat."
By diverting the Divine Beasts' attention, Haruya and Plum were able to make them act as planned, preventing any intense conflicts.
After blocking three attacks from the golden-haired Shrine Priestess on the front lines, Haruya and Plum retreated to the rear, climbing onto the back of the King.
During those three attacks, the Shrine Priestess had tried to stop them from using the juice-covered rocks to distract the Divine Beasts, but Plum had barely managed to hold her off.
After all, physical prowess and magic were two different things.
Thanks to this, Haruya's side finally made it through the most dangerous phase and entered a transitional period.
All three factions had moved most of their pieces to the front lines, with only the King, Bishop, and similar pieces remaining in the rear.
"Let's analyze the current situation, Haru-kun. Look at this, Sora and Shiro have pushed their pieces too far forward, haven't they?"
Haruya: "There were pieces here? I didn't see them when I was on the front lines."
Plum: "There are pieces here. From the looks of it, it's a giant turtle."
A giant turtle? Such a Divine Beast was probably one with extremely high defense, making it a tough opponent.
However, high defense also meant low attack power, and it wouldn't be able to dodge their attacks either.
If you asked which side had the advantage, it was definitely the attacking side. Defense could hold the line, but it couldn't guarantee victory.
As Haruya was thinking this, Plum gently tapped his shoulder and pointed at the chessboard in front of him.
"Haru-kun, Haru-kun, it's our turn."
"Alright, it's finally time to head to the real battlefield."
"The most intense moment of this game is about to begin."
Haruya had the King move forward, and the two of them felt the wind around them grow stronger and cooler.
The soft fur of the King fluttered in the air as it galloped across the land.
When they reached a high slope on the front lines, they saw the Divine Beasts standing above the vast forest below.
The triangular chessboard was beneath them, indicating that the end of the game was near.
It was now the Werebeasts' turn to move, and this time, it was Izuna who took action.
She stood on the back of a giant tiger, which was the Knight piece. Her current target was the last Pawn that Sora and Shiro had moved to the front.
Sora and Shiro's aggressive fighting style had caused more Pawn losses than expected.
But this had also dealt some blows to Izuna. After using Blood Break twice, she was now out of stamina.
Moreover, those two instances of 'Blood Break' were incomplete.
Even so, the Knight piece was far more powerful than the Pawn.
The giant tiger pounced in the next moment, and Izuna jumped off its back at the same time to coordinate the attack.
Even without using her abilities, Izuna could still make good use of her body, deftly drawing the Pawn's attention.
Claws and roars, collisions and explosions... after a series of battles, Izuna emerged victorious.
Sora complemented, "An impressive battle plan. Is this what you had in mind, Izuna?"
"We will win, desu."
"It's our turn now, Shiro. It's about time." After Sora finished talking with Izuna, Shiro nodded beside him.
This time, Jibril and Steph were of no use, as Sora and Shiro carried out their plan alone.
Well, Steph's role was probably just to faint from fear of the Divine Beasts…
"Master, how will they act now?" Jibril asked.
"Jibril, it's precisely because they don't know how to act that they can't act."
"I don't quite understand, but if the master says so, it must be correct."
Sora explained, "What I mean is, when playing a game, it's precisely because you don't know how to win over a girl that you're restricted from acting."
Taking even one wrong step could lead to a bad ending instead of a good one.
"Nii… I reminded you before on how to win over… that loli character."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just not good at dealing with that math genius loli girl. So now…" Sora placed his hand on the chessboard in front of him, "Haruya's earlier move was truly surprising. I never expected there to be a method of influencing the Divine Beasts using external factors."
"…Surprising… Divine Beasts… infinite possibilities for influence…" Shiro nodded.
"That's right. But this still has elements of chess, Shiro. I trust you completely in this regard. So…"
""Castling!"" The siblings said something that should have been impossible.
'Castling' is a special move in chess.
In each game, both sides have one opportunity to move their king and one rook simultaneously as a single move by the king, called castling.
The specific move: the king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook moves to the square next to the king.
The purpose of castling: first, to move the king to a safer position, and second, to bring the rook into the game.
From the looks of their current pieces, aside from the lost ones, all the other pieces should have been moved.
'Wait, in their field of vision, there was only one Rook. That meant there was a Rook that hadn't been moved, but what about the King?'
Just as Haruya was puzzled, Steph sat up from behind a black wolf. The spot where she had been lying had a mark, the King.
It was a black wolf, not very large, and it had been moved to the front lines... the King piece was actually on the front lines?
'If it had been moved, how could they perform castling?'
"The reason is simple. The King never moved." Sora pointed at the giant turtle beneath him, "What moved was this Knight. This way, the Queen with high mobility at the front, along with the two Rooks, will change the situation."
'They placed the King on the Knight!?'
A flash of light, and Steph looked around in confusion, "Huh? What happened? I fainted earlier!"
Then, the Rook that had castled with the King appeared... a massive lava giant standing at the very front of the battlefield.
Haruya only had the Queen at the front, while Sora and Shiro clearly had the upper hand in terms of combat power.
This was the difference. It was like stealing several pieces, securing a decisive advantage...