Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 450: I Asked For A Mock War! They Gave Me Mock Chess!

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• FIRST-YEAR MOCK WAR •

LOCATION: SIMULATION ISLE

CLASSIFICATION: BROADCASTING EVENT

TIME: 05:00 AM

DATE: 21 NOVEMBER

Cadets,

The final showdown of the extended Ace Tournament begins at dawn. This will be an optional event that you may choose to participate in to help crown the Cadet of your choice as your Ace.

This will also be your last chance to show the scouts from renowned Agencies and Guilds your promise before you enter your second academic year.

Below are the absolute parameters of the engagement. Read carefully.

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I. THE SOVEREIGN & THE CASTLE

° The Crown: Each faction must designate a King.

The Cadet who dons the Crown is bound to a Castle Tower. They cannot leave its perimeter.

But while crowned, they receive the King’s Buff: +50% Essence reserves and a pseudo-telepathic link to all their Officers.

° The Ring: A matching signet ring is issued to the faction’s public leader. Only the King’s Ring can shatter the enemy Crown.

To achieve Checkmate, the Ring must physically contact the runes of the opposing Crown.

° The Lock: Once equipped, the Ring permanently fuses with the wearer’s bone structure. It cannot be taken off or transferred.

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II. THE OFFICERS (GENERALS)

Each side fields 6 Officers split into three tactical pairs. Each Officer is restricted to a specific jurisdiction along The Great Divide (The Central River that splits the map in two):

° 2 Rooks

° 2 Knights

° 2 Bishops

⟨JURISDICTION RULE: Officers are confined to their own sector. They cannot enter neighboring allied sectors or cross into enemy territory unless their jurisdiction expands.⟩

The Inversion: If an Officer is eliminated, the enemy captures their Medallion.

Returning an enemy Medallion to your matching friendly Officer opens the division, allowing that Officer to cross the river and claim the enemy’s vacant sector.

(For example: A Rook can only take an enemy Rook’s Medallion. They can then use it to enter the enemy Rook’s territory and seize it under their control.)

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III. THE LEGIONS (PAWNS)

All non-officer Cadets are designated as Pawns and assigned to a specific Officer’s Legion.

° Domestic Movement: Within your own faction’s territory, you have absolute freedom of movement to reinforce, defend, or transport assets.

° Offensive Corridors: When invading across the river, you are strictly bound by your Legion type. A Rook’s Pawn can only step into the enemy Rook’s territory.

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IV. PHASE 2: BOARD COLLAPSE

Turtling indefinitely is not an option. Once 50% of the total Officers on the board are eliminated, Phase 2 is triggered.

The grid restrictions will drop completely. All surviving forces will have total operational freedom across the entire map for the final clash.

WIN CONDITIONS

° CHECKMATE: Infiltrate the enemy Castle Tower, transport the enemy Crown back to your Ring-bearer, or bring your Ring-bearer to the front lines to shatter the opposing Crown.

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Good luck, Cadets.

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I read the message.

Then I narrowed my eyes and read it all over again.

Finally, I slammed my hands on Vereshia’s desk, “I asked you for a Mock War! The fuck is this? This is Mock Chess!”

Vereshia looked completely unbothered by my overreacting. “You also asked me to commercialize the event. Do you know how boring it would be for the public to watch hundreds of super-humans blindly punch each other in the mud?”

“So you arranged… t-this, whatever it is?!” I exclaimed. “How much money even went into this?”

“You can’t put a price on good entertainment, Lord Samael,” Vereshia offered a knowing little smirk. “I will say, though — the returns are speculated to be astronomical. The sponsors wept tears of joy when we pitched the concept to them.”

Of course, they did.

This was a multi-day format. Such a Mock War would go for days. And the rules made it all the more interesting.

Now it wasn’t just about which side was stronger.

It was also about how focused your leadership was while you actively dismantled the enemy’s layout piece by piece.

I expected something similar. They had to make the war entertaining. But I didn’t expect… this!

Thalia was sitting beside me in the Cadet Council President’s office, looking just as tightly coiled as I was, though she managed to keep her hands off the expensive mahogany desk.

With a hand thoughtfully massaging her chin, my sister looked at Vereshia. “Why is there no Queen piece?”

…That was her problem with this?

The young woman before us didn’t seem to mind. “We initially thought of adding a Queen that can move across the map without any restrictions at any stage of the game. But then we decided it would be too unfair.”

Yes!

Yes, that was the entire gig of the queen! Why would they not add the most entertaining chess piece if they were making the war more entertaining?!

“Your Generals are important. The Medallions they wear,” Vereshia continued, “would grant them a specific enhancement buff — +25% endurance for Rooks, speed for Knights, and faster Essence regeneration for Bishops.”

Ugh, this sucked. This game sucked.

I was going to have to use my brain for this.

I was going to have to decide whether I wanted my strongest players to become Officers so they could keep their Medallions safe from falling into the enemy’s hands or let them stay as Pawns so they could roam freely on our side of the river, helping defend and reinforce wherever the pressure was heaviest.

After all, those Medallions were basically keys to our territories.

If an opposing Knight were to take the Medallion of my Knight, he could then move in to claim the empty sector as his.

We would practically be locked out from our own frontlines unless my second Knight could spare some troops to defeat the intruder — because only the soldiers of a Knight could enter a territory owned by the opposing Knight.

You see now how this was going to be a headache?

My father used to say chess is war in miniature.

He used to say this after throwing me out of the room when Thalia would beat me for the nth time in a single afternoon.

I always hated that stupid game.

Those who tried to equate chess with a measure of one’s intelligence were actually the ones who lacked any intelligence at all!

“You two would have to wear these,” Vereshia spoke, her sparkling red eyes studying us as she pushed two signet rings forward. Dark bronze, each with a rune engraved onto their polished metallic face. “Put them on. They’ll fuse with your digits immediately.”

Thalia wasn’t at all hesitant. If anything, she seemed a little eager as she slid the ring onto her index finger. The rune on its surface glowed a faint bile green before the metallic brand shrank, sinking into her flesh.

I saw her jaw tighten a little, but otherwise there was no sign of pain.

Still, I wasn’t in any hurry. “And the Crown and the Medallions?”

“You’ll find the Medallions in the outposts of each Officer. Once your chosen Cadet wears the Medallion, a forcefield will lock them into that piece’s jurisdiction. And once worn, they can’t be taken off. Unless removed by an enemy,” Vereshia answered. “The same goes for the Crowns. They’ll be waiting in the heart of your respective Castles. Put on both Crowns in under twenty-four hours and the game will start. Be late, and you’ll be disqualified.”

I thought a few things over for a bit. “How would a soldier become part of an Officer’s Legion?”

That was an important question.

Because only a Pawn from a specific Legion could cross the river into the opposing counterpart’s territory.

Only my Knight’s soldiers could enter the territory of Thalia’s Knight. The same for Rooks and Bishops.

Just like chess, it seemed Pawns could only strike where their respective paths allowed. And just like chess, they were going to be very important.

“All Cadets are being given faction bracelets right as we speak,” Vereshia explained, steepling her fingers. “By tapping their bracelets to an Officer’s Medallion before the game starts, a Cadet assigns themselves to that specific Legion. The bracelet will shift color to match the piece they are pledged to — Ruby for the Rooks, Sapphire for the Knights, Emerald for the Bishops. Once locked, the dome’s energy barrier will recognize that signature. Try to cross into a restricted sector without the proper color code, and the forcefield will fry your nervous system into unconsciousness. You’ll be eliminated.”

“Lovely,” I couldn’t help but comment. “Anything else you want to tell us, Madam President?”

Vereshia looked up and tapped her cheek in an exaggerated gesture of remembrance. Then she smiled at me. “Killing your fellow Cadets is strongly discouraged.”

…Joke.

That was a joke, right?

Some of the fastest field Instructors and a proper medical team were going to be on stand-by. They were going to swoop in and retrieve any Cadet whose life signals dropped below a critical threshold.

But with the kind of monsters my sister and I were leading, a critical threshold could sometimes look an awful lot like a missing limb or a cracked skull.

“We wouldn’t want to thin out the first-year numbers after all it took to replenish them,” Vereshia added, her tone light, though the dark gleam in her red eyes didn’t match her pleasant words. “Go on, then. You both have a war to organize. And Sam, please wear the ring now.”

…Fuck it.