Chapter 126: Checkmate

Chapter 126: Chapter 126: Checkmate

The day after his guest lecture at the Hero Academy, Felix’s routine returned to something familiar and far quieter.

*Acheron Deep.*

Down here in the high-security block, there was no sunlight, no birds singing. There was only the low hum of mana suppression circuits running through the walls, the cold concrete underfoot, and the heavy presence of armed guards at every corner.

Felix walked down the corridor toward the maximum-containment wing.

The heavy steel door slid open with a mechanical hiss after the guard checked his clearance. Felix stepped inside.

Vesper was sitting on the edge of her bed. Her black hair with its violet tips fell loose over her shoulders, and her dark eyes locked straight onto him the second the latch clicked. Her face was completely expressionless.

"You’re late," she said, her voice dry and flat.

Felix glanced down at his wrist communicator.

"By three minutes. Are you keeping an exact schedule now?"

"I’m not keeping track," she replied, looking away toward the blank wall. "I just noticed the clock on the wall. Sit down."

"Usually that’s my line," Felix said with a faint chuckle.

He pulled the metal chair out and looked down at the low table bolted to the floor. The simple plastic chessboard was already laid out between them. Every black and white piece stood neatly in its starting square, set with unusual precision.

Felix raised an eyebrow, settling into his seat.

"You look ready today. Even set the board before I walked in."

"I’ve been practicing," she said.

Felix paused, leaning forward. "Practicing? Against who? The guards aren’t allowed to play with you."

For a split second, a flicker of quiet pride crossed Vesper’s sharp features before she pulled her guard back up. "Against no one. I replayed our entire first match in my head. I ran through the moves, fixed my mistakes, and I’m ready to beat you."

Felix let out an amused laugh. "Is that so?

Alright then. Show me what you’ve got."

Vesper reached out, her pale fingers wrapping around a white pawn. The moment she touched the piece, her entire posture changed. The cold, distant prisoner melted away, replaced by intense focus.

She opened with a standard center pawn move. Felix moved his knight in response. She developed a bishop; he answered with a pawn.

For the first few minutes, neither of them said a word. The only sound in the cell was the light plastic click of pieces hitting the board. But Felix noticed the difference right away.

During their first game, Vesper had attacked like an assassin: striking early, chasing every trade, and jumping at whatever looked like an easy kill.

Today, she was patient. She was defending her pieces, setting up a solid wall, and watching his eyes just as much as she watched the board.

Felix moved his bishop. Vesper countered within three seconds, her eyes narrowing as she tried to anticipate his next step.

Felix leaned his chin on his knuckles, watching her face rather than the wood. He noted the tiny crease between her brows, the slight shift in her shoulders, and the way her breath hitched whenever he picked up a piece she hadn’t expected him to touch.

"You’ve improved," Felix remarked.

Vesper’s eyes flicked up to his face. "I told you I practiced. Don’t praise me yet, though. I haven’t beaten you."

"Fair enough," Felix smiled, sliding his rook across the back rank.

Vesper leaned over the table, her hand hovering above her queen for nearly half a minute.

"You don’t like uncertainty, do you?" Felix asked casually. "You’ve been staring at that exact square for thirty seconds."

"I’m thinking through my options," she retorted, not looking up. "An assassin can’t afford uncertainty. It gets you killed."

"True," Felix said, leaning back. "In your line of work, a mistake means death. But from what I read in your file, you still took massive risks. You chased high-profile targets and held your ground even when the odds turned bad. You don’t strike me as someone who runs away."

Vesper’s fingers froze against her queen. She lifted her head, her gaze turning cold. "You’ve been studying my record."

"It’s my job. I’m your doctor, Vesper. To help you fix your head, I need to know how you think."

"You ask too many questions during a game."

"And you dodge them," Felix replied smoothly.

He slid his dark-squared bishop into an open diagonal. Vesper blinked, suddenly noticing the line of attack he had just created against her back rank.

She quickly pulled her queen back to defend the king, letting out a sharp breath.

Felix followed up by tucking his knight into an outpost.

Vesper froze. She looked at her queen, then at his knight, and slowly realized what had happened.

"You planned this four turns ago," she muttered, her voice tightening. "You knew I was going to pull my queen back there. You set a trap."

Felix gave a casual shrug. "That’s how chess works."

"No," she said, leaning across the table with a glare. "That isn’t chess. That’s you. You manipulated the board to force me into the corner."

"Maybe a little," Felix admitted with a smirk. "Do you hate losing that much?"

"No."

Felix moved his rook forward. "You’re lying. Your jaw is clenched so hard I can hear your teeth grinding."

"You are exceptionally annoying, Felix."

"I get told that all the time," Felix laughed. "Usually by the people who like me most."

Vesper went completely quiet, caught off guard by the casual warmth in his tone. She looked back down at the pieces, her eyes flickering across the squares as she tried to find a way out.

Her old aggression flared back up, but it wasn’t wild this time, she was calculating every possible exchange.

She made a move, capturing a pawn.

Felix captured her knight.

She moved her king to the corner; he slid his rook down the file.

Piece by piece, her options dwindled. She stared at the trapped king for a full minute, her shoulders growing tight with visible frustration.

"You’re doing it again," she whispered bitterly.

"Doing what?"

"Making me think I’m making progress when I’m actually just walking into another wall."

"That means you’re starting to see the board," Felix said.

"It doesn’t feel like progress when I’m getting cornered."

"That’s just because you’re losing."

Vesper pressed her lips into a thin line and pushed her final pawn forward.

Felix reached out with two fingers, lifted his queen, and placed it down on the open square right in front of her king.

"Checkmate."

The cell went totally quiet.

Vesper didn’t move. She stared at the board, her dark eyes darting between her trapped king and his queen.

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