Crack!

Sheva winced unconsciously when he heard the sound of the table cracking. Even though he didn't see it directly, the boy could deduce that it came from the other side of the table, and he was the one who triggered it. He didn't know Medina's current expression right now, and honestly, he didn't want to know about it. The boy seemed to regret letting his mouth loose in this round.

Meanwhile, Priasmoro Novendra also looked at him as if Sheva were insane. After a while, the man started praying silently, hoping that Sheva could survive the woman's wrath after the game was over.

Still, Sheva didn't have any intention to back down here. He was the front supporter of the gender equality movement, and the boy wouldn't show mercy just because his opponent was a woman. If she was willing to start talking shit first, she had to be ready to get smacked back by her opponent.

Aulia Medina Warda herself paused for a moment, staring at Sheva with a cold gaze. Inwardly, though, she couldn't believe that Sheva would throw a provocation at her. That was probably the reason why she was caught off guard. It might not seem impressive, but no one had ever spoken so harshly to her before. Not because she was a woman, of course—even though it was a big reason—but because the woman's aloof personality always scared the shit out of people.

This was probably the first time someone talked back at her, and it was enough to throw her off balance.

'No, I need to calm down.' She shook her head quickly, trying to get rid of any distracting idea inside her head. 'It is also not clear yet that I made a blunder here. No, he could've done it to throw me off guard. Yes, that should be it, right?'

She spent almost fifteen seconds just thinking about one move. It was not long, yeah, but in a blitz game, even a millisecond mattered. Unfortunately for Medina, though, her mind had already succumbed to chaos, and the ability to think straight was gone from her head. Even though her instinct still worked, her brain started to crash out.

Of course, Sheva wouldn't give any mercy here. No, he moved quite fast, not wanting to give Medina time to recover from her shock. In the next few moves, Sheva managed to sacrifice his light bishop and knight for Medina's two pawns and a rook. Material-wise, he got +1 from this exchange, which would be a good investment in the endgame later.

'Oh, he is good.' Claudia couldn't help but whisper to Bagas, wanting to admire the game together with the fat boy. 'Sheva took advantage of Sister Medina's cramped situation on the back to force a fork on her rook and queen. Not only that, he forced all of Sister Medina's pieces into a bad square. Just look at them, staring at nothing stupidly. Compared to Sheva's pieces that are already in a dangerous position, those are like a cone in the middle of the street, useless."

*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.

She wasn't the only one who analyzed the game. Anna was also on the same boat, and the older sister of the Marisa Siblings couldn't help but appreciate Sheva's ruthlessness in this game. Still, even though she wasn't jealous anymore, Anna still felt a little bit complicated, not expecting the boy whom she thought was basic a few months ago would be flying higher than him right now, even beating Priasmoro Novendra and Aulia Medina Warda, the two top players of this country.

'No, it seems, I need to practice harder in the future.' She clenched her fist unconsciously, staring at Sheva with burning determination. 'Just wait, Shev! I will be chasing you from now on!'

A few moments later, Medina made another mistake. This time, she moved her knight to support the queen, trying to put pressure on Sheva's E4 pawn. However, this move only blocked her own queen's route to leave, and Sheva also noticed immediately that the queen itself got stuck in the middle of the board.

*Author note: If you want to visualize the position better, check the comment below.

Of course, Sheva wouldn't let this chance slide away so easily. First, he put his rook on the E file, giving another layer of protection to his E4 pawn. Not only that, he also pushed his other pawns as well, trying to put more pressure on Medina's backline. The boy also didn't forget to cover the diagonal route where the woman's dark bishop stared from afar, even trying to exchange it with his knight.

In the end, though, all the pressure he put finally bore a result, as in the next few moves, Medina finally made a fatal mistake that changed the entire course of the game instantly.

Sticking with the principle of not trading any of her pieces in a losing endgame, the woman tried to avoid the pawn exchange that Sheva offered. The move also provided another layer of protection for her queen, which at first glance seemed to be a wonderful idea. However, with his eagle eyes, Sheva noticed something wrong immediately.

The pawn's move really became her own queen killer in this case, as it blocked the last door of its escape route. With her own knight blocking the road to the back, the pawn shutting down the diagonal square, and all of the hungry soldiers from Sheva's squadron wanting to gut the queen alive, there was not much choice that Medina could make here. Everything always led to one thing, and that was her own destruction.

She pondered for a while, letting her time burn. At this moment, time was definitely her last concern, as she concentrated hard to get away from this position. However, playing without a queen against a complete set of rooks and a full queen on the opposite board would definitely be a nightmare.

In the end, with one last complicated glance, Medina finally put down the piece on her hand, taking a deep breath to brace herself before finally letting out a stiff smile, muttering, "Good game. It seems that you really are a true genius here." And with that, she stood up and left the chair, ignoring the dumbfounded Sheva on the other side of the table.

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