Midel's POV
"Why are you hiding?"
My eyebrows rose as soon as I heard grandpa's question out of the blue. The atmosphere kinda change into an awkward turn because of my silence and the inability to give a quick answer.
I move a piece from the board, and ate one of his rook, he move his white piece as a turn and ate my bishop one.
I glanced at him. His expression didn't change—still calm as before.
"It's okay if you're not planning to answer the question."
"No. I mean," I move another piece of mine before continuing with a sigh, "it's just that. The question felt like not too relevant to the atmosphere right now."
"Mm." He scoffed before eating another one of my piece from that board. "I guess you have a point there. Then forget I even asked you that question. I forgot that my grandson's a little bit sensitive, forgive me." Then he laughed.
We took turn, moving our pieces together but after a minute had passed, i was left stunned when he smiled at me, saying; "Checkmate!"
That's the last time I played chess with my grandfather. If I could still remember it correctly, it's been more than three years already and I am now at my college days as a freshman.
Since my parents left me with my grandpa, he took care of me during my high school, he is also the one who taught me chess and not even once that I beat him in the game. For the last four years living with him, I learnt the frustration of losing.
And since he's already dead, I'm sad and angry because now, I couldn't prove to him anymore that I got better in that game.
I didn't even have the chance to taste victory against him. But I guess that's just how life works. Sometimes your effort won't be enough to tell the world that you're good.
Nobody would even notice your worth. But sometimes. Even if you're doing something effortlessly, someone will still make a fuss about it.
Certain goals and certain moves had also certain consequences around or behind them. It's just a matter of making decisions wether to move to a direction where you least expect a problem would jump on you.
"Mid? You with me? Hey. Mid. Are you listening to me? Mid!"
I returned to my reality when someone continuously tapped my shoulder. It's my manager. "You're day-dreaming again. You know it's not good for you especially that this is the moment of your match."
I heaved a sigh, nodding at him. "Yeah. Sorry."
"Focus, Mid. Focus."
"Okay."
'AND NOW! FOR THE LAST AND MOST AWAITED RUMBLE WAR CHAMPIONSHIP FOR TONIGHT'S TOURNAMENT! MAY I PRESENT TO YOU, TEAM 1 WITH AZMAEL AS THE SQUAD CAPTAIN!'
I heard the emcee shouted from the speaker of this stadium.
"Okay, okay." My manager clapped several times, trying to hype me up, "now listen, Mid. Azmael is the most dangerous squad captain you can face in that arena so you better be careful, alright?"
I nodded.
'TEAM 2, WITH CLAUBINE AS THE SQUAD CAPTAIN! TEAM 3, WITH ZONE AS THEIR SQUAD CAPTAIN! AND LASTLY, TEAM 4 AS A ONE-MAN ARMY, PLAYER LAZARUS!'
"You got this, Mid. You got this." My manager offered a fist-bump which I did the same, before putting on my cat mask and went outside.
I arrived on the stage carrying my NerveGear. I can feel the pressure while some of the players are standing right beside me. I might get deaf if I won't cover my ears for minutes because of the loud shouts around us.
'WOW! LOOK AT THAT! THE MOST MYSTERIOUS PLAYER OF THE GAMING COMMUNITY—LAZARUS HAD FINALLY MADE AN APPEARANCE FOR THE LAST THREE MONTHS THAT HE WENT MISSING FROM THE PUBLIC!'
'NEVER THOUGHT HE'LL COMPETE IN THIS KIND OF GAME AT LAST. AND WOULD SHOW US HOW AMAZING A PLAYER HE IS JUST BY USING HIS FISTS.'
'YES! UNDOUBTEDLY, EVERYBODY'S AT THE EDGE OF THEIR SITS ON HOW THIS TOURNAMENT WILL END SINCE AS YOU CAN SEE—HE IS AGAINST THESE ENEMIES! FIRST ON THE LIST IS NONE OTHER THAN AZMAEL OF THE THUNDERGUARDS GUILD!'
'EXACTLY! EVEN I COULDN'T WAIT FOR THIS MATCH TO BEGIN. AND NOW, I AM THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE: THAT THE RUMBLE WAR CHAMPIONSHIP, SEASON 13, WILL FINALLY BEGIN!'
The shouts got louder. Along with the vibrating music that got the whole stadium to explode with thrill. As players, it's really giving as a boost of confidence with our gameplay but it could also generate nervousness, depending on how an individual would interpret it.
Like the others, I took the sit right on the edge side. I attached my device to the connecting server before wearing it on my head.
Everybody seemed ready. Giving a thumbs-up to everyone.
'AND NOW! SINCE ALL THE PLAYERS ARE READY, LET THE BATTLE, BEGIN!'
I pushed a switch beside my helmet that activated my log-in protocol. And then everything went black and quiet.
After a couple of seconds, I'm already inside a forest. Beside me was an abandoned castle, wrapped with vines on the walls and poles.
"My luck had arrived. First kill—here I come!" I can literally sense Player Zone half a kilometer away from my back. He saw me with his fully-equipped rifle with a high-leveled scope.
But instead of panicking, I never even let him sense I knew his position already. He can fire whenever he wanted to, but as soon as he take that shot, that's when I'll attack back.
"Mysterious player—are you kidding me? Let's see where that arrogance of yours could get you!"
And since my sense of proximity is too high, it's the same as my other senses: smell, eyesight, and hearing.
He pulled the trigger and the sound of the fired rifle reverberated around the forest, as its long and sharp rifle bullet flew like lightning towards my nape.
But within an inch, before it could pierced the back of my neck, I immediately clipped the bullet's body in between my fingers. Turned to Zone's direction and without destroying 89% of the bullet's original speed. Threw it back at him in a split second.
I saw his shocked expression before his own bullet blasted his brain in a blink, killing him instantly.
\LAZARUS HAS ELIMINATED ZONE\