HTOD part 8: Chess.

"AHHHH!!!" the sound of Rei screams filled the surrounding. The zombie and people around all got alarmed by that scream.

"REI!!!" Takashi screamed while running towards Rei.

Takashi rushed to see Rei seized by a guy holding a knife. The man was wearing a bandana and had a look of madness in his eyes.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" the man started laughing at Takashi.

"Hey, man! Your girl is cute" the man said while holding the knife next to Rei neck.

"LET HER GO!!" Takashi screamed at the man.

"Are you stupid? Like I would do that" the man said.

"If I want to survive in this crazy world, I need a woman with me" the man said as he squeezed Rei.

"Are you insane?" Takashi said.

"Damn right, I am!" the man screamed at Takashi.

"My entire family turned into those things right in front of me!" the man said with madness.

"I had to smash every single one of their heads!... My parents, my grandmother, my little brother, even my sister in grade school!... HOW THE HELL I COULD STAY SANE!!??" the man screamed before laughing again.

"Takashi" Rei pushed the man attempting to escape, but he just caught her again.

Akio arrived at the moment. The man saw him, so he held Rei and moved backwards.

"You stand Righ there!!" the man said at Akio.

"Drop your weapons, or I will kill her... NOW!!!" the man screamed.

"Okay, okay, calm down... Akio" Takashi said as he looked at Akio.

Akio nodded and threw his sword behind the station right next to him, but he put it in his space.

"Now... I am taking your bike" the man said after he saw Akio without a weapon.

"It's out of gas" Takashi said.

"Don't you lie to me, you busted the cash register! You have got a lot of money to refile it" the man said while pointing the knife at Takashi.

Takashi looked at the man before going towards the bike and start refiling it.

"Hey... we just want to see if our parents are okay... can't you let us go?"Takashi said while refiling the bike.

"Didn't you hear me?... If your parent is in this town, then they met the same fate as mine!" the man said. Takashi filled the bike in silence, but he noticed there were bullets in his gun.

"Done," Takashi said as he finished refiling the bike.

"Then leave... just go!!" the man screamed.

Takashi and Akio didn't move from their place.

"Hey, can't y- "Takashi wanted to say, but he got interpreted by the man.

"SHUT UP!!!... Do you want me to kill you too!?" the man screamed at Takashi.

"can't you j- "Takashi said again as the man got angry.

"SHUT UP!!! I WILL KILL Y- "the man screamed while waving his hand, but before he finished his words, a hammer hit him from behind.

Takashi that was going to rush was shocked. Hisashi holding the Hammer, appeared from behind the man.

"Rei, are you okay?" Hisashi said.

Rei burst into tears while hugging Hisashi.

"It will be okay" Hisashi comforted Rei without noticing Takashi holding the gun.

"Why did you wait?" Takashi said.

"What?" Hisashi was confused.

"If you could take him earlier, why did you wait?" Takashi said with anger.

"If I didn't wait, he would have hurt Rei" Hisashi started to notice something weird about his friend.

"Don't lie to me... you must have waited to appear like a hero, didn't you?" Takashi said while clutching the gun.

"Takashi, what are you talking about?" Rei said as she started to notice something is wrong.

"Do you think you are better than me with your perfect guy attitude?" Takashi said while looking at the man on the ground.

"Takashi calm down this isn't you," Hisashi said trying to calm Takashi.

"No, this is me...you still don't get it, Hisashi" Takashi said while raising the gun.

"We are already insane the moment this happens" Takashi said as Rei started to get afraid of him.

"Takashi..." Rei said while looking at Takashi.

"but do you know what... compare to you, I will never hesitate to take the shot" Takashi said as he shot the man leg.

"AHHHHH" the man woke up, feeling the pain in his leg.

Suddenly, Akio caught Takashi hand as he looked at him seriously.

"No matter what happens... Never point your weapon at your friends don't you see what have you become now" Akio said while pointing at Hisashi and Rei.

Takashi saw Rei afraid from him, and Hisashi worried eyes as he stood there in disbelieve of what he just has done.

"I...I... Sorry" Takashi didn't know what to say more than just apologizing.

"it's okay, Takashi... I believe we're all having some ruff times" Hisashi smiled and comforted Takashi.

"Hisashi..." hearing Hisashi words, Takashi felt even more sham of what he did.

Akio watched the three friends silently before he was something coming.

"You three...run away now" Akio said while grabbing his swords from the space.

"What?" the Trio was confused from Akio words and wondering how he took a sword from nowhere.

"This is something personal... RUN NOW!!!" Akio said while looking at the person coming.

"What the hell is going on, Akio?... we can't just leave you here" Takashi said, but Hisashi stopped him.

"Is it about your sister?" Hisashi said as Akio nodded after hesitating.

"I see... Rei, Takashi, let's go" Hisashi said as they got shocked.

"you can't be serious, Hisashi" Rei said, but Hisashi moved towards the bikes with Takashi.

"it's not the time to talk, Rei...GET ON NOW!!!" Rei was shocked by Hisashi as she sat in the bike back.

"Take care of yourself, Akio" Hisashi said as Akio nodded.

After the Trio left the place on bikes, a man appeared with a massive blade in his hand.

"What a show of friendship you got there... newcomer" the man was wearing a biker jacket while resting the blade on his shoulder.

Akio didn't talk. Putting a sword drawing stance, Akio started moving closer towards the biker man.

"Not much of a talker... I like that in newcomers" the man said while putting a stance with his sword.

Akio blasted towards the man without a warning while swinging his sword at his neck.

"you need more than that." the Biker blocked Akio blade, but Akio kept attacking forcing him to retreat.

The Biker used swung his blade widely forcing Akio to retreat and creating a distance between them.

Akio wanted to attack again, but he felt a pain in his leg Looking down he was his leg bleeding.

"When!?" Akio was shocked, but the Biker attacked again.

They started exchanging hits, and with every single Akio blocks, a new wound appeared on his body.

Akio started to dodge the hits as the Biker moved backwards.

"you finally noticed, but it doesn't matter now" the Biker said looking at Akio wounds.

This is the biker talent that allows him to ignore defence and blocks, damaging his opponents.

"...I will kill you" Akio said with a cold voice as his eyes started to turn blank.

"What!!??" the Biker said in surprise because Akio crossed the distance and arrived at him instantly.

The Biker tried to block Akio sword with his blade, but Akio sword did a turn in the air dodging the sword and slashing the biker chest.

"Ugh" the Biker moved backwards, but Akio didn't give him a chance and slashed his knee, forcing him to stop.

Akio talent is simply concentration. Just this concentration allows him to see through his opponents weakness and attack or dodge instantly.

The Biker swung his blade as Akio dodged easily and swung towards his neck, but at this moment Akio flinched, and the Biker smirked.

The Biker used that moment to dodged and hit Akio with his blade. Even if Akio blocked the hit, he still got an injury in his leg forcing him to stop.

"What? are you surprised newcomer... don't worry, you will get used to it during the game" the Biker said as he was the message appearing in front of him.

[The protagonist team...Takashi Komuro, Rei Miyamoto, Hisashi Igou has been killed] the game voice sounded in every player head.

"Did you think we are stupid to let the protagonist go?" The Biker smiled at Akio.

"Or perhaps you thought this is a fair battle from the start" the Biker said as a car came over with two guys inside.

"Wow, he got you there" a man with stars on his clothes said at the Biker.

"It seems that your talent didn't help you" a man holding two guns in his hands said.

"Shut up and help me already" the Biker sat on the ground from his injuries.

"Sure... no hard feeling kid" the star man said as he rushed towards Akio.

Akio held his blade ready to dodge, but the star man moved away, showing a guy holding two guns.

The man shot at Akio hitting his heat two times as he fell weakly towards the ground with a red chest appearing next to him.

"Why you guys didn't come faster... was it hard to kill three normal people" the Biker said as he drank a potion from his space.

"Oh come on... were you afraid of a newcomer" the star man said

"Of course not... just the guy hidden in the shadows that the captain talked about" the Biker said as everyone expressions turned severe.

"The guy with the space ability?... don't worry we have these things. The captain said they would block any space ability around us" the weapons guy said while holding an item in his hand.

"Even so, we shouldn't let our guard down...let's go back" the star man said as they nodded.

The Trio got in the car as they left the station after they took Akio red chest.

At the top of a building two kilometres away. Akashi was using D4C vision to see what happens.

"As I thought" Akashi said while holding something in his hands.

"If I am gathering information about the other team... they will also gather some about me" Akashi said while watching Akio corpse turning into light spots.

"This is a game with players, but... not all players can play this game" Akashi said.

"To play chess, you need pieces and who can move pieces better than a leader or a captain" Akashi said while watching the trio leave.

"If this captain pieces were his team, then mine was also my team with the protagonist" Akashi said.

"Both players will test their opponents first...this is the first piece... the masked guy" Akashi said.

Akashi remembered his meeting with the masked guy.

"That guy was stupid, but he knows how to act" Akashi closed his eyes.

"The game announced the mission as a team, then there must be a leader... be it a strong one or a smart one" Akashi said.

Akashi remembred angering the masked guy before asking him about his leader.

"That guy didn't even say one bad word about his leader. This means the leader is not only a strong guy but also a smart one that his subordinate fears him." Akashi said.

"The leader wanted to know the other team strength and if they are worthy of wasting effort" Akashi said while gazing at the moon.

"That why he let the masked guy attack. It was to gather information... the masked guy was the first disposable piece" Akashi said.

"After the masked guy died. The leader recognized the other team as an opponent and sent his second piece the sniper woman" Akashi said.

"But someone with capabilities of that woman can't be a disposable piece...well, that was before I save Hisashi" Akashi said.

"John said the new player needs a special ability to reach the protagonist like teleportation... the woman became the tester of that idea" Akashi said.

"The moment Hisashi message announced, the leader probably asked the woman to attack the new player to know if they have a space ability with them or not," Akashi said.

"That when the woman became a disposable piece... and he succeeded because there no way someone will be able to kill her that fast without a space ability... and all that because of this arrow" Akashi said as the arrow flashed.

"The leader probably chose to go to another place to observe my team and check if there anything suspicious... and what he got that I wasn't with them" Akashi opened is eyes.

"A person with a space ability hidden in the shadow is a very dangerous person, but the game that connects the multiverse would sure have something to deal with space abilities, especially with a veteran player like the leader" Akashi said.

"The moment the leader knows about my card the space ability, he will counter it with something else...like space blocking devices" Akashi remembered the items with the Trio earlier.

Akashi felt the moment he step 10 meters close to them. His D4C ability will become useless unless he uses Requiem or activates Glimpse Of Heaven form.

"However, If you have pieces. I also do, but unlike you, I am not afraid of wasting them" Akashi said.

Akashi pieces were his team and the protagonist. First, he broke the trust between his team, making them unable to think straight, and what will happen then? They will follow the plot blindly.

Akashi plan was involving his team and the protagonist, but when he met the masked guy, he started to get suspicious.

Then the sniper woman came. At that moment, Akashi wanted to change the plan even if it meant to give up the protagonist and trick their leader, but the arrow affected him, making all those events.

Akashi was only able to teleport the woman making her kill Akiko, but that wasn't all.

Akiko death put the entire team in confused, making them a prisoner to the plot without thinking straight even forgetting their mission to keep the protagonist safe by kicking that teacher from the bus.

Instead, they let Akio go with the protagonist team, which means they already gave up after Akiko death and they were just looking for revenge.

"In here comes Takashi role... you didn't hesitate in shooting" Akashi smiled.

Akashi, in his meeting with Takashi, focused on confusing Takashi by his words and action with jealousy and his feeling about the world falling apart, but what Akashi focused more was on the gun.

Akashi hinted Takashi with his words and gun a few times. Hints are powerful things, especially with a confused person like Takashi.

Takashi, in his rampage, used his gun and shot the man making a loud sound just for the other team to hear.

The old player didn't expect to come to this world, so Akashi took a gamble of they forgetting the plot-important place and used Takashi as a signal for them.

Akashi won the gamble. The other team was in the vicinity because they didn't know exactly where the station is.

"This was a game of chess between us captain... advancing and retreating, but " Akashi raised his hand.

"If you were trying to know my abilities, then what I was looking for is this" three blue lines extended from Akashi fingers into the direction where the Trio left.

"Although I wasted the protagonist piece. I guess this line and photo will do just fine " Akashi remembered the energy in the space blocking devices as a fourth line appeared in his hand.

"The spark can have a lot of meaning, after all... it called the protagonist team, not the protagonist alone" Akashi looked at the photo in his hand showing the star man and the weapons guy killing Takashi and his friends.

"Hey...D4C" Akashi said as his blue aura flickered.

"We are going to a battle that we might die in... are you willing to stand with me" Akashi said as D4C covered him.

"I see..." Akashi smiled.

"Then captain... our final battle that will determine this mission is getting closer" Akashi said as he watched the lines on his hand.