The Villain’s POV in the Academy Chapter 158

Chapter 158

What on earth had I just witnessed?

I had played Deep Dive Chess countless tis, but this was the first ti I had experienced sothing like this, and I was bewildered.

‘Just what kind of life has he lived……?’

It had only been a ‘Pawn’.

Just a one-point mory.

In other words, for Aaron, it was such a trivial mory that even if others discovered it, it wouldn’t have mattered much. And yet, what it contained was several tis more intense than even capturing the ‘Queen’ of soone who had lived an ordinary life.

……In a very bad sense.

I already felt like my insides were twisting.

When I captured Aaron’s ‘Pawn’ and shared his mory, what flooded in was a torrent of nauseating negativity.

Rage, helplessness, depression, resentnt, pain, jealousy, loneliness—all of it mixed together like a cocktail stirred by the clumsy hands of a terrible bartender, forming the worst possible combination and shaking my senses to the core.

What I glimpsed for a mont was soone’s figure.

In a dark room, soone raised their voice at him, pouring out irrational anger, and he accepted it naturally, as if it were the sa as always.

His already dulled senses even accepted the newly carved wounds on his body without resistance. He knew that trying to escape from such monts would only lead to sothing far worse.

‘Damn it…….’

Fortunately, Aaron’s mory had cut off around that point.

Perhaps it was because the mory was too old, but more than that, the purpose of the “mory Sharing” feature in Deep Dive Chess was originally ant for “bonding.”

Sharing mories was simply a way to strengthen ties between players. It wasn’t ant for forcibly prying into soone’s shaful or secret past.

And yet, precisely because of this, Zyle Stormwalker was all the more shaken.

‘This is almost no different from a Junk Chip.’

A Junk Chip—sothing deliberately edited to make a mory more provocative, ant to amplify the user’s experience.

Though it was nothing more than an object holding an “exciting” mory, the user’s brain perceived it as “reality.”

That was why Junk Chips were categorized as cyber “drugs.”

Killing soone, being killed, falling into addiction—the more one repeated such mories, the more one’s dopamine system and hormone receptors were utterly destroyed.

Of course, I had never used a Junk Chip myself. But judging from what I felt, Aaron’s mory could easily have been turned into one.

That was the part I couldn’t understand.

Ever since becoming Aaron Stingray, he must have enjoyed a luxurious life, and before that, he had been nothing more than an ordinary web novel reader. So why did he have a mory like that?

“You…… what kind of life have you lived?”

“Who knows.”

Aaron brushed off the question with indifference, as if it were hardly worth answering, and urged to continue.

“Co on. Make your next move.”

“……Understood.”

While I was still reeling with confusion, Aaron moved his Knight forward. It was a move that threatened the Bishop that had captured his Pawn while also defending his other pieces.

But it was an obvious move.

Sothing between a beginner and an interdiate level.

He could think a few moves ahead, but there was no real strategy to it. It was clear that while his mind was sharp, he lacked actual chess experience.

“Not bad…… but still lacking.”

“We’ll see about that.”

We exchanged a few more moves.

Though one of Aaron’s Pawns had been captured, his other pieces were still on the board, and their range of movent wasn’t small. It was only a matter of ti before one side took the initiative, and then the real battle would begin.

And it was I who struck the first blow.

“You failed to notice this.”

With those words, I boldly drove my Knight forward. In an instant, I pierced through Aaron’s defenses, sacrificing a Pawn as bait.

Bzzt—!

Once again, our consciousnesses shifted into the pieces. Aaron now held the sa black sword as before, while I stood mounted on a white horse, spear in hand.

“Hup!”

I thrust my spear straight at Aaron’s heart.

Aaron raised his sword, aiming for a “counterattack.” With nimble footwork, he swung and quickly closed in deep into my guard.

But then—

Suddenly.

Aaron’s steps froze in place.

As though shackled, his movents locked stiff. And my spear pierced his heart clean through, killing him instantly.

Shhht.

We returned once more to our seats at the board. Aaron rolled his neck left and right as though it felt a bit stiff.

“I see. So this is how it works.”

“Now you’re starting to feel it?”

“It felt like having massive shackles bound to my limbs…… quite irritating, really.”

“It’s natural to feel unfamiliar at first. Especially since the ‘Pawn’ is the weakest piece in chess. Its stats drop drastically.”

Generally, three Pawns were said to be equal in value to one Knight. aning, in Deep Dive Chess, there was a threefold stat gap between a ‘Pawn’ and a ‘Knight.’

“That’s why, with a Pawn, counterattacks aren’t usually attempted. Spending energy to save such a weak piece isn’t efficient.”

“Ha, interesting.”

A smile ford on Aaron’s lips.

Even though he was gradually falling behind, losing two Pawns, he seed to be enjoying the ga itself. And his reaction made feel a little lighter too.

The problem was……

“……”

……I hesitated.

Could I really bear to see it again?

That first Pawn’s mory had been so shocking that I feared reliving sothing just as vile.

“What are you waiting for? Look already.”

“……I know.”

Aaron urged on, and stubbornness welled up inside .

Yes, hadn’t I suggested this ga precisely to dig into the man’s thoughts and truths? I couldn’t back down now, not over sothing like this.

So I frowned hard, as if downing a bitter drink, and opened Aaron’s second mory……

“Uweeehhh!”

And imdiately, I vomited violently.

Of course, in this virtual space, I couldn’t actually throw up. But the sensation was so revolting that I almost wished I could, just to feel relief.

I was utterly dumbfounded.

Why in the world did he have a mory like this?

“Wh—what the hell is this!? To see your own mother like that, right in front of your eyes…… uuurgh!”

“……”

Aaron gave no reply. He simply made his next move in silence. His ‘Pawn’ had fallen, taken by my ‘Knight,’ but he used his ‘Rook’ to imdiately capture it back.

“W–wait……!”

Before Zyle could stop it, their consciousnesses were pulled into the ‘Knight’ and the ‘Rook.’

But since Zyle’s ntal state had not yet recovered, Aaron easily crushed him with the Rook. Zyle didn’t even attempt a “counterattack” against the blow.

Shhhht.

Back in his player’s seat, Aaron briefly peeked into the mory stored within Zyle’s Knight and brushed it aside as though it were nothing.

Then he urged him again.

“Co on, make your next move.”

“……!”

Damn it.

Zyle cursed inwardly.

The move he had to make was obvious. The ‘Knight’ he had just lost had been protected by a ‘Pawn.’ If he advanced his piece now, he could easily capture one of Aaron’s key pieces.

But he hesitated.

‘W–what should I do?’

The mory he had seen was from nothing more than a ‘Pawn.’

So then, what kind of mory would be held inside a ‘Rook,’ worth the value of five Pawns? Could he really endure it and remain sane?

“……”

After much hesitation, Zyle ended up avoiding the attack on Aaron’s Rook and chose another move instead. Seeing this, Aaron asked mockingly:

“Did you misread the board?”

“Don’t spout nonsense.”

Zyle retorted.

“Attacking a Rook with just a Pawn—the weakest piece—only increases the chance of being countered. It was a strategic choice.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie.

In fact, in Deep Dive Chess, when players of similar skill fought, attacking higher-ranked pieces with lower-ranked ones required great caution.

Of course, against soone like Aaron, who was playing Deep Dive Chess for the very first ti, such reasoning didn’t really hold up.

“……Fine. If that’s what you want to believe.”

Aaron brushed off Zyle’s excuse lightly and made his own move.

It was an extrely aggressive one.

He moved boldly, counting on the fact that Zyle would not dare attack him so easily. It was an open provocation, but Zyle had little choice and was forced into a defensive response.

Thus, their back-and-forth continued.

The ga remained evenly matched.

Aaron’s chess skill was that of a beginner, but his moves were fearless. His soldiers rampaged like berserkers unafraid of death, attacking every enemy in sight.

anwhile, Zyle only played defensively, too afraid of glimpsing more of those vile mories. He fended off Aaron’s assaults with “counterattacks” and tried to preserve Aaron’s pieces as much as possible, waiting for an opening in the field.

Surrendering would have solved everything easily, but his pride and nature wouldn’t allow it. If he had been the type to easily accept defeat, he never would have risen to beco such a powerful politician.

‘Checkmate. That’s the goal.’

Target the King directly, end the ga there.

Doing so ant he would have to endure all of Aaron’s dreadful mories at once, but that was preferable to being shaken by them piece by piece and losing the ga entirely.

Still, to reach checkmate, Zyle would have no choice but to hunt down a few of Aaron’s pieces to clear the way.

Each ti he did, the horrifying mories overwheld him, and his faltering ntal state caused him to make mistakes, leaving the outco uncertain.

Aaron, on the other hand, remained composed. Whenever he happened to capture Zyle’s piece and glimpse his mory, he simply nodded with feigned interest.

“Hm.” “I see.” “So that’s how it was.”

Each ti Aaron uttered such words, Zyle nearly felt the urge to shut him up by force, but he barely managed to keep his composure.

And so the match dragged on.

As the ga neared its climax, both of them realized one thing.

“I just realized…… we must co from different worlds.”

“Seems that way.”

They were from the sa planet, Earth, speaking the sa language, writing the sa characters, even from the sa country—but their cultures and histories were subtly different.

“I suspected as much, but it’s still quite a revelation.”

“Agreed.”

Even Zyle, who had belonged to the Transmigrator Alliance, was only realizing it now. That was because the system prevented transmigrators from sharing even their “real nas” with each other.

anwhile, Aaron advanced a Pawn forward, throwing out a final gambit. Zyle frowned at the sight.

“……What’s this supposed to be?”

“Try capturing it, if you can.”

It was placed in a truly delicate position.

For Zyle to declare “checkmate” on his next turn, he had no choice but to eliminate that Pawn. Aaron seed utterly confident that Zyle would not dare touch it.

Zyle carefully checked to see if there was so hidden trap he had missed. Finding none, he replied:

“You underestimate . Do you just want to tornt with ‘that mory’ until the very end?”

“Who knows.”

Aaron gave a cryptic answer.

Zyle didn’t back down and nodded.

“……Fine then. This will be the last move.”

Without hesitation, Zyle moved his ‘Queen’ to strike down the ‘Pawn.’ As a result, both their consciousnesses shifted into their respective pieces.

Zyle now held a massive white greatsword.

Aaron gripped his black blade.

A Queen, worth nine points.

A Pawn, worth one.

The difference in power was overwhelming.

Aaron hadn’t succeeded in a single counterattack so far—surely, this ti would be no different.

“This ends now.”

Zyle swung the greatsword with confidence, striking at the Pawn. But the next mont, sothing unthinkable happened.

Tiiiing—!

With a sharp tallic clang, Zyle’s greatsword flew from his grasp. Aaron’s shabby black sword was still firmly in his hand.

Aaron had countered successfully.

A ‘Pawn’ had repelled the attack of a ‘Queen.’

“……!?”

How was that even possible?

Before Zyle could even voice the question—

Aaron spoke.

“I’m getting used to this now.”

Now, it was his turn.