Victory and Defeat

Although Aier had guessed that the Red-Haired Youth might actually be Pash, the Blood Peak Overgod, he showed no reaction and pretended not to know.

Since Pash, the Blood Peak Overgod, had no intention of revealing his identity, Aier couldn't be bothered to point it out.

If he remembered correctly, the Blood Peak Overgod was a Destruction Lesser Sovereign and had only two Overgod Envoy positions available.

By now, those positions should have been filled.

Molder, the Prefect of Tianshan Prefecture, and Aldrich, the Prefect of Youlan Prefecture, were both envoys of the Blood Peak Overgod.

Tianshan Prefecture lay at the very center of Blood Peak Continent. It was where the Blood Peak Overgod usually resided.

Youlan Prefecture, meanwhile, lay where the Blood Peak Overgod's territory overlapped with that of the Four Divine Beasts Overgods.

After the Seven Divine Planes were created, almost every Overgod of each element stayed in their respective Divine Plane.

But the Four Divine Beasts Overgods were different.

Their unique circumstances meant they could only stay together.

If they separated, the other Overgods would kill them at the first opportunity.

So although the Four Divine Beasts Overgods had forces in all four Divine Planes of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, and their Sovereign Legions were stationed across those same four planes, they themselves still lived in Hell.

Before becoming Overgods, the Four Divine Beasts had been born in Hell. So after they became Overgods, Utrede, the Destruction Sovereign, didn't drive them out of Hell.

Still, the Four Divine Beasts Overgods had no territory in Hell. They had only kept Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range as their home.

When the territories were divided, Pash became the administrator of Blood Peak Continent.

In name, Blood Peak Continent belonged to Pash.

But the Four Divine Beasts Overgods, united, were considered to be at the level of a Sovereign—a standing recognized even by the Four Rule Chief Sovereigns.

On top of that, the Four Divine Beasts Clan had grown so rapidly that the people of Blood Peak Continent had nearly forgotten it was Pash's territory.

That was why Pash had also recruited Aldrich, the Prefect of Youlan Prefecture, as an envoy, tasking him with keeping an eye on the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

Aldrich had told Pash about Aier's conflict with the Four Divine Beasts Clan.

Pash had begun paying attention to Aier then.

But Heavenly Sacrifice Mountain Range was the Four Divine Beasts Overgods' stronghold. Pash didn't dare extend his divine sense into it to spy on Aier's interactions with the clan.

When word spread that Aier was a Grandmaster, the Four Divine Beasts Clan's claim had left Pash unable to sit still.

If the news was true...

That was why, after observing Aier for a while, Pash had appeared before him. He'd done so in a way that might catch Aier's attention, hoping Aier would approach him first.

After all, according to the information he'd received, Aier was Bifu Overgod's envoy and possessed a Material Defense Overgod Artifact granted by Bifu Overgod.

If Pash had approached Aier directly, Bifu Overgod might have taken offense.

But if Aier approached Pash first, then even if Bifu Overgod found out, he wouldn't object.

A Grandmaster wasn't any Overgod's exclusive possession. Even as Overgod Envoys, Grandmasters enjoyed tremendous freedom.

Take Dunnington, the only Grandmaster in Hell until recently. He was an envoy of Utrede, the Destruction Sovereign, but Utrede had never forced him to do anything.

"I lost again..."

Looking at the chessboard formed from soul force, Aier finally shook his head, resigned, and conceded.

After Aier's Earth Element Divine Clone became a Grandmaster, the strength and quantity of his soul force far surpassed those of an ordinary High God.

Even a dual-element Soul Mutator would probably fall a little short.

But despite that, as he played against Pash, Aier could feel his soul force running out.

He felt that Pash's soul force was a cut above his own.

"Another game, Lord Aier?"

Pash dispersed the chessboard formed from soul force and asked him.

At first, Pash's goal had simply been to establish a connection with Aier.

But as they talked, the new rule-based chess games Aier introduced had captivated Pash even more.

His love of chess ran deep.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that Pash had cultivated the Dao through chess.

Pash also viewed the Laws of Heaven and Earth as a chessboard and the Destruction Laws he'd comprehended as the pieces, using chess to explain the laws of the world.

Perhaps Pash wasn't especially powerful among the Overgods.

But when it came to magic arrays, he was unquestionably among the best of them.

Otherwise, when Utrede divided up Hell's territories, he wouldn't have assigned Blood Peak Continent, home to the Four Divine Beasts Overgods, to Pash.

They were both Lesser Sovereigns. If Pash had time to prepare and set up a magic array, its amplification might make him almost as powerful as Reding, the Azure Dragon Sovereign.

"No more. I concede."

"Your understanding of chess is far beyond mine."

Aier shook his head.

He'd never been a genius to begin with.

Even though his soul was now countless times stronger than it had been in his previous life, allowing him to analyze chess games as well as—or even better than—the so-called AlphaGo, that didn't change the fact that his chess skills were practically nonexistent.

Once Pash had mastered the rules, Aier no longer stood a chance of winning.

That was the crushing difference in their understanding of chess.

It was like two High Gods: one had Refine Divine Spark and could only apply the Laws and Profound Mysteries rigidly, while the other was a Grandmaster who could perfectly fuse numerous Laws and Profound Mysteries.

The same laws could produce vastly different power in different hands.

Chess worked the same way.

They were playing by the same rules, but while Aier was still on the Material Plane, Pash had already roamed the Spatial Turbulence.

"Haha, Lord Aier, you're too modest."

"Your gift for chess is far beyond anything I imagined, too."

Pash laughed.

The simple game of gomoku, the somewhat more complex game of reversi, and the far grander game of Go had all opened his eyes.

Of course, Pash's opinion of Aier also came from sensing the soul force Aier displayed during their games—a force that surpassed that of an ordinary High God.

Although Pash hadn't yet seen Aier fight or use Willpower, the possibility that Aier was a Grandmaster had quietly become much more likely in his mind.

"I've enjoyed playing chess with you, Lord Aier."

"Give me a break."

Aier rolled his eyes. "I'm the one who lost, so of course you enjoyed it."

"If you'd never beaten me, that smile would be on my face instead."

"No, you're wrong, Lord Aier."

Hearing Aier say that, Pash replied seriously, "If I hadn't won a single game, I'd be even happier than I am now."