Somewhere, in a space filled with a grey fog, a castle floated quietly.
The interior of the castle was rather desolate, but at the same time imposing and magnificent.
Directly under the towering ceiling of the white castle, a golden table appeared with fifteen high-blue chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement.
The back of each chair dazzled and shone faintly with golden light, drawing the outlines of weird constellations that differed from reality.
Sitting around the table were fourteen women whose features were shrouded in darkness.
On the table, a large chessboard was placed and a game seemed to be ongoing.
The chessboard in itself didn't look particularly special, but if one took a look at the pieces on it, they would understand that it was anything but ordinary.
On one side, 5 Kings, 7 Queens, and one pawn in full gold stood at different places.
Some of them were cracked, some were dim, while others shone brightly.
On the other side, a red queen, and ten red pawns stood.
No matter how one looked at it, this chessboard made no sense, but the players did not seem to care.
It was hard to say how long those women had been facing each other.
It could have been one day or it could have been thousands of years.
It was then that one of the gold pieces, a pawn, began to shine brightly, before slowly changing into a king piece.
The process still wasn't complete, but it was clear that it wouldn't take long–at least from their point of view.
This change seemed to bring attention to the players.
One of them, sitting on a chair with the word *GLUTTONY* inscribed on the back, murmured,
"You seem happy. So the boy is really your new trump card?"
The reason for her attention wasn't the promotion.
After all, over all those years, it has happened a lot of times.
What interested her though, was that this particular piece shouldn't have managed to begin its transition.
In the multiple branches of the possible futures, the chances of it being destroyed were overwhelmingly higher.
This could only mean one thing,
"Just how many singularities did you prepare for this one piece?"
Singularities, beings who were not constrained by fate and had the potential to break free of their shackles.
Those beings were people they could not see the future of, since they were outside of the rules.
Only their mother, the goddess of order and the goddess of chaos could do so.
Each of their pieces had one or two singularities following them, but the one currently promoting was simply overwhelming.
"Heh. Let's just say that I am different from you girls, I have been investing since the start and soon…"
She trailed there but didn't continue.
"Your plans are good and all but I hope he won't break the heart of my little girl."
Castitas complained on the side.
Even though she had more or less mocked Camelia a few days ago in the mortal world, this didn't mean that she did not care about her.
In her own way, of course.
On the other hand, she did not really care about the boy.
No matter how talented he was, at most he would reach demi-god level and at the end, once he lost his blessing like all the kings before him, he would die because of the storm of probability gathered around him.
All the Blessed were bestowed with incredible luck and talent. But such a thing had a price.
The more they used their luck, the faster they would die once they lost it.
This was why, even in the case of long lived species like Elves, Angels or Demons, there were no old generations of kings or queens alive.
The only way to escape this destiny was to jump out of the board.
Luxuria listened to her sisters but did not care.
Looking at the piece under the process of transformation, a deep feeling of elation filled her heart.
'Soon…'
She had been waiting thousands of years for this very moment.
Her expectations were extremely high and she would accept no failure.
Smiling, she trailed her eyes toward the King piece of Ira.
Her sisters were all so shortsighted.
What they needed now wasn't a strong piece–But a new player, a complete game breaker that would flip the table if necessary.
'Sorry sister, but I will have to use your piece to reach the best result possible.'
After all, for a chess piece to become a player, some sacrifices were necessary.
(AN: Singularities were mentioned during the dragon special chapter and this chapter marks the end of Book 1.
What is Luxuria's goal? How will it affect Sol? We will have our answer soon.)
VOL 5: THE QUEEN completed.
BOOK 1: MORTAL REALM completed.
