3 days before Cinister and Ragna quarreled:
"Hey Choi, do you miss Allen?" Scrappy asked as he ate from his plate
"Kinda, why do you ask" he replied as he drank from his cold tea
"Well when I was with him I felt invincible and It was cool but boring but now I get bullied from one of the guys called Guns-o" Scrappy replied as he ate some bread sticks
"I hear you man the classmates in my class are rough too" Choi said "I mean a guy called Ben is one tough opponent"
"Who is Ben?" Scrappy asked with a confused look on his face
"He is a grizzly bear who can do everything a human can and uses a normal shield" Choi started explaining "I usually spar with him"
"Hey losers!" A 190 cm tall, muscular man with short, messy orange hair and a cocky grin shouted. He carried a pair of crescent-shaped kamas, their curved blades connected by a long metal chain.
His uniform was all cut up from the countless battles he had experienced from battling in the school halls
"Hi Guns-o" Scrappy said as he looked down
"So this is the guy, huh?" Choi replied as he got up from the bench and looked up at him
"Oh so you're protecting the icy princess huh!" Guns-o said as he prepared to slice Choi into sushi
"I was wondering when I would fight someone like you" Choi responded with a determined look as he prepared his shield
"Okay okay calm down kids" Mason chimed in as he clapped his hands together and got in between them
"Oh mister Class 4 pretty boy is here, well I got news for you" Guns-o yelled as he swung at him with his kama
In the same instant a King Chess piece fell on top of him sending him into the floor
"Good thing I finished up early setting up the tournament" A 186 cm tall guy with messy black hair tied into a short ponytail said. A blue fox-like mask rested on top of his head and a blue scarf was around his neck, giving him a carefree yet mysterious look. He carried a chessboard under one arm and had a calm and clever demeanor.
"Look it's the 4th Strongest Student Council member" a random student shouted as they all cheered for him
"Thanks for helping me Zugren" Mason bowed as he carried out Guns-o out of the cafeteria
"Hello boys, are you okay?" He asked with a smile on his face
"Yeah thanks he was pretty annoying" Choi replied as he drank his tea
"He always bullies me whether it's stealing or hiding my stuff and even hitting me" Scrappy said as he looked at Zugren "Why are people like that invited in the Academy!"
"Because little one this is the tower and in it everyone is free" He explained "The only rule is no killers but the kill count on this floor is 0 you wanna know why?"
"It's because Cassie's barriers are also rules and one of those rules are no murdering no exceptions" Mason voiced in as came in the cafeteria
"That's correct! 5 point of material to you" Zugren cheered as he clapped his hands
"5 points of material?" Choi muttered quietly under his breath
"It's chess related" Scrappy replied to him "When you capture a rook it's 5 points of material"
"Wow, do you play chess!" Zugren sounded surprised "Do you want to play me"
Zugren set up the board on the table and gave Scrappy the white pieces.
"I haven't played a game in ages" he said as he waited for him to make the first move
"Why do you play chess, Zugren" Scrappy said as he moved his pawn to E4
"Chess is game where luck doesn't exist so strategy is the only option" he explained as he moved his pawn to E5
"So are you the best at chess in the whole school?" Scrappy asked as he moved his knight to F3
"Well in this Academy you can be the second best in anything but the number one spot is reserved for one person and that person is Maryline" Zugren responded as he moved his King to E7
"Huh? Why did you move your King!" Scrappy and Choi looked confused as their observed his move
"Well I've played 289 matches with Maryline and I have lost 288 times and I drew her only once with this exact move" he said as he looked at Scrappy with a grin
After a couple of moves Scrappy had 1 rook and 1 bishop while Zugren had lost only 3 pawns and 1 knight
"What happened? I was looking during the whole game and I still don't realise what is happening!" Choi said with a surprised look on his face as he scanned the board
"I'm the one playing and even I don't know what happened" Scrappy said as he looked down at the board wondering what happened
"It's only natural to lose to me but I must admit losing one knight was kinda shocking" Zugren replied as he checkmated him with the rock
"How much elo even are you?" Mason chimed in
"I'm 5200 elo the 5th highest recorded in human history" he said quietly
The whole cafeteria gathered around him to watch the game "5200 elo!!" everyone shouted
"Yup I can play Stockfish(The best chess bot in the world) 5 times on 5 different computers at the same time and I'd still win" he continued "But it was fun playing with you"
He cleaned up his chess board and started walking away from the cafeteria
"Wait" Scrappy and Choi yelled in unison
"Oh, is something the matter?" he asked as he turned around
"Please teach us so we can win the Class 3 tournament" they begged him
"You're kidding, right?" Zugren said with a joking tone "I mean there's only 3 days until the first tournament and 2 more until the class 3 tournament. Do you really think that in such short time you can win the whole thing"
"If you teach us I promise you one day I will defeat you in chess" Scrappy said with a serious voice "I'll take chess seriously and defeat you"
"Nah you won't" Zugren replied with a monotone voice "But I'm curious on how you'd do it so fine I'll train you but don't disappoint"