(Thanks for all you support of the story! I thank you all! Plus, I changed the spelling of "Luberian" in Chapter 2 as it was pointed out; thanks for the help! For some reason, I can't access my reviews, so I hope I'll be able to soon. Enjoy the new chapter!)

Chapter 3: Tests and Triumph

He stepped through the large archway to a familiar hallway. This was the headquarters of the first ever gathering of Chess Pieces, his step-mother included. They all had plotted schemes, gathered forces and got given ÄRM in these very walls. It was slightly nostalgic to him, but this was not the reason he had come. His main purpose must stick in his mind: to crush his sister. These were the people that would help him do exactly this. He double checked he had everything he needed, and then continued down the hall.

The hall itself was of dark colours. The walls were made out of a deep shade of mahogany timber, expertly smooth and soft as he ran his hand along the side. The hall was wide enough to fit at least four people shoulder to shoulder, though few more than one at a time passed down or up it. There was little decoration, though this he expected. The only piece of furniture was a table of the same wood at the far end of the hall. There was little lighting as he slowly walked down the same hall he had six years earlier. Back then, he was the young little child that everyone thought was a joke. Oh, but they learned, the hard way. He relished these memories, but had to stop and remind himself of the reasons he was there as he reached the end. Anger, hatred, jealousy; these were the feelings that drove his journey, the reasons he left his home in the icy plain and trekked here to the village of fire, to destroy that which he once knew.

The next turn was made to the left, and he entered an immense room, and it would be here that the Chess Pieces would have held their meetings in secret, until the knight Phantom relocated them. Here, new Chess Pieces were tested and inducted, with the pawn piece earring pierced in their ear. They were also given "upgrades" here; say from pawn to rook or bishop to knight. Luckily, the doorway also detects people entering and leaving, checks if they are a Piece or not, and then sends the information to Phantom; soon, the red energy that was signature of Phantom's teleportation appeared before him. He stepped further into the room and waited until Phantom would arrive.

"Phantom has more important business to attend to now, and so the day's games are postponed until tomorrow. Please enjoy this day off!" explained Pozun, the judge of the War Games. He turned on his heel and took off towards the exit slightly hurriedly, as if he was not to happy with his job, and seemed as happy as Team MÄR was.

"Phantom with important business? And I was so looking forward to today's matches," mocked Dorothy with a sly sarcasm in her voice.

Gaira stepped forward powerfully and said, "Well, this gives us a perfect chance to..."

Everyone quickly cut him off with a groans and a unified, "NOT MORE PRACTICE?!"

"We've worked hard enough already, I mean, Jack and I have already been in those gates twice now! You can't force us back in there!" cried Ginta

"Yeah, exactly!" agreed Jack, who was leaning on his Battle Shovel tiredly after waking up only minutes ago, and wanting to fall back asleep as soon as possible.

"You can't possibly mean me?" asked Dorothy, surprised the old man would even think of that.

"Come on, Gaira, do we have to? I spy some pretty ladies lookin' my way!" chuckled Nanashi, as he waved over at the group of giggling girls across the plain, who started squealing over this gesture.

"No, I side with Gaira here: we all need improvement." stated Alviss.

"Thankyou, Alviss. Now, I ask you all to be prepared for this gate. It will test your abilities to their limits so far..."

"Ah, if it isn't the queen's stepson, the young prodigy. I see you have returned, hopefully to come out of your hiding?" asked the knight, Phantom.

"That I am, Phantom," he replied in his icy voice. He was glad that he remembered him.

"So, I believe I am right in assuming you wish to rejoin the Chess Pieces?" queried Phantom.

"Again, you are correct. Let's get it over with; I don't have all the time in the world right now." He felt a slight pain as one of his wounds reopened and blood trickled out. "Okay, maybe just a bit of time of rest then." He pulled out his medallion from his chest and called, "Glacialis version 2: Ice Healing!" The ice stuck to his cuts and wounds, working on them quickly as they healed.

"So, you've learn some new tricks, have you?" asked Phantom.

"So many questions, Phantom. Have you no news to tell me?" he answered. The ice slid off his skin and revealed nought but a few scars.

"Well, no, not really. The Team MÄR has been desecrating our lower ranked pieces, but I doubt they'll be any match for you when you get there. That is, if you get there. You will have to take the tests again. I think you'll see that this is fair; I mean last time you really got in because of your hate, anger and also the slight up-side that your step-mother is the queen of our organisation." Phantom smugly replied.

"Fine then, Phantom. What do I have to do?" he asked.

"Simple. You must defeat an enemy from each level of the Chess Pieces: a pawn, rook, bishop and then a knight. But, considering you are the queen's stepson, I guess I'll add that you have to complete it all in at least 30 minutes. Any problems?" explained Phantom.

"None at all, Phantom. Tell me when to start." He replied calmly, still with his sinister, icy cold voice.

"Fine. Pawn, come forth." said Phantom, as a young girl stepped out, slightly altered. He assumed that Chimera had been let loose with her, and now she was half animal. She seemed distressed as if she was not normal. None the less, he would have to defeat her, in the easiest way: death. Phantom stepped to the side.

"BEGIN!" exclaimed Phantom, as a timer appear above his head.

This will be a piece of cake. 30 minutes, no problem. he thought. "Ice Kunai!" and the chain around his wrist extended and the dagger grew full size. In a split second, he had thrown the kunai straight through the pawn's chest. Her breathing now came in short and sharp sounds and she collapsed, blood pouring out of the place where the kunai had struck. She soon died.

"PAWN DOWN!" called Phantom. "Next opponent, rook level Pravu."

As the contender redrew his bloodstained kunai, the new opponent appeared. He had a large scar on his right cheek, and a muscular build. He had tattoos on his arms of two dragons, and of course, his rook earring jangled from his ear. There was still 25 minutes left.

Pravu called out "Darkness Sceptor!" and conjured a black staff. He started to run towards the enemy, with the staff held in front of him.

The contender retaliated by throwing his kunai at the man running towards him. Pravu blocked it by letting it lodge in the staff. The contender grimaced and called "Version 1, Ice Bomb!" and soon the kunai exploded. When the dust cleared, Pravu was completely frozen solid, movement gone, and thawing impossible. "Who's next?" he called to Phantom. There was still 20 minutes left on the clock.

"Uh..." Phantom was not enjoying seeing his carefully chosen warriors losing (though he expected the pawn to lose) "ROOK DOWN! Next opponent, Fabul of the bishops."

The bishop, Fabul stepped forward, adorned in black robes, and holding a book in his left hand. He glanced up at his opponent and then shut his book. "Fantasy Land!" as the land shifted and twisted into an entirely new landscape. The book must have been the ÄRM used. "Cupid's Arrows!" was called as several shots were fired from above, where Fabul was now standing, well above the contender below.

"Ice Cubes!" he called as his ring glowed bright blue and a large brick of ice was formed around him. The arrows broke on contact with the massive cube of ice, and he was safe from harm inside. "Guardian ÄRM: Glacialis!" and his medallion disappeared.

"Whatever do you think you're..." but Fabul's sentence was cut short as a magician adorned in light blue and red robes touched him from behind and automatically, he was frozen. Glacialis smashed the ice into small fragments, and Fabul was no more.

The cube of ice vanished around him and Glacialis returned to medallion as he was returned to the room of the Chess Piece headquarters. Phantom was astonished that it had taken him no longer than 7 minutes to kill a bishop level, and a high one at that. There was only 12 minutes left.

"Bishop down? Next contender..." stuttered Phantom. He had never seen this much rage, hate, want for death since himself. "Lamn of the knights, who recently replaced Kouga in the rankings."

Lamn walked out and quickly called "Silver Sickles!" as two blades appeared on the edges of his arms. He dashed towards him, but had been watching the previous battles and knew about the Ice Bomb ability of the kunai, so he was wary of this. The contender soon realised that he would need a large boost of speed to win.

"Ice Kunai Version 3a: Ice Bomb Blaster!" as the kunai morphed his hand into a large rocket-launcher like gun. Lamn full well realised its ammunition and was dodging already in case they were quick, changing his pattern so that he could not be determined. But, instead, he aimed it at the floor, and fired. There was a great explosion, and, when the smoke cleared, there he was, covered completely in ice. Lamn stopped where he was in astonishment. Phantom had no idea what to say.

"Maybe it was too much for him?" Phantom chuckled. "He still has 8 mi..." But Phantom was cut short as the ice figure sped with extreme speed to Lamn. In three second he had arrived and a second later, Lamn had a spike of ice sticking out of his back, covered in blood. The contender removed his bloodstained arm from Lamn and shook of the blood with immense speed as Lamn collapsed and died, much like the pawn before him. The ice shattered into pieces around the contender, and only six words emerged from his lips, still retaining that icy cold voice that was his trademark, though this time with a happier atmosphere to it: "Ice Kunai Version 2: Iced Speed." The timer was stopped on 7 minutes to go.

"So, I am now a knight, no?" he asked.

Phantom was slightly stunned at that wildcard move that had just been used before his very eyes, though still trying to retain an atmosphere of control. He is truly the queen's stepson... "Welcome back to the Chess Pieces."

(Foot Notes: I'm trying to keep the name out of it till he verses his sister, but it's really difficult. Chapter 3 is complete, so thanks once again for your support and I hope this was an adequate enough page! A lot of my names with come from Latin if you notice: glacialis is Latin for ice, for example, and pravus means evil. Fabula means tale, as in storybook, and Lamn from the Latin for blade, like his sickles.

Till next time! VOA)