Through Pia's mind, his body can feel all the movement on the ground around him; in this moment, every aspect of the pitch is fully bound to his mind. "No defence can protect you."
He tosses the ball into the ground right beneath Žudrė's monster truck, and then he says, "Arise!"
Beneath the truck, a series of small pillars appear, and the ball bounces from one to another again and again. Then, all around the ground, little cannons made of earth appear and from inside them, boulders are shot right towards each side of the monster truck.
Valerio says, "Isn't this cheating? I thought you were only allowed to use the ball to strike down the pieces?"
Ivana says, "No, this is Pia's speciality! In cursed chess, you're only allowed to attack people within a certain area from the ball, so he traps the ball beneath the given monster trucks, and then uses that as a loop hole to send a series of boulders towards the truck causing immense damage to all of it's operation, and breaking it's structure making each of the pieces more wobbly. Even if it is technically not allowed to take them down, it makes it more likely for when a blow comes in for multiple pieces to fall down. Using this strategy, there was a time when they were able to wipe out all of the pieces in one go. The crushing bombardment!"
Pia's boulders shoot towards Žudrė, who says, "As if I would allow you to do that."
Across the entire area around Žudrė's monster truck, a series of iron faces appear, blocking all of the boulders. Pia continues the bombardment, and feeling the rest of the siblings moving over to him, he creates massive walls of earth throughout the pitch that form little barriers, impeding their approach.
He feels Mõõk dash forward and says, "Our captain is not letting up, so neither can I."
He manifests an arm underneath where the ball bounces and throws it from the legs of the monster truck to its behind, then he manifests another pillar under the ball, sending it into the air. Mõõk jumps with his leg position right against the ball.
She turns her head around to face Mõõk and says, "A trap won't work on my defence, you fools."
Under his breath, Pia says, "Maybe if it was just that, but how about this?"
Taking control of all the land underneath the monster truck, he makes it go concave into the ground, breaking the footing of the truck completely, and sending Žudrė completely off balance.
Using that moment, Mõõk smashes the ball right through the giant house on the monster trucks right towards the king, and says, "THAT'S IT!"
Yet as the ball approaches, a little metal face appears, blocking and redirecting the ball away from the king right into a bishop instead, and the crowd roars in another round of cheers.
Zbur says, "It seems that while they missed their target, the Knightmares were able to bypass that eternal, unbreakable shield of the Sky and score a point. Something even the Marys couldn't achieve, but what else do we expect from the two cannons of the Knightmares!"
Mõõk, landing on the ground, takes a deep breath as he holds his injured leg, and Pia, moving up beside him in his tiny form, says, "Are you alright, captain?"
"Yeah, I am good, but what about you, Pia?"
"I will be pretty useless for the next 20 minutes or so. I used Bewitchment to its fullest extent. I won't be able to physically exert myself intensely, I am sorry."
"Don't worry that combo is usually are finisher. You never imagined using it this early. I should apologise for missing the king. Though I did notice something, and I need you to report it to Ivana."
"Right."
Pia rushes over to Ivana, and Žudrė, looking at Mõõk, stares daggers at him.
Holding his finger up like a gun, he says, "I have a lot more where that came from."
She clicks her tongue and faces forward, then, whilst staring at Yellow, she says, "The ball will never make it back here again."
Pia runs away from Ivana, and she says, "This is great, now we have a path to victory."
Valerio says, "What do you mean?"
José, with his fists locked into the intensity of the match, says, "NO SPOILER!"
Valerio says, "Ok, ok, I didn't know you'd get so into this."
"They're just so cool!"
Ivana, grabbing his hands, says, "AREN'T THEY!"
The two quickly begin to jump, and Valerio says, "I didn't even know José could talk to a woman. It seems like miracles do happen. I guess maybe Alba's situation can change as well."
Orb standing beside Iancu, and Cara says, "Red the powerhouse, Blue the aerial master, White the speedster, Yellow the control tower, Green the one v one expert, Pink the all-rounder who can do long passes."
Cara says, "I can see why you guys wanted to inform us of their strengths beforehand, but the feeling of experiencing it first never stops my blood from boiling."
Iancu says, "That idiocy almost cost us our pieces. We are already behind against these cheaters, using whatever advantage we can find shouldn't be frowned upon."
Orb, with a cheeky smile, turns and says, "You say that, but your heart rate was the loudest on the battlefield."
Iancu increases the gravity around Orb, smashing him into the ground.
Cara, turning his head, says, "We know, but principles and rules are what make this sport fun for everyone. Even if others don't respect them, we will because of all they mean to us, and with a goalkeeper like you, we can be a lot more selfish today."
Iancu, embarrassed, says, "You're all just lucky that I am that good, or it would be over."
Orb says, "We are, and now let's get ready, because it's time for the real stampede of ogres to begin."
Žudrė holds the ball, and then under her breath, she says, "Let it begin."
She kicks the ball into the air, and it flies towards Pink. Ikaras, flying in, tries to intercept the ball, and Willow, watching from afar, says, "Is it really ok for the ball to start from the goalkeeper again?"
Wadim says, "That question has been posed before, that after every goal the ball should be brought back to the centre of the field, yet certain curses kept giving advantages to that playstyle. So instead, they made it so the monster trucks could be allowed to move to balance out this unfairness."
Ikaras dashes downwards towards the ball, but Pink quickly moves all of his body mass into his right leg, making it extend far into the sky, and quickly moves the ball away from the Ikaras, and then retracts its elongated leg, pulling the ball in quickly, before giving it a massive cross forward towards Yellow.
Dumnorix dashes over to Whites position. Yet despite this, Yellow crosses it up into the air over towards White.
Dumnorix, pushing forward, says, "It's my time to shine."
White dashes forward and says, "You won't be beating me in terms of acceleration."
Dumnorix lags behind as White accelerates, and then says, "Red branch battle arts; Passiflora." And quickly lunges past White, and the wind pressure sends White slightly off balance for a moment.
Smiling Dumnorix says, "And that's all I need." He turns his head and stares at the ball, preparing to intercept.
Blue appears in the middle of the air and quickly smashes the ball across the field to the left. "Too slow."
Yellow quickly intercepts the ball, and Cara holds up his fists, preparing to let out a series of meteors.
Orb lunges over to Red.
"You think you can handle my shots!"
"No, but I do know that Cara's shots will be able to pin Green and Blue down."
Yellow quickly turns his body around, facing opposite Iancu, and soon White, Red, Green, and Blue all dash forward, with Iancu, Orb, Cara, and Dumnorix all looking in confusion.
Yellow shoots the ball, and it crosses backwards. Flying through the air, it heads towards Green, who quickly extends all of the arms on his back, completely obscuring his body by forming a moving cocoon of arms.
Iancu stares directly at Green, trying to guess where he is about to shoot, but through the cocoon, a hole appears, and the ball flies through right into a rook, knocking it down as Iancu stands completely unable to react.
The Gynėjas siblings run towards each other and lift up Green as the crowd's screams echo through the entire stadium.
Dumnorix, breathing in and out, says with an excited smile, "Yellow didn't even coordinate that attack with any of them."
Iancu says, "That's impossible, the ball landed exactly where Green wanted it."
Cara says, "No, I think I understand what it was. Everyone ran to the perfect spots where they could take the best shots from, knowing that Yellow would cross the ball to one of those spots."
Iancu says, "Is that even possible?"
Dumnorix adds, "Definitely. But it would take a monstrous level of skill to pull such a thing off. I guess that Yellow might even be the most dangerous player on this field."
Cara says, "Orb, I think you should stay on Yellow from now on. I can handle Green and Blue with my shots, Dumnorix can keep up with White, and Iancu can block Red's shots since they are mainly direct."
Orb says, "But if I don't soften him up, the force of the kicks will have to be solely handled by Iancu."
"I am fine with that. Besides these gloves, they gave me can handle shock better than most."
"Ok then, let's go!"
Iancu holds the ball, and activating his legacy, he throws the ball and increases the force applied to it, sending it flying into the air.
Ikaras flies towards it, preparing to grab it, and yet Blue appears in front of the ball and smashes it back down, then says, "It's time for the stampede to begin."
Ikaras looks down and sees Pink lying on the ground in a position that indicates it just launched Blue into the sky. Yet more worryingly than that is the fact that Pink is in the front with the rest of the siblings.
The ball lands on Yellow, and Orb moves right up to Yellow and forms a wall of ice. Then says, "Red branch battle arts; Clover." As he dashes forward and reaches for the ball.
Yet as if the ball was part of his body, Yellow manoeuvres it from his legs to his shoulders, right onto his head and right behind him, dodging the four attempted steals in a single instant.
Orb consistently tries to reach for the ball, yet the control Yellow has over it allows it to dodge his attacks. Yellows' dribbling is unlike Green, who makes the ball dance in a way that it is impossible to keep up with. Yellow simply moves the ball from one place to the next with incredible ease, and speed that keeps it out of the reach of Orb.
"Your monster truck is moving right now, yet I can't figure out where due to your ice only reflecting us."
"I have been practising with my legacy, controlling the shape to make it only reflect one way is easy."
"Though it would be easier for you to just freeze my body."
"Frostbite is rather deadly. It could permanently damage your future career in a competitive sport."
Yellow laughs and says, "How kind. But all in all, that softness wouldn't protect the citizens of this country, or let you win this match."
Yellow smashes the ball with a kick at high speed, right into Orb's face, then does it again right into his belly, yet Orb activates his legacy on his skin, and freezes the ball to him.
He smiles, and Yellow, winding up a kick, says, "Here's why little kids should stay off the pitch!"
Yellow smashes his stomach with a kick that sends him and the ball flying into the air, where Pink and Blue are. Blue grabs Orb's leg and pulls his body away from the ball right before Pink lets out a full power kick smash, which Iancu manage to block and sends flying away.
Yet the moment it goes in the air, Red intercepts the ball and then says, "A stampede cannot be stopped that quickly."
He strikes the ball and smashes the queen right off the board. And cheers echo across the field as a harsh reality sets in for the Knightmares.