3 hours and 47 minutes remain
The time steadily ticked, and Liora placed both hands on either side of her hip. "Aight, Val, the big plan?" She says expectantly, although in a voice free of any doubt. Which should be unusual, especially in such a desperate, fragile situation.
Imitating a lecturer at the front of a classroom, Valeria quizzes the entire group, "What is the most valuable asset in this game?"
"Um... would it be demon cards since they make the most money?" Roxi guesses, rubbing the bottom of her chin, seeming as intelligently involved as she could be.
"Initially," Valeria says, rewarding Roxi with a badge of effort, she continues, "but more than anything, it's trust, and people won't trust us with a promise for both parties to capitalise fully off demon cards, even though it is possible, especially since we've been absent the majority of this game. We must show we can be trusted first by putting ourselves on the risky end."
"Hm?" Simphone inserts, still not completely bought.
"Again, we've not been participating in the game until now, but everyone is well aware now that if you stake an identical amount to your opponent, you don't lose anything other than what you have gambled yourself. If we do this repeatedly and allow our opponents to give us a portion of the earnings, neither of us can lose. We can beat this game with untainted hands."
Roxi's eyes beamed with the stars, "Wow, you really came up with this all alone?"
"Look, can you just hold onto all our cards for now and show them us what you expect?" Simphone asks, although the tone of his voice suggests more of a demand.
Full of a baseless confidence, Valeria says, "Okay, fine, let me show you how it's done," as she doesn't take another moment before she hops towards a potential client, a stream of eagerness and passion flowing behind her. "Hey, I've got an offer you won't be able to refuse where we'll both make a profit."
"Hm?" The man retorts in a tone of voice, less sharp and sceptical, but rather a thoughtless, nonchalant rejection, before more than a sentence had left Valeria's mouth. He obviously didn't intend to take whatever Valeria had to say into further consideration.
"If you have any demon cards, you need to burn, so you gamble two thousand whilst I gamble-"
"Buzz off, I'm not falling for any dumb tricks."
Valeria takes a few frail steps back and scans the room for another. "Okay, that guy's just a bit grumpy." She giggles to herself, feeling the burning expectant eyes of her team burning the back of her head.
A similar event unfolds with the next client. And the next, and the next, and the next. The majority are nearly completely void of delivering her a hint of consideration.
Valeria had realised it was too far into the game to build trust. However, now it is too late to realise such a detrimental factor. She had been so focused on finding allies to pave her way to an innocent victory while saving lives that she had grown completely oblivious to the rest of the game. Facing the allies now would be pure embarrassment, but the time is doing nothing but ticking onwards.
Valeria's thoughts spiral as she slumps down in a chair, her face cradled in her hands. 46 cards to get rid of within the time frame, when not a single person wishes to play a game, is a situation calling inevitable death within the next few hours. Not just of herself but the people she had promised salvation, which created a burning sensation in her heart far greater than what her sole extinction would bring; at this point, she'd far rather prefer.
Embarrassment was hidden behind her hands and now crumpled, messy hair. Although her palms failed to catch every drop of tears that flowed.
-Another 45 minutes had passed-
"Valeria."
Valeria diverts her vision towards a casual Simphone a couple of feet away, dragging his feet towards the table where she is sitting. Beside Simphone, a young woman in her 20s had long brown hair neatly tied into a bun with a hair net, rough blue jeans and a pink short-sleeved shirt with a cute bear in the centre, although partially covered by her black leather jacket, iron buttons dotted around the jacket at a multitude of spots they had no business being.
"You found someone?"
"Didn't take too long, only another 45 minutes towards the countdown to our total erasure from existence." He joked seriously.
"Hello, I learnt about your plan and took a bit of sympathy. Your innocence is actually so cute; you're hardly cut out for this game, if at all."
"Yeah..." Valeria sniffled painfully, "I'm starting to think the same thing."
"But you're here now." The woman states.
"I've got a piece of information that may be of value to you." She continues.
Although still full of suffocating hopelessness, Valeria's breath pauses momentarily in anticipation.
"What? Can you solve the fact that not a single person will even try having a game with me, and probably the rest of my team?"
"Look at the scoreboard. Your Soulis amount is nearly triple what you started with; you seem like a master of deceit at that point, no matter how honest you are."
"Have you heard of a-" The woman draws her right hand upwards softly, her elbow leaning against the table, then sharply uttering the words "Soul contract?" A thin rectangular piece of paper forms between her index, middle finger and thumb, radiating a soft blue.
"A soul contract?" Valeria's intriguing questions.
"Yes, it is a contract holding a permanent term of sacrificing your soul as a repercussion for failing to adhere to any other terms. No matter how suspicious you are, it's impossible not to gain at least a near maximum level of trust from a soul contract."
Valeria's eyes lit up in a way they hadn't for nearly an hour.
"I suggest you make the terms as simple as possible to add that extra layer of trust. Everyone is only allowed 4 soul contracts. You won't want to take any chances of fumbling at this opportunity. Still, I'll even allow you to use mine because your sympathetic nature really inspired me."
Valeria grabs the pen at the centre of the table, finally realising their purpose. Her heart almost melting as she writes, rejoiceful tears replace those of pain:
I, Valeria, will gamble 2000, placing an angel card, whilst you, my opponent, gamble 2000. You will, in return, provide me three quarters of your winnings.
The text instantaneously rewrites itself in a clear, fancy writing, old-timey typewriter or computer programme-esque font.
โ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฉ ๐ค๐๐ช๐๐ฉ๐ข 2000, ๐ญ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค ๐๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ฉ ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐ก ๐ด๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒ, ๐ช๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ข๐ซ๐ฑ, ๐ค๐๐ช๐๐ฉ๐ข 2000. ๐๐ฌ๐ฒ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฉ, ๐ฆ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ซ, ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ก๐ข ๐ช๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ข๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฃ ๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ค๐ฐ.
"Wow, that's perfect!" The woman congratulates, "Now, how about we give it a test run?"
The woman signs her name, and the signature glows up briefly before dimming again.
She places a card down, pushing it to the centre of the table. "I gamble 2000."
Wiping the remaining tears from her eyes once more, Valeria does the same.
Valeria flips her card first.
Angel
Following suit, the woman does the same.
Demon
She then proceeds to hand 2250, a gleaming smile across her face. "Clean transaction."
Valeria smiles back, although her insides legitimately rejoicing up and down in pure glee. As the woman exits the scene, her job is completed.
"Wait, you have to tell me your name."
"It's Trace." She smiles once more angelically before turning her head back around.
-------------------------------------------------
Once Trace escapes the sight of Valeria, she's approached by a cheeky-looking man with brown hair completely drowned in gel. He realeas a mild whisper, "Did she fall for it."
"She sure did, far better than I thought." A devilish smirk unfolded across her face. "She's a complete idiot."
3 hours 4 minutes remain