Valeria manages to move her mouth to form the painfully heavy words, "Hey, would you like to make a trade?"
The back of a tall man's head wearing an orange tank top and tracksuit pants takes a moment to budge, embellishing Valeria with a subtle head turn and his dead right eye; he utters, "Oh, it's you." Failing to take the hint, Valeria awaits the rest of his sentence. Taking a deep sigh, he continues, "I thought I already told you-"
"With a soul contract."
The man raises an eyebrow, his attention piqued by the contract. He turns his entire attention alongside his body towards Valeria, wielding the same contract she had drafted a few moments earlier, still emitting a faint glow. "You're using up a soul contract?"
"Yep, the terms are plain and simple too."
Collecting the contract from Valeria's hands, he scans the contract up and down, nodding as if analysing something more than a single paragraph. "Okay, sounds perfect. Let's play."
Valeria sighs, a wave of relief washing over her as she releases all the tension with a deep, outwards breath. She had managed to enact her initial plan with all the benefits, only having to implement a minor aspect that didn't change anything more than putting the deal in writing in exchange for allowing her entire goal to come to pass, an exchange that couldn't be any less than a no brainer.
The man a foot taller than Valeria follows behind her as they approach a vacant table a couple of metres away. Valeria pulls out his chair before sitting at her own; without any further conversation, she places a card down on the table and pushes it forward, laying a stack of Soulis beside it. She couldn't drag her eyes away from him, the tension and anxiety tugging them right back towards his gaze, if she even considered it.
The man folds his arms before leaning back on his chair as if chilling in front of a TV, the card he was about to place resting between his fingers. "You seem uneasy."
"Yeah, kind of in a rough position; the way this game goes can define whether I make it through this game or not." She responded, although her own future being the very least of her worries.
"You are aware of what happens if you breach the terms of a soul contract, right?"
She had watched him sign the contract; she knows what happens when you fail to complete a term, but the grief of disappointing her allies still gnawed deep into her skin.
Valeria nods solemnly.
"Your entire existence goes extinct right on that very spot. POOF. Tell me who's breaching any of the terms with that at stake."
Valeria manages to convince her face to form a smile. "Yeah, you're right, I've got this, and there's still plenty of time left."
"Yeah, you see, that's the attitude! Someone can only agree to the terms of a single contract once, so you'll have to switch players each time, but there are still just over 50 players, and you'll find good people. You can definitely beat this game." Showering Valeria with reassurance, she could finally stomach taking on the rest of the game and fulfilling every promise she had made, he pushes his card to the centre of the table.
Angel 2000 𝓢
Demon 2000 𝓢
Valeria's eyes glow up once again.
The man stands from his seat as Valeria watches him expectingly.
"I kind of need this 2500, though; I'll get to you eventually, though. Remember, I can't breach the contract no matter what, so no need to worry too deeply about it."
"That's fine; thank you for your words; I really needed that positivity. The only thing being as depressed as a soaked piece of bread was doing was making this so much more tedious. I was really thinking how I would live myself when I probably won't be able to live much longer at all if I didn't wake up, haha."
"Nice, don't giving up on me again."
"Don't worry, even if the ceiling begins to fall, I'm not gonna give up again."
The man gives one more smile accompanied by a nod before putting both hands in his joggers and walking away.
Valeria immediately begins scouting the area for her next companion until a pat lands on her left shoulder, almost making her jump. "Hey, I like the trade you made with that guy; very compassionate and intelligent at the same time."
The man wore a pitch-black suit and tie with a white shirt, which'd be worn to a business meeting or funeral. He had a strange aura about him, but his welcoming smile and neatly combed forward brown hair told Valeria otherwise. This is no longer a battle of gambles but a coalition of trust; if she didn't show trust, how could she expect it to be reciprocated.
"Thank you, I knew we didn't need to destroy others in order to build ourselves out of their broken pieces, and I found out how." Valeria handed him the contract with bountiful eagerness.
He received the contract and, within the next few moments, delivered it back to Valeria's hands. "I see. I really respect that... Shall we play now?"
The eerie feeling returned this time stronger than before; every inch of her mind begged caution; answering its plea, her eyes rolled up to the screen-
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you not going to sit down. Do you suddenly not trust me?"
Valeria gulped and rushed to the seat, "No, that's not it; I just got lost in thought for a moment." I've seen word spread like wildfire in this game; if I don't trust a single person, that could ruin my outlook. Plus, we've got a contract. It just isn't worth the risk; even if he's not been a good person for the entire game, his strategy must've switched to just managing to escape. Valeria's thoughts convince themselves as she pushes her card to the centre of the table, the man in the black suit mirroring her.
"I gamble 2000 soulis." He utters, placing a stack of cash to the right of his card, definitely not any more or less than 2000.
She reveals her card, still holding her breath.
Angel
Her opponent does the same.
Demon
Void of much delay, he tosses a stack of cash at her. Staring down at the stack of cash sitting on the table, Valeria feels somewhat ashamed. She had just been overreacting; the hiccup from earlier must've made her a bit tense.
"Nice game."
"Yeah, just a few more, and I'm set." Valeria beams.
"I think you may need a bit more than a few." He sniggers menacingly.
Valeria watches him blinking several times in confusion. until she turns to face the screen. Her eyes naturally start at the top of the table, but her character is nowhere to be seen. Praying it wasn't so her widned pupils dart to the bottom. Her character sat lonely at the very bottom. Beside it, nothing but pure dread.
17,000 𝓢
As Valeria read the numbers, it felt as if she had swallowed her own stomach. The contract is final, and there's no way he could break it; otherwise, his very existence should be disintegrating to nothingness.
Throwing herself back to where they had just played, she watched him walk away just as casually as when they played, both his hands dipping peacefully within his pockets.
"Hey! You aren't allowed to break the contract, you really want to get erased?!-"
"Now. When did I break the contract? It stated I must gamble 2000, not that it must be the maximum."
"But-but I saw your gamble. It was nowhere near 10,000."
"No, you heard my gamble. Behind my left arm, there was another 8,000 I hid within a slit in my suit." He lifted his left arm and revealed a slit at the bottom of the opening to his left sleeve. "Now tell me again. When did I break the contract?"
She wanted to say something, but the words got clogged halfway up her throat. All she could do was gaze at him in utter defeat as she clenched her fist so hard she was practically stabbing her own palm.
It didn't take long before she caught the eye of the entire team rushing towards her, their faces a mix of distress, of horror, of fury.