Sisterly Bond

Before James and Ebony could move, a strange light shone upon James.

"Congratulations on the very first win using the "Traitorous Luck" deck! For being the very first player, on their very first try, to win a game using this deck, you shall now receive the "Traitorous Luck" card! Please use this card wisely!" The automated voice said, before the light disappeared.

James felt something in his hand. He looked down to see a new card in his hand. James supposed this was the "Traitorous Luck" card the voice was talking about. That was interesting to James, but he had more important things to worry about at that moment.

Ebony was interested for a moment, but then seemed to remember what she was supposed to be doing, and immediately deflated. She looked at James simply with disgust, and motioned for him to follow her. She wasn't even gonna humor James by telling him to hurry up, just waiting for him to follow.

after walking for a few minutes, finally leaving the dingy alley way behind, they approached a small but surprisingly well-kept house. James paused for a moment, considering why and how they owned a house. Houses went out of main use years ago, so being able to own one was a surprise. Not only was finding one to buy rare, but houses these days were more for the rich, only the wealthy could afford a house.

James looked at Ebony with a raised eyebrow, indicating his surprise, which Ebony ignored. Following inside, he could see that the house was only slightly furnished. When James entered, he could see that there were about three rooms he could see. Looking through the doorways, he saw a kitchen, a small living room, and a small bedroom. He assumed there was a bathroom somewhere, but he couldn't see it.

Sitting on the living room couch, a small leather couch, was a young girl who bore a striking resemblance to Ebony, with a few differences. Ebony had dark red hair and pale skin, while the girl had light red hair and slightly darker skin. James figured that this must be Ebony's younger sister.

The sister turned at their arrival, looking excited.

"Ebony! What are you doing back so early? and who's this?" The sister said, seeming to get more excited by the moment.

"this is..." Ebony started, then stopped, realizing she didn't even know who James was.

"Hello, my name is James, nice to meet you miss... ah, it seems dear miss Ebony has not told me your name. Would you be so kind?" James said, realizing Ebony's problem.

He put on his best, most kindhearted looking smile he could, trying to seem like someone trustworthy. Ebony saw through the smile in an instant and scoffed. James didn't much care, because it seemed like the sister bought it.

"Oh! Nice to meet you mister James. My name's Verity!" said Verity, seeming to think of James as a really nice man. Unfortunately for her and her sister, he was not.

"That's great. Now Ebony, I believe we had a deal? Don't worry, I'll do it so that you don't have to." James said, looking at Ebony with a real, and very dark, smile.

Ebony started shaking with anger, but knew that she couldn't physically refuse, or else something would happen to her. She didn't know what, but she didn't want to find out what the penalty for refusing was. Ebony handed James the final blue list she had, and just waited for the hell to begin.

James walked over to Verity, and gently handed her the blue list. Verity looked at it in confusion and excitement.

"What is this?" Verity asked, refreshingly naive. Seems like Verity didn't watch the news.

"Oh, you haven't heard? This is a brand new game that just appeared! Your sister didn't know much about it, so I helped her out with it. She was so impressed by my knowledge that she also asked if I could help you. So, she got one of these lists just for you!" James said, lying through his teeth gleefully.

James handed the list to Verity, and walked back to Ebony, who was looking at him with open and hostile disgust.

"Why did you even make this part of the stakes? Are you really OK with putting my little sister in danger like this? What kind of sadist are you?" Ebony whispered to James with a very hostile tone.

Even James had to admit that putting a little kid like Verity in danger with a game that could potentially make her lose her soul was a bit much. Nevertheless, James persevered. The second he realized that what this game could do for him, his humanity started to slip away, along with his morality. He has been kicked around, he has lost everything, he has screamed at the sky in humiliation. With this game, he no longer has to tolerate that.

Looking at Verity happily scrolling through the list, James made a promise to himself. He promised himself that he would do anything for his own selfishness. He's been the selfless guy before, and it got him nowhere. Now? He was gonna be the master. All he had to do was win.

"Mister James? Can you come look this over?" Verity asked, looking at the list with slight confusion.

James walked over, brimming with selfish desire, when he looked at the list and paused. The list looked like it always did, decks longer than the list could hold. But now, there were numbers next to some decks. Some were small, others were big and getting larger by the second. James had no idea what that meant, so he decided to try something.

"Hmmm. Actually Verity, I have not encountered this before. Must be a new feature. Maybe we can ask the list? I haven't tried it before, but it's worth a shot." James said, hoping this would work.

"Ok, um, list. What do these numbers beside these decks mean?" James asked.

The list was silent. James started to lose hope and just started thinking that they would just have to guess when the voice suddenly chimed in.

"These numbers indicate the amount of users this deck currently has. When a new player chooses his deck for the first time, they can't be limited to just unpicked decks! So, we show the current number of users for all decks that are being used!" The voice said, before going silent again.

Sure enough, James looked at the list and saw his deck "Traitorous Luck" had only a number one next to it, while another deck "Legendary Heroes" had a thirty six next to it, and rising. James looked at Verity, wondering if this new information even mattered. Then, he remembered what happened when he won the game against Ebony, and the special card. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Alright Verity. You heard what the voice said, right?" Verity nodded, "Then, pick out your deck, but make sure it isn't already taken, ok? I think you should have a unique deck." James said, his plan slowly forming.

Verity looked at James for a moment, before breaking out in a big smile. Looking at the list again, she took a moment before selecting a deck without a number next to it. Just like when James did it, the voice prompted whether or not Verity wanted the deck she chose, which she responded to in the affirmative.

"So, which deck did you choose?" James asked, watching the list turn into the chosen deck.

Verity responded that she chose the "Witches Cult" deck. Apparently, Verity had an obsession with magic, but witches especially. James realized the irony in an instant.

"Alright Verity. So, how about we play a game? You need to learn eventually." James whispered to Verity. He also told her to accept quietly, he wanted it to surprise Ebony. She would never believe it! Meanwhile, Ebony was starting to look at James with renewed suspicion. She wished she never ran into this asshole.

"Ok mister James! Let's play!" Verity said happily.

James smiled.

Suddenly, the blue light from the match against Ebony once again shone on James, but this time, his opponent was Verity. Ebony knew what happened immediately, and tried to run to stop Verity. However, it seemed that she couldn't pass the blue light to either save Verity or strangle James.

Verity looked around with amazement.

"Thank you for playing Battlefield! Before we begin, what will the stakes be?" The voice asked once again.

"Alright Verity. This is important. You heard it ask for stakes, right?" James asked. Verity nodded in confirmation. "Ok, so, Whatever the stakes are, it will happen, no matter what." James finished.

Verity sat up a bit straighter. It seemed to James that the kid was actually pretty intelligent, just naive.

"Now, for context, If I were to make stakes that the loser would die, they will ACTUALLY die. So, whenever you play this game, please be careful about what you say, alright?" James said quietly. Verity suddenly looked quite scared, but nodded that she did understand.

"Don't worry. I'm not some kind of psychopath, I'm not gonna do stakes like that. I'm a nice man, who's just trying to teach you how to handle this game and yourself. How about this? let's make the stakes harmless. How about whoever loses has to sleep over? If I lose, I get to sleep over at your house. If you lose, you get to come see my place. How about that?" James said.

Despite the suspicious wording and the fact that Verity immediately started to wonder if he was a pedo, James had no intention of winning. In fact, he was planning to lose. He didn't need to sleep here. In fact, his apartment was way nicer than here, but he wanted Verity to receive the special card, and to be around to see what it could do.

Verity seemed to realize that maybe this was the best solution. If she added a condition, the stakes could get worse. Besides, pedo or not, she and her sister could resist James for one night... Hopefully. She accepted, and so the game began.

Since both James and Verity were sitting in comfortable positions, a stationary game began. Instead of time, cards would take turns to play. To James slight surprise, Verity was fairly competent with her cards. In fact, Verity could have been considered better than Ebony was. However, James was better, and saw many flaws with her strategy. He knew he could dismantle it instantly, but he was going for a loss. In the end, he was soundly "defeated", and all Verity could do was celebrate.

Suddenly, a blue light shone around Verity.

"Congratulations on the very first win using the "Witches Cult" deck! For being the very first player, on their very first try, to win a game using this deck, you shall now receive "The Witches Cult" card! Please use this card wisely!"

James smiled.

"Guess I'm staying over, huh?"