Fortune

A boss fight this early? Please, just kill me now.

“What do you want with us!?” Kamei yelled.

Specter’s smirk widened. “I just want to play with you.”

“Play?”

She shakily stood up, clenching her fists.

“So…you think killing people is just a game?” she spat, her eyes burning with fury.

“Hmmm, how scary,” Specter taunted.

“You think taking the lives of innocent people is just fun? You think slaughtering my family is fun!?”

“Nooooo…” Specter mocked, rubbing his fingers together in small, slow circles.

“I'LL KILL YOU!”

Specter chuckled darkly. “My my, if you wanted to gamble your life, you should have just said so!”

Specter stood still, twirling a sleek black boule in his fingers, his eyes locked onto Kamei.

“Shall we begin the game?” Said Specter as he flicked the boule into the air. It spun rapidly, faster and faster, until it became a blur of dark energy.

Kamei didn’t waste a second.

“Chæoku!”

She leveled her gun at Specter, sending a barrage of bullets, each one sparkling with her magic. But Specter simply snapped his fingers over, and a deck of cards appeared before him. A flick of his wrist later, a card went hurtling through the air, spinning like a razor blade. It cut the bullets, diverting them to the ground, without harm.

“What the—!”

“Rule number one, darling,” Specter chuckled. “In my game, the house always wins.”

He raised his other hand, and suddenly, an explosion of sparks erupted from the spinning boule. An ominously floating roulette wheel appeared in the middle. Specter threw a handful of cards at the roulette wheel with a gust, and each landed with a light thud on a different number.

“Let’s see where your luck takes you!” Specter declared, snapping his fingers once more. The roulette wheel spun wildly, the cards blurring together into a whirl of colors.

“Crap!”

Kamei darted to the side, firing another barrage of bullets, this time aiming for Specter’s legs. But as the roulette wheel slowed, the cards settled into place, and Specter vanished in a puff of smoke.

Kamei skidded to a halt, her eyes darting around the room, searching for him. “Where did he go…?”

“Behind you,” Specter whispered right in her ear. Kamei spun around, but she was too late. He rammed a card into her chest with all the vigor in the world, which catapulted her into a backflip.. The force of the impact sent her flying backward, crashing into the stone wall.

“Kamei, no!”

Agony flooded her body, and Kamei gasped, trying to get up. The card now embedded in her chest pulsed with an ebony, ill-omened light. It felt like it was draining her energy, pulling her strength away bit by bit.

“Feeling lucky?” Specter taunted. “This card represents your current gamble. Will you survive, or will you perish? Only fate can decide.”

“I don’t need luck to beat you.”

With a growl, she tore the card from her chest, dark energy flashing away as she batted it to the ground. Desperation had her draw on whatever sliver of strength remained in her, and Kamei barreled into him with her gun, each explosive round fired with the fury of a thousand suns. Specter danced out of every swing of his opponent, his movements almost mocking at this point, even as he continued to pull cards from his deck—all of them glowing with that same deadly magic.

“Let’s raise the stakes, shall we?”

Specter spun his roulette wheel with a flick of his wrist, the sound of the spinning ball echoing ominously in the cave. His eyes gleamed with dark mischief as he called out, “All on Green!”

Green!? The odds of it landing on green were almost impossible! The ball continued its relentless spin, slowing as it approached the final slots.

Why… Why do I have a bad feeling about this? Kamei’s strong, but she’s struggling, and I’m barely holding on. Specter… Betting on green is a 1 in 37 chance. I know because my dad used to gamble for fun before he met my mom. I’ve picked up a few things from him. But even though the odds are low, what if it lands? Could she die? Am I just going to stand here and let that happen? Ugh, gambling sucks!

My heart was pounding in my chest, my gut twisting with anxiety, as I watched the ball bounce. My instincts screamed at me to move.

Without thinking, I threw myself in front of Kamei, just as the ball landed on green.

“Jackpot.”

A sharp, stabbing pain ripped through me, and I gasped as the force of the impact sent me crashing to the ground.

Is this what it feels like to die? I had this huge gaping hole in my chest, and I couldn’t feel anything anymore. Some ending, huh? I watched in horror as my HP dropped to zero.

"YUUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!"

Kamei screamed and rushed toward me, holding me in her arms. Nobody but my mother had embraced me in this way before. Her hands shook with her as she tried to stop the bleeding desperately, but it was all in vain; the wound was too deep, too severe.

“Yuuki! It's okay, you'll be fine!”

“It's okay,” I managed to choke out, blood bubbling in my throat.

“Yuuki, why did you…?” she wept.

“I don’t know. I just... couldn’t let you... get hurt.”

Specter chuckled, watching the scene with a mouthful of popcorn. “How touching,” he cried, “But you really should have known better. The odds were always in my favor.”

Kamei glared at Specter through her tears, but her focus remained on me. “Stay with me, Yuuki,” she pleaded, holding me close.

But my eyes were getting heavy. I was so tired. All I wanted to do was sleep.

“I'm sorry... Kamei,” I murmured before my body went limp in her arms.

“No! No! No! Yuuki! Stay with me! YUUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!”

Kamei’s scream of anguish was the last thing I heard before everything went blank.