(Mickey POV - Heaven's Key, Outside the Raven's Eye Casino)

[https://i.imgur.com/GPSfgmZ.png]

Enforcement action!

Yesterday life was as dull as ever. I've been lying in the park, awaiting the next tournament so that I can finally die and leave this god forsaken world. But then I heard murmurs from the ghosts passing by.

Gray killed...

This perked up my ears, and I asked some of my acquaintances, fellow death awaiters, about what was going on. Soon enough everyone was talking about it. And then news broke out that the city itself was mobilizing to deal with a single person. Something like this hadn't happened in thousands of years! So it is not weird that people were gossiping. It is not like much of interest happens in the city. So as much as I loathed to do anything in my current state other than stare at the sky blankly and await my death, I decided to join the crowd and have some fun.

So here I was, outside the Raven's Eye Casino. The crowd was huge. In order to get a better view, people have started manifesting stands. I join the other dregs of the city, the ghosts, on our own stands and take a seat. We are those who have given up, marked by our distinct transparent appearance. The other citizens were staying clear away from us, lest they risk the failure 'disease' spreading to them. The benefit of that is that we had an easier time overlooking the crowd.

In the distance I could spot the line of golden Introspects, the 'proud' protectors of the city. They are merely useless slaves sucking at its teat. They have no talent for actually playing the game, so their only worth lies in them placing their lives on the line to try and restrict those better than them. Most of the time they are more useless than us ghosts, but look at them now, strutting so proudly and upright. The look on their faces shows their absolute certainty in their victory.

From an individual standpoint, their job is as sweet as it comes. In situations like these, one of them gets picked to challenge an opponent at random. That one will die, but the rest will have an easy time mopping up. So they have an 1 in 500 chance of dying, and a 499 in 500 chance of continuing to live as before in absolute leisure. And situations that actually require them to act happen only every few 100 years. I have no idea why the city keeps so many of them.

"Say, do you know who they are hunting for?" I asked a person I've never met before who happened to be next to me.

"Some guy, I heard he beat Gray." The old timer replied to me in a gruff voice.

"I heard the same thing. Do you know anything else? What does he look like?"

"No idea." He shrugged. "They have some people on the inside, they'll lead him out soon. We'll see."

I looked back at the proceedings. Since I have nothing to go on, my imagination started to produce images of what the guy would look like. The image that comes to mind is an absolute beast of a man. Huge muscles, mastery of martial arts, demonic face. Easily provoked into killing. Iron will. Will never stop fighting.

Ah, who am I kidding. No matter who he is, after the first round of battle and 50 years alone at the table, he will be begging for death when he comes out. I can already picture him on his knees, bawling his eyes out.

Suddenly, I felt the tenor of the crowd intensify.

"He's here!"

"Somebody is coming out!" I heard a few yells from the crowd.

Out the doors I could see a group of guys walk out. My eyesight is good, so I can tell what their features are. 3 older guys, some skinny younger guy and a glasses wearing kid. I can't tell who the target is. One of the older guys is in the lead. Is he the target?

As I wonder that, the group of men breaks off in a run, leaving the kid by himself. The others scuttle between the lines of enforcers and they allow them to do so.

The thousands of people that are present here quiet down. A tense standoff between the enforcers and the kid ensues. Unperturbed by the pressure, the kid boldly steps forward.

"Euclid, you are guilty of opposing the laws of this city! Give up and surrender yourself to judgment!" The sacrificial enforcer yelled out for all to hear.

"What law am I guilty of breaking?" The kid said. "Massacre in the streets?"

What a kid. I love the look on his face like he is looking at a meal. He doesn't have the muscles, but his demeanor is actually what I've been imagining. He tenses his hands as if he is preparing to tear the guy apart and grins.

"Start it!" Euclid roars, and on cue the golden enforcer fires the gun in his hand. What is left after that are two white tokens on the floor indicating that the duel is under way.

The crowd starts acting up again.

"It has started."

"How long will the match last?"

I hear the numbers being bandied about. Apparently 54 years and 1 minute.

"Fun kid." I comment to my newfound acquaintance next to me.

"Pretty cocky. He'll be crying for his mommy after he gets out."

"How long will the duel take?" I asked him, seeking confirmation.

"A couple of decades on the inside, a single minute here. The ruler changed the format of the game specifically for today, so the timeouts are an entire year. Just wait..."

I do so and after a minute, the duel ends. The tags disappear and the figure of Euclid manifests where his tag was. The next enforcer steps up to the kid, towering over him.

"Surrender and prepare to face justice!" He practically bullied the kid.

I shook my head. Pitiful. Did I come here just to see a kid cry? I look at my companion and grimace.

I continue watching. This is the way of the city. The kid must be great to be able to beat Gray, but just what can talent do against the sheer mass of the people here?

This city...this golden city amongst the clouds is a machine designed to devour newcomers of their chips and feed that wealth to those at the top. Those who were here first had all the time they needed in order to make sure that those who came after them could not rise the same way. Those at the top never have to fear for their life and future, and those of us at the bottom can only struggle and hope to survive. Some people are lucky and can do literal magic at the table. But the rest of us perish eventually.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The kid got too cocky and thought he could beat the city itself. And now he will pay the price.

As I looked down on the scene, I expected him to fall. We all were. Not a single person here seriously expected that he could win over the enforcement division. At best, he could try breaking the encirclement and hide out in some dark corner of the city while the enforcers hunt for him.

A fist flew out and struck the enforcer in the gut.

Before our eyes, a new resolution match had started, leaving only two tags to mark the place the two were at.

...

"Gah!" I turned to see my compatriot agape. I myself felt a certain stirring in my heart.

I waited, and soon the duel ended. The third enforcer stepped up.

"Surrender Euclid!" The Enforcement Division had a preference for imposing and dimwitted men for their suicide corps.

Euclid's response was similar to before, a left hook into the man's side. Both of them vanished.

"This cannot be happening! Just how can he be holding up!?" The unkempt companion next to me wondered in amazement. I myself didn't know what to think.

"Maybe it is not as tough as it looks?" I wondered.

"Are you kidding me?!" My new companion got mad at me. "I was there when this happened last time. The guy got on his knees and begged like a little girl! I've heard some of the stories about Epistemes challenging it, but they'd all just scatter and hide instead after the first match, not challenge the rest!"

The man had become agitated.

"..." I am not sure what I wanted with that comment. I sensed it might provoke him. But at the same time my mental state isn't where I'd care about social grace.

"Let me tell you what happened last time. After they'd wiped the guy, the rule change was in effect for the rest of the day. Me and the rest in the group decided to do a challenge to see how long we would last. None of us could go for more than two months." He started talking about it. "We just spent the time in that dark place. There was absolutely nothing to tell how much time had passed nor how long we had to wait until the first fold. We'd go in, and at first it would be peace and quiet. Then we'd get bored out of our skulls. We'd think months have passed, and one of us would give up. We'd get out and find we were there for a week or two at most."

"How do you know how long you were in there?"

"The duel wouldn't last even a tenth of a second. It only lasts a full minute if one of the players offs himself and has to spend the entire time cooped up there."

"You'd see us go in ready to fight, and in the next moment we are literal zombies. That is how it looked to the guys outside."

"..."

"Eventually we got the message. You don't mess around with papa Time if you want to keep your sanity. Not one of us lasted more than a single second."

"I see."

"Well, it is not impossible that one could last the whole 50 years in there if he were forced to. But afterwards he would do anything not to repeat it again."

"But maybe..." I think about it. "...He is an Episteme, at least right? He could..." I try to find some words to keep the conversation running. "...Maybe he could manifest some mind altering substances to make it easier?" I am bullshitting, there is no way something like that exists.

"Ahahahaha!" He has a good laugh. "What kind of substance would that be? And even if he did, just what would doing drugs for 5 decades straight do to his mind?"

"..." I nod.

"You make a good point though. Those enforcers telling him to surrender have a reason for doing so. They are checking if he's..." He rolls his finger around his temple. "...Still all there. If he isn't..." He makes a grabbing motion in the air. "...They'll take him under arm and foop..." He makes a tossing motion. "...Toss him over the railing." I nod. "Problem solved."

"..."

"I've learned this in the city - will is a precious resource that you need to gather much like chips or skills. If you run out you end up..." He looks up and down at us. "...Like us." I do not argue against him. Unfortunately, I agree. I just have no reason to live anymore. For how long will this city ask me to play these worthless card games? A life lived just for the sake of living is pointless.

This conversation is ultimately useless. I already know all of this, I've been in the city for centuries. But talking to this guy is at least more fun than just sitting there watching. All of us in the crowd are attracted to the stimulation of seeing how the match will turn out.

Soon after we were done with our spiel, the 3rd resolution match between Euclid and the enforcers ended.

"Are you ready to give up?" The next enforcer in line stepped forth. Euclid looked at him in the eye and grinned. Then he did a body blow. And so the 4th match started.

"Ahahahahahaha!" The guy next to me laughed. He looked at me pointing at the crowd and said. "Did you see that!? Ahahahaha, fuuuck! This kid is insane! Look at the golden retrievers' faces! They look like they stepped in shit!" Indeed, I looked over them and they looked bitter. Must be because their 1 in 500 chance to survive now looks like a 1 in 100 chance to survive. They don't like that. Not at all.

Still, this is just the 4th match. They wouldn't be much of a punitive force if they scattered against a single person, while outnumbering him hundreds of times after losing only 3 men. They'd become an absolute laughing stock if they turned tail and ran here.

The 4th match ended and Euclid came back.

"Do you-" As if impatient to start the next round, Euclid struck first. His first hammered the enforcer forcing the 5th match.

The whole crowd was silent. I've never seen a silence like this when so many people have gathered together. The whole world felt like it was turning upside down. The enforcers themselves were shocked. One of them was pushed to the fore by the rest, pale faced.

The 5th match ended and Euclid assaulted the enforcer closest to him.

A beast. That kid is a beast.

The 6th match soon ended and Euclid picked on his next victim. He grabbed the unfortunate enforcer by the lapel, and gave him a good punch with the other. If this didn't start the match, I could imagine the enforcer would be puking his lunch out instead.

All this time, Euclid has a crazed look on his face, as if he was really enjoying himself.

He came out of the 7th match and chopped down the next enforcer. Then he emerged again to lounge at his next victim. After emerging, he would not rest, he would bite to start the 9th match. All this time he was pushing forward into the line. They were the ones forming a perimeter that was gradually deforming away from the casino.

After emerging again, Euclid stood and spat to the side. Grinning, he looked around at his enemies. Unlike before, now none of the enforcers were willing to step up.

"What is wrong? Weren't you going to bring me to justice?" He mocked them. He posed his fist into a finger flicking pose and did a few little flicks. "Oh you little boys, am I too scary? I won't bite again. Let's do it like this?" With finger flicking motions he picked one of the perimeter directions and moved towards it. The enforcers involuntarily took a step back, dreading what was going to happen.

"What are you fools doing!? Fight or I will kill you myself afterwards!" Someone in a golden uniform similar to theirs yelled out. Obviously one of their superiors. At his words, they were shaken out of their stupor and mustered their courage. As one of the enforcers charged Euclid, he flicked him on the forehead.

And so the 10th match started.

The Enforcement Division is being pushed back by a single person. I never expected to witness a scene such as this in my life. Neither did anybody in the crowd. That is why we were so silent for so long. We knew that none of the enforcers here had skill. All they had was the willingness to sacrifice their life.

But Euclid had something else.

He came out and started to rampage again. A kick, a slice, a hook, a gouge, an uppercut. He fought again and again without stopping. It didn't look like the army was hunting him. Instead to everybody here it looked like he was the one hunting the army. They were neatly lined up as if to give him chips.

After the 15th something changed in me. It was just a hallucination, but for a moment I thought I could see cracks form in the pavement.

It was just a moment, but for that moment, I thought I could see this golden city breaking apart.

And now as I look at Euclid, he no longer seemed like a kid. Rather I felt like I had to look upward to see his visage. We all did.

He continued his relentless assault, claiming lives left and right. The Enforcement Division was oppressed. He struck fear into their hearts.

After the 30th match he took a little break. He stretched his limbs as if he had just woken up, and posed a question to the rest.

"Are you guys tired? I can keep going for however you like. Who's next?"

"S-S-surrender..." The next in line looked pitiful, shivering and stuttering. Like a knife, Euclid's hand struck him in the chest to reap another life.

How embarrassing. They haven't lost even a tenth of their number and the entire group is close to collapse. While the 31st match was under way, the officers clearly noticed that morale was shaky and were going around giving some kind medicine to the enforcers at the front. I could see it was some kind of pill. The enforcers then ingested it. They started handing it out to the rest.

When Euclid came out again, the enforcers weren't afraid any longer. With a yell, the two sides lunged at each other.

The battle raged for a long time, and I was there the entire time to witness it. I could have left at any time, but I was gripped by a feeling.

After who knows how many matches, a man made of iron challenged Euclid. Their fists struck each other in the middle.