Chapter 9

The Witch of Sedokai

Waking up days later wasn't on my agenda, but netting seventy thousand points was nice to see on my token coin. Now, just thirty thousand more to go, although I think I'll keep the next few games PG-13.

"Yerrr awake. Gud gud. Have a drink," Blackbeard said while passing me the blue glowing bottle. Ectoplasm was an interesting drink, for sure. It had the effects of alcohol but also empowered these spiritual forms. Makes me wonder what kind of afterlife awaits those who don't get to go back to the previous reality since we can continue progressing our souls, blessings, and skills even here in this in-between state. "So, what will ye do next?"

"Something easy, like pin the tail on the phantom Equus africanus asinus."

Blackbeard began to stroke his beard as he tried to puzzle that out. "Ass?" Then he laughed. "Ah, gud one!"

"Truthfully, though, I'm thinking of entering the Sedokai."

"Are ye mad? No one wins that game aside from the witch. She's up to seven million points already."

"Which is why I want to challenge her. Why does she continue to play if a hundred thousand is needed to enter the final match?"

"If ye lose the final match, you still get half your points to spend. That witch be planning on buying everything from the token shop even if she loses the final match. I believe her goal is ten million."

"Right, so I, too, want to buy more than just a wish. I am going to win, and I will take some powerful weapons back with me."

"Yerr'e crazier than a necrophile dressed like a zombie in a graveyard on Halloween carrying a spoon."

I shook my head in confusion… "What?"

Blackbeard eyes became distant for a moment, and then he shuddered. "Anyways, I'm off to the drinking games again. See ya."

As usual, I watched the tile game called Sedokai for a long while. However, I couldn't glean much from the game. Three people were currently playing, and the rules looked simple. Each player was dealt two tiles with numbers on them, and the rest were scattered face down in the middle. Each player takes turns picking up one tile and then placing bets. After three rounds for a total of five tiles, whoever has the highest point value wins. Then, everyone's scores are recorded and added to the next game until the first person gets to one thousand. Only the last-place person is deemed the ultimate loser and has to cash out. Although, if you run out of tokens completely, you could also lose instantly as well.

The only way I see that advantages could be taken is right before the game starts. It appears you're allowed to use spells or skills before the hand is dealt. Afterward, all traits, spells, skills, and soul powers are disabled—or, more precisely, their activation is disabled. Any ongoing effects will still continue. So, whatever the witch is using allows her to win most hands.

The witch was not a real witch that I know of. She didn't wear a black dress, have a pointy hat or even a crooked nose. Hell, she wasn't even human. People called her the witch because her ethereal form was whiter than normal, and she gave off a chilly aura that turned the air cold. In this place, we didn't normally feel cold or hot sensations, so when suddenly feeling cold only around her, she gained a name.

I wanted to use Way of the Astra's Supreme Astra Detection or even Aura Sense before entering the game, but the zone outside the game blocked our abilities. Going into this game essentially blind was risky, which is dangerous enough, but knowing at least one of the players has never lost is daunting. The longer someone wins in this game, the odds begin to shift. Currently, it was 100 to 1, and if I bet everything, I could take everything she has. I bet that's what everyone thinks before challenging her…

Shaking my head and cracking my knuckles, I took one last breath and stepped up to the table as the final game ended, and new players were free to play. This time around, there were four of us, including the witch. Everyone started casting their skills, but I only needed a few. I activated Thought Acceleration, Conceal, Mask Aura, Dual Mind, Aura Sense, and my Way of the Astra ability. I could now see energies flowing around each person, but couldn't see what effects were being applied. At least, not yet.

The dealer dealt the tiles, and I peeked at my two. An 8 and a 4 were slightly low, considering the values increased to 20. I had the betting token first, so it was my bid to begin. Considering my two low values, I threw in the minimum of ten tokens via a digital counter built into the table, showing our total point value and how much we'd like to bid or raise. You could also fold, but that meant you couldn't draw more tiles and increase your overall total. Luckily, they restricted max bidding until the final round of draws. Each round of draws had a max bid amount and that increased each round. The current max bid was 1000, with the next two rounds being 10,000 and All-in as options.

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After all bids were in, it was my turn to draw the first tile, and as my hand hovered over a tile, I saw two things. The first was a thin strand of energy connecting my hand to the tile, and it was green. The second thing I noticed was when moving my hand over another tile, it turned red. I was seeing this with my Soul Eyes and not Astra Sense or Aura Sense. I focused on the thread and saw it travel through my arm and to my soul within my chest. I used very little movement with my eyes, and with Dual Mind and Thought Acceleration, I thought things through at blazing speed. I could see the witch looking at my hand and not my face. Did she see the color threads as well? This must be her doing. What does it mean?

I went back to the first tile and picked it up. Taking a peek at that one revealed a 17. Hmm… I pondered the meaning but didn't have enough data yet. I watched the hands of the others and couldn't see any threads from them, but I did notice the witch's eyes followed the other opponent's hands intensely. When it came time for the witch to pick her tile, she didn't even hesitate and picked up one that another opponent had moved his hand over but didn't pick up. And yes, there it was, a slight upturn of her lips as if she was smiling, but she resumed a passive expression so quickly that I wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't for my skills being activated.

Next round, I bid 10 again and then had to toss in another 300 to meet a raise from another player. This time, I passed my hand over several tiles and watched the red and green colors grow brighter or dimmer, which I assumed had to do with the values; finally, I found a bright red one and chose it. I figured it was a low number and was delighted to see I was right. While gaining a value of 1 was not good for my hand or my overall total, it confirmed two things. The first was that I was right, and the second was to confirm I couldn't see her threads or, more precisely, make her think I couldn't see them.

Next round, I tried something new. Considering the threads were connected to my soul and considering I had extensive practice at manipulating my soul for attack and defense, thanks to a recent game, I tried to see if I could manipulate the colors. I could swap the colors with some effort by swapping the game's goal within my soul. I could trick my soul and the threads by believing I needed low numbers instead of high. While this would be detrimental to the witch, it was only slightly detrimental. She could still see the truth from the other players.

My first goal to winning had to be to force the other two players to lose first. However, that would have to come next hand. This current hand wasn't winning anything. And so the hands went, and I would pick strong tiles to ensure I'd at least win over the others aside from the witch, and then I raised their total pots until they lost and exited the game. I only won once against the witch, which wasn't impossible since her first two tiles were random. But now that it was just the two of us, the real beatdown was beginning.

I had to slow-play it, though. I couldn't give away what I was doing, and I didn't have to swap every thread color for each tile. I could alter them at will so she'd still pick some good tiles. I could see her confusion and frustration when she accidentally picked up a bad one. She wasn't sure how it was happening, but she didn't have any other tricks up her sleeve to play differently.

When the next hand came around, and she got two strong tiles dealt to her, I saw the slight upturn smile again flash for the briefest of moments, and then I let her pick two high-value tiles next. I, too, had a strong opening hand at 18 and 15. So, it was time to set the bait. I picked up two high-value tiles the next two rounds while making her think I got very low values. However, I did max bid each round to make it look like I was bluffing. Then on the final round, I swapped a few colors as I began to hover over them. I couldn't just swap them all, nor did I want her to pick a low number. I needed her to believe she picked the highest value but have it only be decently high. She knew I was manipulating things if I had swapped a 1 for bright green. So, instead, I had her choose what felt to be around a 13, while I picked up the 20 but made it look like a 1.

"All in," I told her while punching in all eighty-two thousand tokens.

She smiled, and I felt the air chill even more. "With the odds the way they are, both of us can lose everything. Do you think I'd accept that?" She said in a bewitching, icy tone. Frost breath heavy in the air.

I shrugged. "You have a reputation of never losing. But this one time, I'm betting you'll lose," I said honestly but I hoped it came across as false bravado due to bluffing. She pressed her button for All-in as well and showed her hand. 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 for a total of 75.

"I know you were swapping tile locations somehow, but I caught on. But as you can see, my hand is strong. Bluffing me was your undoing, just like many before you."

I revealed my tiles as 10, 14, 16, 18, and 20, for a total of 78. Her eyes bugged out, and she grew beet red. She angrily flipped the table, sending the tiles flying, and was about to unleash a soul attack when she suddenly disappeared and reappeared at the token checkout booth.

"Who is that guy?"

"I have no idea, but he just beat the witch!"

"Wait, what? The witch was beaten? Move, let me see."

"Isn't that the guy they said was still on the first layer?"

I shook my head at the audience that seemed to have gathered to watch the showdown. Instead, I looked down and smiled at my token, which now read seven million two hundred and eighty-two thousand tokens.