Era, the ‘place to be’ if you wanted to make your name as a rune knight. Odin had never fancied himself a knight when he was younger, and now that he was older most of them wanted to exterminate him on sight, but he hadn’t realised the extent at which the knights were lacking. Whether it was funds, membership, or something else entirely, Odin just look at all the knights and found them… lacking. There were stories of a few strong ones, but most of them had either joined the Holy Knight order, or otherwise faded into the annals of history.

The Lich walked down the streets of Era, concerned for the safety of the people there. What if the worst should happen and an evil monster, a Lich for example, should go on a rampage throughout the city, destroying everything in his path and killing any who stood against him. It didn’t seem like there would be much to stop him. Hell, Odin only knew of maybe a handful of mages that could defeat him in combat: Kon the Nephilim holy knight; Arisa the Nephilim light mage; Alisa of Blue Pegasus, and the wind mage Kazimir. There didn’t seem to be many others, and Odin now had ways to deal with those people. Soon, they too would fall.

But it seemed unlikely that they were all in Era. So who was going to stop him?

Sometimes Kaiser wondered if she was autistic. She couldn’t make friends easily, and everyone she met either thought she was weird or just simply avoided her afterwards. Being a social butterfly wasn’t exactly on the top of her list of priorities, but she at least wanted some people who would be there when she faced troubles, so that she could drag them down with her. At least that’s what she assumed was the purpose of having ‘friends’.

The undeniable presence of rune knights in Era was starting to get on her nerves, but there was nothing she felt like doing about it. She just killed one the day before, though she didn’t mean to. It wasn’t without reason, however. He was disrupting her mission, and she couldn’t think of another way to stop him as quickly. Kaiser planned to accomplish a few tasks that she made for herself. After being here for over a week, she felt kind of pathetic for not knowing where the best gambling houses were. Her mission today was to find out exactly that.

The first place she was going to check out was the house of ‘Old Ma’. A pretty weird name, but she heard about it first out of all the rest so she was almost certain that it had to be the most popular. The day was beginning to transition into night, but it was still light outside. The days were long and the nights were short this season, but that was going to change soon.

Kaiser wanted to get a good look of the place before the games started. Whispers on the streets told her that they would start at around six in the evening. As of this moment, she was still on her way to the gambling house, walking along the sidewalks of Era’s wide roads while she relished in the coolness that the evening breeze brought.

He gave it a few minutes, but it simply didn't seem like anyone was going to cause any problems for Odin today. He wasn't surprised, but he was a bit disappointed. He enjoyed the mania that occurred whenever someone tried to stand in his way. Killing knights was a sport at this point, they provided minimal entertainment and very little enjoyment, but it gave Odin something to do.

Since mages on the side of good weren't going to provide Odin with any entertainment, he would have to go find it from those of a darker alignment. And that's what brought him to Old Ma's gambling establishment, because where better to find those of shady character. Gambling dens were filled with two types of people, and either one would fulfil Odin's blood lust: those who lost, and those who cheated. The one's who lost would not take kindly to being ridiculed, and would even try to attack anyone that provoked them. Those that cheated, similarly, wouldn't enjoy being called out in their cheating. It was an easy win for Odin regardless, and he had watched enough gambling in his own pub to know what to keep his eye out for. No one had been able to swindle him in his own pub, and anyone that tried had lost everything, including their lives.

The only question that remained was who he would choose.

The sky was littered with clouds colored in light purple and orange hues as the sun began its descent. It was a lovely evening. She would’ve loved to have been at the beach to witness this beauty of nature while dipping in the salty sea water, but Era didn’t have a beach. It was completely landlocked, which was sort of depressing, but that was one of the reasons Kaiser decided she wasn’t going to settle down here. She liked the view of mountain ranges in the distance, but it wasn’t enough. Kaiser was hella picky, and it was going to take some time for her to find the best place to settle down.

Old Ma’s house was starting to get busy, which could be witnessed from where Kaiser was at the moment. She hid in the shadows, trying to lay low and observe without getting caught. She wasn’t doing anything illegal yet, but she just didn’t want anyone to witness her showing interest in illegal activities, which was gambling in this case. Kaiser was told that Old Ma was paying an authority in the council to give a blind eye to her house, which was probably why it looked more like a flea market instead of a gambling house. The host didn’t seem to care if they got caught, because everything about the house was anything but lowkey. Overall, it seemed like a promising place.

But, should she make her debut in Era tonight or check out the other houses first?

Odin found his target after a few minutes of looking. The criteria to be chosen wasn't very extensive: in fact many of the patrons in the gambling house fit the description. However, the man he picked seemed to be especially slick with his scamming, and taking an extreme about of pleasure in what he was doing, and that was why Odin picked him. A cocky looking sonuvabitch with the devil's grin. He looked the type that only had this ability, and would wet himself at the mere mention of danger. That was where Odin would come in.

He walked over to the man's table, each step garnering the attention of more patrons as they realised they were in the presence of a Lich. By the time he reached his destination, almost everyone in the room was looking at him, save for the men playing at the table he was at. Four men, three of them looking more and more defeated as time progressed due to the actions of the fourth. They were too engrossed in their games to care about the man that had just approached, and so none of them looked up.

"Why don't you let me try a hand or two?"

The men jumped a little, startled by the sudden voice that broke the otherwise silent location. The three men, having lost their money, held their heads low and they allowed the victor to speak. He, however, needed a moment to compose himself, the fear in his eyes evident from the first glance he made.

"Y-yeah. Ahem, I mean, if you think you have better luck than these three, feel free."

A while after she arrived near the gambling house, there was a sudden commotion outside of it. She couldn’t exactly tell what it was about, so she got a bit closer to the establishment out of curiosity to find out what was going on. After walking around for a minute, she picked up on a rumor that a lich was in the house. Of course that was pretty unusual. How could a lich find out about Old Ma’s house? Was it interested in gambling, or here to cause trouble? Normally, people would associate it to danger because that was how it was. You see a supernatural creature that isn’t glowing or doesn’t have shiny wings, they’re probably a threat.

Now, Kaiser was even more intrigued. “Curiouser...curiouser,” she mumbled, staring straight through the windows in an attempt to steal a glance of the lich. If she remembered correctly, she had never met a lich in person. She had only heard of their existence and knew that there were very few liches in Fiore. Tempted to see one face to face, she decided that it would be tonight. She was going to make an appearance in Old Ma, risking her chance of going to the other houses without being noticed, but hopefully it was worth it...to see a lich.

Without further hesitation, Kaiser entered the house, no stranger to the stares that she received. It was rare to see a woman looking like herself inside a gambling house, which was why she was easily recognized. Most of the women present were either much older, or less attractive compared to her. It wasn’t hard for her to spot the supernatural being that was rumored to be in here. It was much bigger than most of the men, and everyone’s attention was on the lich, until Kaiser stepped in, of course. It seemed like there were a few people who knew of her, for some reason. She walked up to the table where the lich was, very aware that most of the people near the creature were frightened for their lives. Kaiser, however, just stayed cautious enough to be safe since she couldn’t predict if they were friendly or not, and if any unexpected or hostile actions were made from anyone in here, of course she would act accordingly. After all, she was in a gambling house.

“May I join?” she would ask the dealer and the lich, making sure both parties proved to have no ill intentions towards her before asking, though her eyes were fixed on the undead creature. The more she looked at it, the more unreal it appeared to her. No one else dared to join their table, and the dealer looked up at the lich, as if it depended on him whether or not she was allowed to join.

Odin eyed the woman up and down as she stood, calmer than most, asking if she could join the table and also play. A quick look around the room told Odin a few things about her, some he already knew. For one, of course, she was beautiful as many eyes were laid upon her with lust and reverence. To the majority of men in the house the most beautiful woman they had ever met, or likely would ever meet, was standing in front of them, which was cause enough to look away from the Lich.

The other look some gave her was an odd one, not quite approval but perhaps acknowledgement. Not the look someone would usually give a gorgeous woman wish an apparent death wish, unless she was known to them. If she was known within certain gambling circles, then perhaps she would provide something of a challenge to Odin. Whether she was here to meet a Lich, punish a poor cheater, or just make some money, Odin didn't have any reason to object. If nothing else, she would likely make this interesting.

The other player's permission hadn't been asked for her to sit at the table: only the dealer's and Odin's, and the dealer meekly looked at the Lich for approval. Nodding at her, the Lich spoke, silencing any whispers that had arisen during the silence, "The more the merrier in game of risk. Please, do jo-"

"Hey! This is my table and I don't want her here."

In that moment, it seemed like everyone in the room knew, him included, that he had made a huge mistake. Odin looked over at the man, his eyes not showing anger, merely disappointment. He looked down at the man's hands, and brought a fist down upon one of them, utterly shattering his wrist and rendering the hand useless. The man uttered a scream, a wail of agony, while Odin just spoke, not raising his voice over the man's pain as he knew he would be heard, "Next time I kill you. Now let's play."

Kaiser’s face exhibited a challenging expression as soon as the lich welcomed her to join the table, though the dealer didn’t seem very happy about that. She shot him a threatening look. Why exactly did he refuse to let her play at his table? Did he know of her? It was highly unlikely, but she couldn’t neglect the possibility. However, the lich taught him a lesson that Kaiser was quite satisfied with. “I hope dealing with one hand isn’t going to slow down our game. We’ll need a replacement if it does,” she said and gracefully situated herself in the seat next to the lich. Though her senses were on high alert, she appeared ridiculously calm. At this point, everyone in the house had stopped their own games and was paying full attention to the Baccarat table.

It was a game that solely relied on luck, and Kaiser was a very lucky person. Trembling in fear of death, the dealer inserted the card deck into a lacrima-powered device that shuffled the cards. The device also displayed the number of cards in it, and it showed ‘52’, which was the correct amount. Kaiser checked to make sure that she wasn’t being cheated. Next, the dealer asked for the players to cut the deck, and Kaiser offered to do it. She was getting a bit impatient, but she had never met a dealer who could deal faster than she did, so it was nothing unusual.

Kaiser placed fifty-thousand jewels in front of her—the amount she was betting—since the game was going to start with a hundred-thousand jewels making the minimum to bet ten-thousand jewels. The others placed their bets as well. Then, the device automatically dealt two cards to every player and the dealer as well. Beads of sweat rolled own the dealer’s face. Of course she could imagine why he would be worried. It was usually dangerous in gambling houses for this reason. If a player didn’t win, wasn’t happy about it, and caused a ruckus because of that. He could have been worried that the lich or Kaiser was going to be that person.

“D-draw?” asked the dealer. Kaiser picked up her cards, stacking them on one another so that she could see only the face side of one card, and the other was hidden behind. She kissed them before slowly revealing to herself what the second card was. Then she placed her cards in front of her again, faced down, and waited for her turn to make a draw. She had her poker face on as soon as the game started, so it was impossible to tell if she was happy about her cards or not.

With all pleasantries out of the way, and all bones broken that were required, the game could finally begin. The dealer shuffled the cards, using the woman to cut the deck in the process, before counting them to ensure that all the desired cards were present. The '52' confirmed that every card was accounted for and players began putting down their bets. The woman put down a fifty-thousand jewel bet on herself, while Odin only opted to put ten thousand jewels, the minimum bet possible, on the table. The woman clearly knew the game and she seemed to be a force to be reckoned.

As the cards were dealt, Odin remembered how much he didn't enjoy this game. In many other card games where money was exchanged, there was an element of skill, which Odin preferred over Baccarat. This game involved no skill whatsoever, and was simply down to luck and chance. It was impossible for someone to be better at the game than someone else, simply due to its nature, but Odin presumed this was part of the appeal.

He took his two cards and, without any hesitation, looked at them both, bringing them up to his face to avoid anyone else seeing what he had. For a moment, one so short many wouldn't believe it had even existed, Odin's eyes reacted, the ethereal flames flickering as if someone had blown on them. He put his cards back face down, as the girl did, and waited for the third player to do the same. It would be the third player, then the woman and then Odin in this game of chance.

"Best of luck."

Kaiser was a naturally lucky gambler. Why do you think she decided to make a name for herself with this career? It was rare that she got bad cards, or had a big loss from gambling. After this game, too, she was going to bring home bank. The order that the cards were passed started with the other player, Kaiser and then the lich, so the first person to draw was the man beside Kaiser. He seemed to want to draw, but hesitated, and then shook his head. Kaiser could already tell what his cards were.

Then, it was Kaiser’s turn to draw, so she did. She shot the lich a playful smirk as she did so, and stacked the last card on top of her other cards. She wasn’t going to see what it was now, just because she didn’t want to risk getting caught. Even though she had mastered the game face, she could never underestimate a dealer’s ability to predict.

Next, it was the lich’s turn to draw, if he wanted to, of course. After he made his choice, it was the dealer and the deck. He could choose to catch anyone with the cards he already had, or draw. At this part of the game, a professional dealer would know if someone was happy or not with their cards and know who to catch, but the current dealer didn’t seem to be all that determined to win, because he just got his fingers broken by a lich.

Without hesitation, he drew a card as well. Kaiser scoffed and placed a hand on her cards. It was time to reveal them, but she wanted to see the others’ cards first.

Baccarat wasn't Odin's favourite game in the world, but he knew how to read people when playing it. It was a natural tell that people seemed to have, no matter what the game was, that he could always pick up on. He, however, had yet to develop any kind of tick to show his thoughts. It helped that his skull had no way to show where he was looking, or what he was thinking. It was just empty and allowed for him to surprise everyone when he wanted to.

The first player to draw, the third player, had an obvious tell. He went to draw, but then changed his mind, in what had to be the most obviously sloppy play in existence, which told Odin everything he needed to know. This man, before Odin and this new woman had arrived at the table, had been playing at the top of his game, taking money from every player. That could only mean a couple of things: either he was an incredibly lucky player, or he knew how to mess with people. Of course, there was the chance he was in league with the dealer, potentially the only way he could actually cheat in a game like this that was entirely based on luck, but it didn't seem likely.

That left the second option, so it was extremely likely that this sloppy move of changing his mind was actually part of the game. It was possible he had nine already and couldn't be beaten, but wanted the dealer to think the man was close but still not quite there. Regardless, Odin ignored him as he watched the woman. She didn't even look at the cards after she drew them, instead choosing to smirk at the Lich. There was no way for her to know how well she as doing, she could be smiling with the worst hand in the game for all she knew, but her confidence was amusing to watch.

For Odin's turn, he chose not to draw anything, instead just raising his hand up flat to show he wasn't interested, which then allowed the dealer to draw one, which he did without even considering it. Whatever he had, he had known from the start of the round that he would draw, which told Odin something. Now ti was time to reveal, and time to see what everyone was going to have.

Odin had been close, he had a seven and was only two off from having the ultimate hand, from having the nine that he needed to win without issue. Unfortunately, so did the dealer, as he revealed the seven he had from a two and the five he had drawn on his turn. Odin didn't pay attention to the other two, and the dealer wasn't paying them much heed either, as winning or losing this game could potentially cost the man his life. He was sweating, and Odin could see that he was worried to draw any more cards, as the next card could seal his fate.

Odin simply watched him as he drew the next card, this one being for the Lich. Time slowed as he did so, yet Odin simply watched to see what was turned over. After what felt like an eternity, the dealer revealed an ace for Odin, sending his total to eight, making him the likely winner. The dealer gave a sigh of relief, now content that his life wasn't in danger as he drew the card for himself. The sigh was caught in his mouth as he revealed the two of hearts, bringing his total to nine and declaring him the winner.

Odin wasn't honestly planning on killing the man, he never had been, regardless of the outcome of their game. He had only broken the man's wrist for being cheeky when Odin had made a decision. But, everyone in the room was expecting it, and to not kill him would make Odin look merciful, soft and weak, three things he refused to be. So Odin stood up, pushed his chair back and walked over to the dealer. He won the game, but ultimately he was the loser. Odin placed his hand of the man's throat, and quickly pulled back, ripping out the man's throat and sending blood and gore everywhere. The man died instantly, and the gamblers around got very uneasy as they realised the ferocity of the Lich. Most made moves to leave, but Odin was the first to go. He had lost his money, so he left it for the humans to fight over. Killing the man for the human's sake had ruined his mood, so now he was going to drink.

-Exit-

Kaiser was very interested to see the lich’s cards. However, she did not expect the events that followed, a series of quick actions by the lich that sent blood from the dealer’s throat everywhere, even on the vampire, who simply licked some that was around her mouth area. In the end, she did not have a bad hand, but the game was over before she wanted it to be. Quickly shoving her money back into her bag, she slipped out of the building to leave the gory scene. She didn’t want to be seen anymore at that place after what had just happened. Appearing in the news being seen at a gambling house where a lich killed one of the dealers? She didn’t need that kind of attention right now. That bone man really didn’t know what it was like to gamble or how to handle the game.

None of this mattered to Kaiser anyway, because she still had her money, she just lost the chance to get more. Of course Old Ma’s house wasn’t going to collapse either because of this small misfortune, but Kaiser would remember the lich because she had never seen one before. Maybe she would remember him if she met him again, or if she ever met another lich, she would mistake it for this one. Now that she was covered in the dealer’s blood though, she headed back to her hotel to clean up.