The amplified voice of Kaiser Grayman boomed over the cheers and applause from the audience.

“On our left, leading with an astounding thirty points, we have the undefeated Doubles pair Mr. Alaric Li and Mr. Wes Grimsbane! They’ve cleaned up the competition so far, haven’t they, Rea?”

“They certainly have. I can’t say I’m a fan of their gimmicky early-game setup in the Prelims, it’s almost counterintuitive to all the principles of balanced Doubles play.”

“Ah but that’s the beauty of it, isn’t it? High risk, high reward!”

“Indeed. On our right, we have our fourth-place finalists…”

I sat down at the table, not quite believing that I was sitting in front of thousands of people ready to play D.I.E.

The game officials handed us noise-cancelling headphones.

I shuffled my cards and handed my deck for the opponents to cut.

I glanced over to Wes. He looked back at me and winked.

I looked away, disgusted.

Wes could confess to the Abominable Snowman for all I cared.

And if he refused to cooperate mid-game…

I drew my first hand.

I would still be fine.

I had always accounted for that possibility.