CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Game You Cannot Fight
The Lobby – Two Hours After the Gauntlet
Reina sat alone, hands trembling over a half-eaten protein bar. Mira's blood was still under her fingernails.
She hadn't cried yet.
Hadn't let herself.
Across the lobby, Noah sat in silence.
He didn't approach.
Didn't look at her.
Reina stood.
Walked to him.
"You knew it would happen," she said. "Back in the mirror room. In the Gauntlet. You let it play out."
He didn't respond.
She sat across from him.
"You work for them, don't you? The Face Cards."
That got his attention. Barely.
Reina pressed. "I saw the way you moved. You weren't just surviving. You were following a pattern. Like a test subject. Or worse—a handler."
Noah's jaw flexed.
"I used to follow orders," he said. "I don't anymore."
"That's not an answer."
He met her gaze. Cold. Controlled.
"You're asking the wrong question."
"What's the right one?"
He leaned forward.
> "How many people have to die before you become what they want?"
---
New Trial: 3♥ – "THE CONFESSION CHAMBER"
The next card came without warning.
Everyone in the lobby received it simultaneously—etched into the table like a burning brand:
> TRIAL CARD: 3♥ – "THE CONFESSION CHAMBER"
Players: 6
Objective: Reveal the truth.
Rules:
– Each round, players are shown a private memory.
– The group must vote whether the memory is true or false.
– Incorrect votes cost a life—from the group.
– The player may lie. But if the lie is believed, they gain power.
– Refuse to answer, and the system answers for you.
Victory: Survive three cycles without collective failure.
Failure: When the group reaches 0 lives.
Noah and Reina were both chosen.
So were three strangers.
And one player from a previous round: Moon-mask boy, now hardened, gaunt-eyed, older than his years.
---
The Confession Chamber
A sterile white room.
No blood. No weapons.
Just six chairs and a screen.
One by one, players were called to the center.
The screen played back their own memories—but warped, cut, out of order.
Reina's turn came early.
The screen played:
> – Reina at twelve, stealing her father's gun.
– Her mother crying on the floor.
– A missing brother.
– A car crash.
– Sirens.
The others had to vote: true or false?
Noah watched her face.
She said: "False."
The group hesitated.
Voted.
> Incorrect. -1 Life.
Reina exhaled shakily. "It was an accident," she muttered. "He didn't die. He just… left."
---
Noah's Turn
The screen showed:
> – A younger Noah standing beside a soldier.
– A burning building.
– Screams.
– A Face Card mask being handed to him.
– A body. Female. Blood everywhere.
He stood silently.
The group looked at him.
"What part was the lie?" someone asked.
He simply said:
> "It's all true."
They voted.
> Correct.
But no one looked at him the same afterward.
Especially not Reina.
---
Third Cycle – Psychological Collapse
Moon-mask boy began unraveling.
The screen showed his worst shame—something no one should have seen. The vote was wrong. He lost a life. He lashed out.
Then turned to Noah.
"You work for them. I saw you talking to the Jack. You're their spy."
Reina didn't defend Noah.
She was watching too.
Quietly.
---
End of Game
When the final vote passed, only four players remained.
> System: "3♥ COMPLETE. EMOTIONAL RANKING ADJUSTED."
Noah turned to Reina in the exit corridor.
"Still think I'm one of them?"
She didn't answer.
Then: "Maybe not. But you're not one of us, either."
He paused.
"Neither are you anymore."
She didn't look back as she walked away.