Cuphead || The Calix Animi

Hell's Casino

The Cuphead boys entered the cave, they noticed a bright light at the end of the tunnel. When they went through, they found a large building inside, it looked like a castle. "Woah!" Said Cuphead. There was a carpet below them that said "Try your luck." Mugman read it and said Well this certainly doesn't look suspicious, I say we turn back now while we still have time, I bet Ms. Chalice is wondering where we are right now." But then Cuphead ran towards the large building. "Or we can go exploring where we aren't." Mugman sighed. He followed his brother inside. They went inside the building and were immediately confronted by King Dice. "Well hello boys, welcome to Hell's casino! Before entering, please sign this contract made by the Devil himself to agree to all terms and conditions!" He handed them both a pen and Cuphead quickly wrote his name on it, and then Mugman reluctantly did the same. King Dice looked at the contract and said "Enjoy your time here boys, I bet it'll be one hell of a time!" He then walked away. Cuphead and Mugman walked the rest of the way in and found themselves in a large room full of games. There were people everywhere, some demons, some residents of Inkwell Isle. "Woah! this place is cool!" Shouted Cuphead as he ran in to play some of the games, he quickly started playing some of the games, betting on things with other players. As he did, Cuphead walked around skeptically. He had a bad feeling about it, and he swore he had heard the name Hell's Casino before. 
Eventually Cuphead returned and shouted "Hey! Mugman! Look at all the cash I just made just from winning bets!" Mugman was shocked and said "This feels like a scam Cup. I don't trust this at all." Cuphead then said "For once will you stop worrying about everything?!" But then he and Mugman noticed something, a wanted poster, and what's weird about it was the fact that Ms. Chalice's face was on it! Cuphead then said "Hey check it out! Ms. Chalice! Why is she wanted here though?" Mugman then said "See?! This is what I'm talking about! This place feels dangerous!" Cuphead ignored him as he went back in to win some more money. Mugman on the other hand continued to think until suddenly, he remembered, Elder Kettle had actually told him and Cuphead about Hell's Casino, that it was the home of the Devil, and people who go to Hell's Casino never return, and he and Cuphead were warned never to go there. When he realized this he shouted "CUPHEAD!!" He ran around the Casino looking for him, eventually he found one playing with one of the slot machines, he grabbed him by the arm and shouted "We need to get out of here now!!!" Cuphead was confused and asked "What's going on with you?!" Mugman shouted "No time to explain! Just run!!" He pulled Cuphead by the arm as he tried to run for the way out, but then, he and Cuphead were confronted by the Devil himself. "Well well well, hello there boys. Where you heading off too?" He said with a creepy smile. Mugman was panicking as he said "Uh, we were just on our way home... If you could excuse us...." But then the Devil blocked their path and said "Go home? But your brother here has won so many bets and has earned a lot, I'm impressed, so, what's your name kid?" Cuphead looked at him and said "Oh my names Cuphead." The Devil got closer to him and said "Say, let's make a deal Cuphead, if you can win one more game against me, then, you'll be able to win this entire casino! But if you lose, your soul along with your brother's soul is mine." Cuphead was silent before saying "Oh it's on big guy!" Mugman couldn't believe this and said to Cuphead "Dude! What the heck are you doing?!" Cuphead looked at him and said "Didn't you hear him? He said we get to own this entire casino if we beat him!" But then Mugman whispered "But he'll take our souls if we lose! No bet is worth risking our lives over!" But Cuphead said to him "Mugman, if we manage to win this, we'll have jobs now! Big jobs as a matter of fact! We won't have to ever worry about losing the house again, and Elder Kettle won't have to do take care of us all on his own anymore. What would you rather do Mugman, have us quit out of fear and return to our poor lives in the woods, or risk it all and win everything?" Mugman then said "You think I don't want to help Elder Kettle? I do! But I just don't wanna die! Elder Kettle told us about this place remember? People who come here never return!" But Cuphead replied "I'm winning this game Mugs, and you're not gonna stop me." He then faced the Devil and said "I accept!" He then brought out his hand, the Devil smirked and said "Good, we have a deal!" And he shook Cuphead's hand, sealing the deal. Then the Devil summoned a dice board and tossed two die into Cuphead's hand, he then said "If you roll a higher score than me then you win!" The Devil shook the two die in his hand and tossed them, they landed on separate numbers, none of them were a six. Cuphead looked at it and then he shook the die in his hand, thoughts of riches going through his head as he shook them, he then tossed them onto the table, but then the Devil used a bit of his magic which rigged the two die to only land on a one. Cuphead saw it in shock. The Devil looked at him and Mugman and said "Oh too bad, well, looks like your souls are mine now!" Cuphead freaked out and shouted "You can't take our souls!! You have no control over them!" But the Devil said "Oh but I do, remember the contract you signed when you first entered?" Cuphead then replied "Uh, yeah?" The Devil then asked "Did you read what it said?" Cuphead then replied "Uh, no..." The Devil then looked at King Dice and asked "Doesn't anyone ever read those things?!" King Dice replied "I tried to warn ya sir." The Devil sighed and said "Whatever, the contract states that once you sign it, you agree to give the Devil, me, complete control over the fate of your souls. Your souls are now bound to me, and I have the power to do whatever I want with them! All I have to do is kill you both and your souls will be sent to the depths of Hell with all the other souls!" He laughed menacingly as he pulled out his trident and said "Now hold still boys! It'll be over soon!" Cuphead then shouted "RUN!!!!" He and Mugman ran for their lives as the Devil shot a charge at them from his trident. "Get back here!!" He shouted. The Cuphead brothers continued to run as fast as they could. Mugman shouted "I TOLD YOU NOT TO MAKE THAT DEAL!!" Cuphead shouted back "YEAH YEAH WHATEVER!!" They both kept running for the exit. Meanwhile the Devil called all his minions and said "There are two cuphead kids who owe their souls to me currently trying to escape, catch them and bring them to me!" All the demons then started hunting for them. Cuphead and Mugman heard them coming as Mugman said "Holy crap!! Keep going!" They kept running towards the exit, soon they saw it in front of them, but the gate was closing! "DIVE!!" Shouted Cuphead as they both got down and slid under the gate as it closed behind them. "OH MY GOD THAT WAS TOO CLOSE!" Shouted Cuphead, the two of them proceeded to run out from the cave and as soon as they got outside, Mugman fell to feel the grass, relieved that he and his brother got out safely. But then he looked at Cuphead with an angry face and slapped him hard in the face. "Ow!! What the hell was that for?!" He shouted. Cuphead shouted back "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! IF YOU HAVEN'T TAKEN THAT STUPID BET OUT OF A DESIRE FOR RICHES WE WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS!! NOW THE FATE OF OUR SOULS ARE FOREVER TIED TO THE DEVIL'S MERCY! ELDER KETTLE TOLD US NOT TO GO IN THERE BUT YOU JUST HAD TO BE RECKLESS AGAIN!" Cuphead then said "Hey! I was trying to help the family! It's not fair that Elder Kettle has to take care of us on his own with no job! I just wanted to help!" But Mugman shouted "But Elder Kettle wouldn't want you risking your own life for him!! We're all he has left! You promised me you wouldn't make another reckless decision!" Cuphead sighed and said "Yeah, I know I did..." Mugman then calmed down and said "Well, what are we gonna do now?" Cuphead then said "Well first, let's get as far away from here as we can, we need to go warn Elder Kettle about the situation, maybe he can help!" Mugman then said "Or he'll ground us for life." Cuphead then said "Well, what else do you wanna do? Wait here for those demons to take us?" And then he ran home, Mugman then followed him back.

Back inside the casino, King Dice met the Devil in his throne room and said "The two boys got away." When the Devil heard this, he was shocked, he replied "No, that's impossible, no one has ever managed to escape me before other than the Legendary Chalice!" King Dice asked "What do we do now my lord?" The Devil thought for a moment before saying "Send our men out to hunt them, they cannot hide forever, we will find them and their souls will be mine!" King Dice nodded his head and walked away.
(To be continued....)