The Seven Wonders of the World

15. Double or Nothing

RULE GUIDE BEFORE READING:
Ante: The ante increases by one air-bios every round.
Bet: The first bet alternates between players after each round. A bet must be done in under thirty seconds. And a raise can only go up to half of the total pot.
Any air-bios which isn't full due to things like breathing, cannot be used anymore as an ante or a bet. The maximum bet limit is set to the balance of the player with less air-bios.
Instead of chips, you have Air Bios (each of these has 5 minutes of air)
Calamity: In the case of a "special way of losing", the loser must release the air of his air-bios, according to the same number of air-bios that he bet that round.
The definition of who wins and loses: Any player who leaves the chair for more than ten seconds loses. The opponent will be able to use the key to free himself. After the fifth round ends, or in the case where a player cannot aford the ante anymore, the game continues until one player leaves the chair, due to having no more air-bios. In other words, until one player ends up drowning.
Forbidden conducts: Violence, or unwillingness to give air-bios, not respecting the limited time, or not listen to the referees orders, any behavior judged to be done in order to get in the way of the game will result in an immediate loss.

The doors of the throne room opened, as Oxolo and his henchmen watched as Alucard and Fang walked in.
Oxolo chuckled. “Is he by himself?” said Oxolo.
“Yep,” said Fang, “his friends ran off, I assume.”
Oxolo chuckled. “Great,” said Oxolo, as he gestured at the other chair, “sit, Alucard.”
Alucard reluctantly sat down, as he looked at Oxolo. “I didn't come here to surrender,” said Alucard, “i came here to challenge you.”
This shocked the whole room as all of their faces widened. “Challenge me?!” said Oxolo. “You knew what happened the last time, right?”
“I'm well aware,” said Alucard, “but that was three years ago. I was a different person back then, i'm not that egoistical overconfident brat you came across. I'm different.”
Oxolo laughed. “If you say so, man!”
“I choose the game, so I say we play Air Poker!” said Alucard. “First to five rounds, whoever loses dies.”
“Dies?” said Oxolo.
“Yes, dies,” said Alucard, “unless you're scared, then—”
“No, no! Air Poker is fine!” said Oxolo, turning to his henchmen. “Bring out the chambers.”
Alucard looked up, as he nodded at Rater and Sora, were watching from outside on the glass roof -- they had hid themselves quite well, as they nodded back at Alucard.

As both Alucard and Oxolo went into the chambers, both contestants were cuffed to the chairs, the rules were aired out on pamphlets to them. Alucard and Oxolo looked down at their pamphlets. They read. as they finished reading, Referee #2 Yakou Hiorchi pulled the lever as water started pouring into the room, filling it completely. 5 metal cards with the number scratched onto them fell into the tank, as they both started breathing their first Air Bios. The game began as they stared confusedly at their cards, which had seemingly random numbers. For Alucard, his cards said 25, 45, 26, 36, 39. For Oxolo, his cards read 15, 8, 47, 63, 44. Neither had any idea what these cards were, or what the "law" of the cards was. Alucard is thinking heavily about what the "law" of the cards could be, and thus is using more air as he switches to his second air bios. However, Oxolo isn't thinking about it at all, causing him to use minimal air and still be on his first Air Bios. Oxolo begins 
the betting and bets 1 air bios. Alucard responds with a raise of 2 air bios. Oxolo raises with 4 and then calls, Alucard then also called, betting 4 and bringing the total to 16 air bios. Oxolo places forward his 15, as Alucard places his 36. It's announced through the speakers that Oxolo's 15 wins, as in the background, Sora realizes the law of the numbers. Oxolo is still on his first Air Bios, of which he now has 32. His remaining cards are 8, 47, 63, 44. Alucard now has 15, with his remaining cards being 25, 45, 26, 39.
As Sora was watching, he thought to himself, “Oxolo's overpowering him! Alucard better count this or he is really fucked!”

The second round begins as Alucard suddenly has a realization, causing the amount of air he's using to go up. The ante for betting is now 2, as Alucard raises by 1 air bios, a smirk of realization on his face. Oxolo looks confused, still barely using any air, as he confidently calls before raising another 1 air bios. Alucard then suddenly calls and raises with a high amount of 5 more air bios, disregarding the fact that he only has 15 left. Oxolo sparingly calls and raises 1 again, to which Alucard goes all in, calling and raising by his last 4 air bios. Due to going all in, Oxolo can no longer raise anymore. The total bet is 29 Air Bios, as Oxolo pushes forward his "8". It was at this point it clicked for Sora as he explained to Rater that the "law" is that the cards are made into the highest possible poker hand they can be with the cards left. Rater is oblivious and we cut back to Alucard who pushes forward his "39". The winner of the second round is Alucard as his "39" was actually a 4 of a kind with 9s, meaning that Oxolo's 15 turns out to be an ace high straight flush, "36" was a 4 of a kind of 8s, and the "8" was either a full house or a 3 of a kind with aces, meaning 39 would always win because an ace was used up Oxolo's first straight flush.
Oxolo is at 16 Air Bios, breathing his second with 47, 63, and 44 remaining. Alucard has 29 Air Bios left, breathing his third as he looks at his remaining 25, 45, and 26.

The ante is now 3 air bios. In a moment of genius, before betting, Alucard grabbed one of his cards and carved the law into the table with them, causing the amount of air Oxolo used to skyrocket to Alucard's level, both of their minds racing with both excitement and thinking. They switch out their air bios. Mentally, they both are racing to figure out what the highest possible hands of their remaining cards are, air quickly racing away. At this point, Oxolo began to try and figure out his strongest, "Ace" card. He immediately singled out his 47, which can make a royal flush. He then starts thinking if it's possible, considering the cards already used. So far, 3 aces, four 2s, two 3s, two 4s, one 5, four 8s and 9s each. These cards are unable to be used. According to this, just barely, a royal flush could be made with his card only if the full house in round 2 was indeed a full house, rather than 3 of a kind. But after selecting his card, Alucard's breathing slowed to a minimum as Oxolo was still racing with thoughts. Alucard thought only a simple thing, that his ace is probably the straight flush in 25. Oxolo then began to think, what would Alucard do? He just has to win 1 round out of the remaining 3. He expects Alucard to bet low, and to use his ace card to win 1 of the 3 rounds. But if his ace card loses, he's basically cooked. Oxolo cannot allow himself to lose another round, and Alucard wants to bait Oxolo into wasting his ace. It then clicks to Oxolo, Alucard revealing the law was a trap into making him use his ace (47) in the third round. Oxolo is using a heavy amount of air, meanwhile moving to Alucard, he calculated the value of Oxolo's remaining cards, 150, being far larger than the value of his "96". From now on, the higher the number the more likely the hand is to be stronger (disregarding straight flushes and hands with aces.) If it ends up as 25 vs 47, then after losing, the highest hand Alucard can make would be a full house of jacks.

If he wins, he only needs one more victory to secure his win. But if he loses, all his further hands will be weakened. Oxolo starts believing the card Alucard placed was his bait, as he began to wonder what Alucard's ace even is. He narrows it down to being a straight flush, as the referee tells him to place his card. It was then he realized that, even if they don't use their aces, the necessary cards for them will almost absolutely disappear if they aren't played this round. Oxolo's mind is swirling, as Oxolo places his card and replaced his air bios. But it's revealed that the card Alucard played wasn't his ace, as it was the bait 45. Oxolo had wasted his royal flush of 47 as they began the betting phase. (Mb, the betting goes after the card placement. Just swap their places.) Oxolo bets 2 on top of the ante that is now at 3 air bios. Alucard calls, betting the same. Oxolo wins the third round, as his 47 defeated Alucard's 45. (4 of a kind, Jacks.) However, a calamity occurs causing Alucard to have to forfeit the same amount of bios as he lost. In this case, the cause of the calamity was both Alucard and Oxolo using an Ace and a Jack in their hands. Oxolo's remaining air bios is 19, while he's breathing his third. He has "63" and "44" left. Meanwhile Alucard has 18 left and is breathing his fourth bios. He has "25" and "26" left.

Sixteen is soon!