I chose Luck and was given Infinite Luck

The House's Champion

1. The First Move

The air between Tom and Stacy crackled with raw energy, the torn fabric of reality still hissing where his spin had forced open the door. The figure standing between them was unlike anything Tom had encountered before.

It wasn't a Celestial Arbiter. It wasn't one of the Loom's enforcers.

This was something new.

Something built from the shattered remnants of broken timelines.

The figure's cloak shimmered, woven from strands of forgotten fates and unraveling destinies. Their eyes burned with golden fire, not with the pure glow of the Roulette Wheel, but with something twisted—something repurposed.

"Tomás Veyra," the figure murmured, stepping forward, the very ground beneath them warping with each movement. "You've been making quite a mess, haven't you?"

Tom clenched his fists. The Wheel, still warm in his palm, pulsed in warning.

"And you are?" he asked, keeping his voice steady.

The figure smiled. "Call me the Croupier."

Tom's gut twisted. He didn't need Imma to tell him what that meant. A croupier was the one who ran the casino floor, the hand of the house.

The dealer.

The Celestial Council had sent their own player into the game.

Stacy shifted beside him, her expression unreadable. "Great. More cosmic metaphors," she muttered.

Tom didn't take his eyes off the figure. "So, what? They finally got tired of rolling the dice and decided to send someone to stack the deck instead?"

The Croupier tilted their head. "Oh, Tom. You are the deck."

The words sent a chill down his spine.

"You changed the rules," the Croupier continued, pacing slowly, their voice soft but carrying the weight of shifting realities. "You forced the Council to acknowledge a draw. And now? They've decided they don't like draws."

Tom exhaled. "So they're cheating."

The Croupier chuckled. "Oh no, no. You cheated. You turned luck into something more than luck. You bet against fate and didn't lose."

They stopped, golden eyes narrowing. "Now, I'm here to make sure you do."

---

2. A Gambler's War

Tom didn't wait.

He spun the Wheel.

The instant the numbers blurred into motion, the entire space around them shifted. Reality fractured, folding in on itself as golden energy crackled through the air. Tom felt the threads of probability twisting, coiling, ready to snap.

And the Croupier moved.

They didn't run. They didn't attack in the traditional sense. They dealt.

With a flick of their hand, a series of cards appeared in the air, shimmering with cosmic energy. Each one bore an impossible symbol—some he recognized from the Wheel, others he had never seen before.

The first card flipped over.

The Joker.

Tom's body lurched, the Wheel stuttering in his grip. The number sequence blurred, skipping erratically, as if something had thrown a wrench into its mechanics.

His spin was out of control.

"Shit—"

Stacy reacted instantly. A pulse of void energy crackled from her hands, slamming into the Croupier. The attack hit nothing. The figure simply wasn't there anymore.

The Joker's card dissolved into the air, and suddenly, Tom's spin landed.

The number?

1.

A near miss. A loss.

The moment it settled, Tom felt his body lock in place.

The Croupier smiled. "Oh, you don't like losing, do you?"

Tom couldn't move. He was bound. The universe itself had responded to the lost spin, as if punishing him for failing to stack the odds in his favor.

Stacy swore under her breath. "Get off him."

The Croupier ignored her. Another card appeared in their hand.

The Ace.

"Let's raise the stakes."

They snapped their fingers.

And the world collapsed.

---

3. The Board is Set

Tom gasped as he was dropped into a new space, his mind struggling to process the shift. One second he had been standing in the rift, facing the Croupier.

Now?

He was inside the Wheel.

No—inside something worse.

Around him, the universe had rearranged itself into a massive, spiraling casino floor. Towers of stacked dice stretched into the sky. Tables with golden inlaid symbols hovered in the air. The floor shimmered like liquid probability.

And at the very center, standing beneath an impossible chandelier of suspended timelines, was a singular roulette table.

His.

The Croupier appeared across from him, standing behind the table, their smile widening.

"Welcome to the Final Bet."

Tom took a step forward, his entire body still heavy from the failed spin. "This is a trap."

"Of course it is," the Croupier agreed. "And now? We finish the game."

Tom exhaled, forcing himself to focus. He had been here before. Not this place, but this feeling. The weight of the gamble. The knowledge that the only way out was forward.

The Croupier rested a hand on the table. "Here's how it works, Tom. You and I? We're going to play. Simple bets. High stakes. Every spin determines a rule. Every roll rewrites a fate."

They leaned forward, their voice dropping to a whisper.

"If you win, Stacy goes free."

Tom's pulse pounded.

"And if I lose?" he asked, voice steady.

The Croupier grinned. "Then you stay here. Permanently."

Tom met their gaze, unflinching. "And if I refuse to play?"

The Croupier chuckled. "Oh, Tom. The game has already begun."

The table between them pulsed. The Wheel appeared, spinning on its own.

Tom clenched his fists.

The first bet had already been made.

---

4. The First Spin

The Wheel slowed.

Tom's breath caught as the symbols came into view. This time, there were no numbers. No familiar results.

Instead, the Wheel's slots held concepts.

One landed in front of him.

A single phrase, glowing in molten gold.

House Always Wins.

Tom's heart stopped.

The Croupier exhaled contentedly. "Well, that's unfortunate."

The casino floor rumbled.

The rules had changed.

Tom wasn't just gambling anymore.

He was playing a rigged game.

---

5. The Stakes Revealed

Stacy's voice ripped through the void.

"Tom!"

He turned just in time to see her pulled backward, her body distorting like a mirage, as if being rewritten.

The Wheel had decided.

The House always wins.

Tom moved.

He didn't think. He didn't hesitate. He reached for the Wheel.

And for the first time—

He stopped it.

The entire casino shuddered.

The Croupier's smile vanished.

Tom's fingers curled over the golden rim, his pulse hammering in his skull.

"No," he growled. "Not this time."

The Croupier tilted their head. "Fascinating."

Tom's mind raced. The rules weren't set—they were decided. The Wheel wasn't bound to fate.

It was bound to him.

Which meant if the House always won?

Then he would become the House.

Tom shoved the Wheel forward.

And spun again.

---

6. The Gambler Becomes the Dealer

The Wheel roared to life, golden symbols fracturing and reforming in real-time.

This time, Tom didn't wait for fate to decide.

He chose.

The slot landed.

A new phrase burned into existence.

Player Takes All.

The casino collapsed.

The Croupier staggered, their form flickering, their control breaking.

And in that moment, as the game shattered around them, Tom understood—

The only way to beat the House?

Was to own it.

The Wheel pulsed.

And Tom dealt the next hand.

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