Jack’s hand immediately went to his scabbard.
"Now... think very carefully about what you’re doing Jack..."
Lucifer looked at Enrique and pondered a few things for a moment.
’Why’s he doing this?’
’This wasn’t in the script right?’
’Why’s he being a hero and ruining my experiment while I farm Emotional Points?’
’Is it to send everyone back because the illusion can no longer be sustained?’
’Then I need to extend this in some way possible.’
’But how?’
’Wait... don’t the NPCs of the illusion have to somewhat adhere to their character? Then I can use that to my advantage.’
"Everyone please listen to me." Lucifer said while stepping forward so that he’d become the focus of everyone’s attention and not Enrique. "Why don’t I give you another reason to play the game!"
And although no one said it, they all had the same question painted on their faces.
’What reason could a demon spawn possibly give us?’
So Lucifer smiled and spoke in as sharp a tone as possible.
"What if instead of the Warden, who you seem to enjoy beating up so much, it was instead me who you seem to hate even more? What if that dummy looked like me!?"
Everyone looked unconvinced.
"Still not convinced?" Lucifer said, "Alright... then whoever completes the fifth round against the demon dummy will be able to beat me up, no questions asked!"
GASP!!!!
Everyone looked at Lucifer with surprise before their eyes flickered in between him and Enrique who looked equally stunned as them.
It took only a few short seconds before Enrique quickly stepped in, "No, disregard what he just said... there will not be any demon beating here today-"
"Ha!" Jack sneered, "You told us to treat the demon well and now that he’s said something you don’t like, you try and stop his wishes!? Ain’t that ironic!?"
Enrique froze in his position.
Lucifer hid a smirk before looking up at him and speaking in as gentle a tone as possible, "I’ll be fine... dad..."
"No Lucifer! This is not the time for sacrificing yourself! Believe in yourself, in your value! You are important to each and every one of us here! Trust me!"
However, hearing Lucifer say dad for the first time Annabeth showed a surprised expression before she became joyous.
Then she matched her gaze with Enrique’s and nodded, as if to say very briefly, ’You can trust him!’
Enrique finally sighed and spoke, "Alright... but no one can stop me from beating up the person if they go too far... so just this once..."
Lucifer smiled, "Thanks dad." he then turned towards everyone and spoke boldly, "Now then... let’s begin round two!"
And with renewed determination, everyone began to fight against the demon dummy once again!
The kids were still worse off, with most of them whiffing their shots as the line progressed quicker this time for them.
But the adults, well they began to create a meta.
"Plug your ears with these cotton buds, then you won’t lose focus!"
"I get it!!! The demon’s dodging isn’t random!!! It follows rules!!!"
Lucifer smiled.
"It’ll dodge left next!!! Shoot a fireball there!!"
"It’ll attack you on the next swing!!! Be prepared!!!"
"The timer ends at about twenty seconds!!! You can get in one shot every four seconds to get the five shots needed to pass the round!"
"The later rounds are four seconds shorter each!! The fifth round should be only four seconds long!!"
Of course, the initial shouting from everyone only made the players lose their focus since the callouts were mostly wrong.
However, after about five hours, the callouts became increasingly sharp.
Only-
’Why does everything seem... jittery?’ Lucifer noted as he looked at Jack finally missing a swing because he couldn’t swing his spear fast enough to deflect the demon dummy and hit it at the same time at just the third level.
’Are they just tired or something?’
"They’re getting tired... Let’s do this tomorrow. It’s already been five hours, I’m sure everyone’s arms are aching from all that swinging around they’re doing." Enrique said while looking at Lucifer.
Lucifer simply smiled, "No... I’m sure they don’t want to give up, do they?"
Lucifer turned to everyone who was focused on beating up the demon dummy as much as possible and spoke sensibly.
"Look, they’re so focused, if we break them up now it might seem to them that we’re trying to stop them when they’re getting close!"
"What do you think everyone!? Do you want to give up here!? After all... none of you have even crossed the fourth level yet!! Aren’t you getting tired!?"
"Even the chocolates inside the dummy have finished and all the rewards below the fourth level are gone!! What’s there to keep you playing anymore!? Don’t you want to rest!?"
Everyone turned to glare at Lucifer as he smiled at them innocently.
They then looked at Enrique and spoke up boldly, "We’ll decide when we want to give up!"
And they continued to swing their swords, spears and cast their spells.
Only, as they all did so, Lucifer slowly began to notice a recurring pattern among all the people present.
’Their reaction time is slowing down?’
’Is it just fatigue?’
’But why does everything seem so jittery? Like it’s all being rendered at thirty frames per second instead of sixty?’
The change had been happening so slowly over the past five hours that a normal human would’ve completely missed it.
Even someone like Lucifer who had countless memories of staring at monitors playing at a hundred and twenty fps every day failed to spot the error easily since this was reality.
So Lucifer brought his hand in front of his face and waved it around for a second.
’Reality does feel buttery smooth... is the illusion monster running out of power!?’ Lucifer thought excitedly. ’Experiment successful!’
He’d earned about five hundred ninety nine points by now after five rounds with lesser and lesser points each round either due to them having to repeat the game.
But it was also because they were getting worse at it because the illusory simulation was getting worse.
All of a sudden something changed among the group of people, among them a few eyes suddenly felt hollow and their actions became robotic. They got better at the game, but they also simultaneously lost their individuality.
And each of those that became like that usually stopped playing and relieved themselves from the game by excusing themselves and returning to their home claiming they were tired and needed some rest.
The biggest hint however was something else.
A chill ran down Lucifer’s spine.
’I don’t receive any Emotional Value for those robotic NPCs.’