(3rd Person POV)
The intro alone hooked them. Thunder rumbled through the speakers. Epic orchestral music swelled. The camera swept across a war-torn landscape in breathtaking three-dimensional detail.
Rae's eyes were glued to the screen, goosebumps rising on her arms.
Even Joey and Zoey had stopped their usual skepticism, leaning forward without realizing it.
"God of War?" Zoey frowned suddenly. "Isn't that blasphemous? Making a game about gods?"
"Yeah," Joey added, though he didn't look away from the screen. "My grandparents used to tell stories about a 'God of War' back in the old days. One of those forgotten gods from ancient times, I think. Isn't Arthur worried this might offend the Three Major Religions?"
Rae rolled her eyes. "Who cares? It's just a game."
She pressed the button indicated on screen, following the tutorial prompts. The controller felt natural in her hands as commands translated instantly to action.
The game opened on a ship deck during a violent storm. The animation was impossibly smooth—more detailed than anything they'd seen in films.
"How did they even make this?" Joey muttered.
Then the combat started.
Rae took control of Kratos as enemies swarmed the deck. The protagonist's voice rumbled with barely contained rage as he tore through opponents.
"You challenge me?!" Kratos roared, chains whirling.
"Pathetic."
The violence was brutal. Visceral. Satisfying in a way none of them expected.
Joey found his eyes drifting to the controller in his daughter's hands. His fingers twitched unconsciously.
Beside him, Zoey had completely forgotten her earlier complaints. "Roll! Roll to the side—the other enemies are flanking you! Yes! Good! Now finish it!"
Joey stayed quiet, but the urge to grab that controller was getting harder to resist. Watching was torture when he wanted to do.
An hour passed. Rae was fighting a massive serpent boss, dodging attacks with increasingly frantic button mashing.
Both parents were shouting advice now.
"Watch the tail!"
"Jump! JUMP!"
Then Rae mistimed a dodge. The serpent's jaws closed. The screen faded to black.
YOU ARE DEAD
"Damn snake!" Zoey slapped the armrest in frustration.
Joey scoffed. "That's because you kept telling her to dodge when she should've blocked. I could've killed that thing in one try."
Rae bit back a grin, seeing the shift in her parents' attitudes. She paused the game instead of continuing.
"What are you doing?" Joey nudged her immediately. "Keep going!"
"Yeah, don't stop now," Zoey added.
Rae turned to them with exaggerated innocence. "Wait, I thought video games were just marketing hype? Wasn't this supposed to be a waste of money?"
Silence.
Zoey's face flushed slightly. Joey cleared his throat with elaborate casualness.
"I didn't say it was that bad," Joey muttered.
Rae giggled and held out the controller to her father. "How about you show me how it's done, then? Since you said you could kill it in one try?"
Joey stared at the controller like it might bite him. "Nah, you keep playing. I'm too old for this stuff."
"Come on, just try it. You said you could do better than me, right?"
Zoey smirked. "Yeah, honey. Show us these amazing skills you were bragging about."
Joey's competitive pride flared. "Fine. It's easy anyway."
He grabbed the controller.
Five minutes later, Kratos died even faster than when Rae had been playing.
His wife and daughter burst out laughing.
"Easy, huh?" Zoey wiped tears from her eyes.
Joey's face reddened. "I was just getting used to the controls! One more try."
That "one more try" turned into thirty minutes of increasingly frustrated attempts. He kept dying to the same serpent, getting more determined with each failure.
Eventually Zoey grabbed the controller. "Let me show you how it's done."
She lasted about as long as Joey had before dying.
But instead of giving up, she immediately restarted. "Okay, I see what I did wrong. One more time."
Before any of them realized it, two hours had passed. They'd been taking turns, cheering each other on, laughing at failures, celebrating small victories.
The HS2 had done something none of them expected—it had brought them together in a way movies never quite managed.
Across Horn Kingdom, similar scenes played out in countless homes. Parents who'd dismissed gaming as children's nonsense found themselves staying up past midnight, insisting they could beat "just one more level."
Arthur's gamble was paying off in ways even he might not have predicted.
It was only the first day, so the shift wasn't dramatic yet. But it was there—subtle, undeniable, spreading through Horn Kingdom like ripples across water.
And the captivation wasn't limited to mortals.
---
In his hotel room, High-Ranking Angel Mithrael sat hunched over the HS2 controller, eyes locked on the screen. Hours had passed without him noticing.
Kratos roared on screen. "You dare defy a god?!"
The combat was visceral, satisfying in ways Mithrael couldn't quite articulate. Just one more level. Just one more—
A crystal on the table flared bright blue.
Mithrael flinched, torn from his trance. Someone from Altair Station was contacting him.
His hand hovered over the crystal, then stopped. He looked at the controller. Then at the crystal. Then back at the screen where Kratos waited, frozen mid-battle.
"Wait." Mithrael set the controller down slowly. "What am I doing?"
He stared at the HS2 like he'd just noticed a venomous snake in his lap. "I've been playing for hours. I'm a high-ranking angel. I don't get... addicted to mortal entertainment."
But he had been. Completely absorbed. Lost in it.
His eyes narrowed at the console. "There's no magical enchantment. I checked. So how does it have this effect on someone like me?"
The crystal pulsed urgently.
Mithrael finally picked it up, but his gaze lingered on the paused game. "Arthur Pendragon," he murmured with newfound wariness. "I underestimated you. No wonder Scarlet changed after visiting this world."
He'd thought she'd been compromised somehow—manipulated or coerced. But maybe it was simpler than that.
Maybe Arthur's creations were just that good.
---
At Hellfire headquarters, Arthur stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of his top-floor office, hands clasped behind his back, watching the city below.
Faith energy flowed into him in steady streams—thousands of people across Horn Kingdom playing God of War, experiencing entertainment so engaging it bordered on worship.
"First day seems to be another success," Kaiser observed from the sofa, sensing the energy gathering around Arthur.
"Yeah. God of War's performing well." Arthur's smile was satisfied.
"God of War." Kaiser glanced at Keanu, who sat on the floor intently playing the game himself. "I still can't believe you based a game on him."
"Why am I bald in this?!" Keanu complained without looking up from the screen. "I don't look like this at all!"
Arthur chuckled. "That's Kratos, not you. In the story, Kratos isn't the God of War yet—he has to defeat Ares to claim that title."
Keanu's character died. He froze, controller slack in his hands, and turned slowly to stare at Arthur.
"Wait. Does this mean you're planning to replace me as God of War?!"
Kaiser sat up with sudden interest. "Replace? Or maybe he wants to claim the God of War authority for himself. Just like how he stole my God of Wealth domain." He smiled at Arthur with mock hurt.
Arthur felt a headache building. "What are you two talking about? It's just a game."
"No need to be coy," Kaiser said, waving dismissively. "I know your methods. You used banking to absorb my Wealth authority. Now you're using video games to steal War from Keanu. Classic Arthur move."
"Boss..." Keanu's voice trembled with betrayal. "Is that true?"
"I'm not stealing anything!"
"Are you the God of Theft now too?!" Keanu stood abruptly, controller clattering to the floor. "If you want my title, just ask! We could've discussed this like civilized deities! There's no need for this elaborate game conspiracy!"
Kaiser nodded sagely. "Communication is important in any divine partnership."
Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. These two were impossible.
He turned back to the window without responding, refusing to dignify their absurd accusations with further denials.
Below, Horn Kingdom sprawled in all its prosperity—a city transformed by his influence into arguably the wealthiest nation in this world.
Behind him, Keanu picked up the controller again, muttering suspiciously. "I'm watching you, boss. If Kratos gets any more powerful, we're having a serious conversation..."
Arthur couldn't quite suppress his smile.