"I know that trick you just used to slip a card where it don't belong in the deck. Dunno how the hell you kept track of which cards are which, but there are plenty of tricks that work like that."
Maverick narrowed his eyes with his arms crossed. There was a rather ugly frown on his face. In return, Brian turned towards him and gave his same bright smile.
"Is that so? Unfortunately, despite how it may appear there is no foul play. I apologize for the misunderstanding."
Maverick raised an eyebrow before holding up his hands in the air.
"Hah? I know what I saw! What, are we not allowed to question you whatsoever and must go along with a rigged game? Why are we even here then?"
Ava commented further.
"While I didn't see anything, playing a rigged game would be rather pointless. There is no fun in that."
Jack was only standing by, but he was rather surprised to find that he was now able to walk next to Maverick. Deciding not to think much of it, he walked over to him. After getting on his tippy toes, he spoke over his shoulder.
"Don't worry! If you think someone is cheating, then you can say it! If you are right, then the person responsible will be punished. But um, if you are wrong, then it means you must be punished."
He then giggled and tilted his head to the other shoulder.
"Maybe you should listen to Brian! I'm sure he wasn't cheating and you just saw incorrectly."
Maverick crossed his arms before scoffing.
"And I already said it loud and clear. Not to mention, I'm clearly right in this situation. If that was really the case, then how come he hasn't been punished yet."
Brian let out a laugh, his words coming out slightly slower than usual.
"Perhaps it is because the one responsible for giving punishment is being rather lenient. Of course, if you continue forcing the matter, then there would be nothing else we can do."
Victor let out a huff and put a hand on his side. He sent a glare in Brian's direction.
"So you're telling us that whoever's supposed to be punishing you is biased? Then even if there is cheating going on, what are we supposed to do about it?"
Samantha spoke up just loud enough for everyone to hear clearly.
"Well, there's nothing stopping us players from banding together. After all, a blind man and a kid are nothing compared to a monster. I feel like you two should be respecting us a little bit more."
As it would turn out, Jack found the barrier around Samantha had now disappeared as well.
Max seemed rather confused by everything, keeping his mouth sealed shut as he looked around with concern. As for Emily, she simply remained silent. That was in part due to her still chaotic thoughts along with how little she cared about the situation.
Leo raised his hand, a somewhat saddened expression on his face.
"Come now, there's no need to get so up and arms about it. I'm sure the whole cheating thing is a misunderstanding. After all, it's not as though he had a chance to peek at the deck and even if he did, he's blind for God's sake!"
Maverick shrugged his shoulders, looking disdainfully at Leo.
"There could very well be braille on those cards, I'll have you know."
In return, Leo waved his hand dismissively.
"I didn't feel any special textures when I held onto the cards. I'm sure that you haven't either, or am I mistaken?"
Maverick let out a sigh.
"There are plenty of tricks, especially when they're the ones controlling the cards. You're far too inexperienced and naive to even comprehend whether or not someone could be cheating."
Brian took a deep breath, tapping the deck of cards against the table twice.
"Unfortunately, dear player, you have a misunderstanding. If you can accept this, then I will deal the cards and we will play as we have been. Everyone here has already waited long enough, including you."
He paused.
"Otherwise... you can push for this further and see where that leads to."
Jack nodded a few times before raising his hands high up in the air.
"I remember Dad said that a second chance is ok, but nobody gets to have all the chances in the world!"
Maverick let out a contemptuous laugh.
"I know what I saw, and I don't plan on letting you two get away with it no matter how much convincing you try to give. At this point, I think I'll take the advice of this woman next to me and take things into my own hands. I doubt the two of you could take me one."
He proceeded to pull out a pocket knife, letting the blade snap out.
At this point, Jack saw a message appear in front of him.
[Unrestrained punishment is now allowed. Formal punishment is now required. All abilities are now unsuppressed.]
Almost immediately afterward, several gasps and confused noises came from all the players. Max was in a bit of a daze and called out.
"I-I don't think you should attack him! He didn't do anything wrong, leave him out of it!"
Samantha's body flinched before she shakily spoke up.
"I suppose the child has nothing to do with it, so it's unreasonable to take your anger out on him when he hasn't done anything."
Ava stammered rather awkwardly, losing her composure slightly.
"W-Well I don't disagree with that."
Victor dumbly nodded, though this time it seemed he wasn't just agreeing because Ava had said so. Emily opened and closed her mouth a few times, seemingly quite confused about how she felt.
"Don't... hurt him."
Nina put a hand on her forehead, furrowing her brows painfully tightly. She seemed to be pondering over something.
"I-It isn't... logical to attack the host like that. Yes, not logical at all."
Maverick's face slackened considerably. His grip on the pocket knife loosened as well.
"Ah, I didn't mean it like that. I just was uh, having a bit of an emotional outburst, you know?"
Jack smiled and let out a hum. He stared rather intently.
"Haha, that's alright! But unfortunately, you went a little too far. Now, I don't have a choice but to punish you. Don't worry, it's not really a punishment anyway because of how fun it is! Come on out, Seedy!"
He unclasped his black deck and with a flash of light, Seedy appeared with a roar. It looked around warily for a moment before relaxing upon realizing that there wasn't an active fight going on. Its tongue hung out the side of each mouth. Then, it began panting like a dog.
Everyone else watched on silently, some horrified, some simply surprised, while Brian simply didn't have a reaction.
Jack turned to Seedy and waved his hands back and forth excitedly. Seedy returned in kind, using six of its vines to mimic his actions just as excited as he was. It reached out with some of its vines and used them to hold up Jack. He then pointed at Maverick.
"He needs to be punished! What kind do you want to do to him, Seedy?"
Seedy pondered for only a minute or so before reaching out with a vine and placing it on Maverick's nose. There was no resistance, even as he felt that his skin was being torn off. Then, in one fell swoop, his nose was ripped off amid a fleshy tearing sound.
Jack laughed watching that, with a nostalgic look on his face.
"Got your nose!"
Clarity seemed to return in that moment for Maverick as he began screaming out in pain, with a notable nasal tone despite having just lost one.
"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck... shit!"
Seedy proceeded to eat the bloody nose. Brian chuckled after seeing that.
"The fingernail is considered the same value as a 2. The finger a 3, a hand a 4. As for the nose, it has the same value as the ears, a 5. It appears this little fellow is quite aware of those systems."
Seedy let out a confident roar and proudly held up some vines as though responding with agreement. Soon after, it ate the nose, as little as it was.
Jack saw a prompt flash in front of him soon after that.
[Punishment has been sufficiently completed. Further punishment is still allowed. Abilities will be suppressed unless the Assistant Host desires otherwise.]
In a flash, the players suddenly appeared as though they woke up from a dream, rubbing their eyes and questioning if what they just felt was real or not.
Ava spoke rather slowly while one hand combed through her hair.
"He... can brainwash us somehow? Has he been doing that the whole ti-"
"Shut up!"
Nina spoke up with a suppressed, but still very angry tone.
"Don't provoke them, for all of our sakes. You already saw what happened, didn't you?"
Ava's left eyelid twitched, clearly quite ticked off. However, she clammed up in the end. As for Maverick, he had both hands covering his face. His cries of pain were being desperately muffled by himself. It was clear he didn't want a second experience.
After a moment of silence, Brian began dealing with the cards once more.
"Well, let's continue with our game now that's all sorted out."