(MC POV)
I was not prepared for what happened next.
I have severely underestimated the gods' views on myself.
When I stepped out into the arena, I was welcomed by the jeers and insults of all the Practitioners in the stands.
Everyone there really thought I was going to be humiliated and punished by the gods.
Someone even tried to throw an egg at me but Manami was quick to incinerate it and Kiyomi immediately froze that person in a solid block of ice.
Lian Li had materialised a bolt of lightning and would have tossed it at him if I hadn't stopped her.
Jeez, I know the people here may be much more durable but that might still kill him you know? The domain Anul created did not extend outside of the stage, ok?
At least that display dissuaded anyone else from trying to throw anything else so we only had to deal with the jeering as we made our way towards the stage.
The moment we did, however, all the gods stood up and the tower they had created for them to spectate the tournament from disintegrated.
The gods all appeared below the stage and rushed up towards me.
"All Creator!!"
"It's Daddy!"
"All Father is here!!"
All of them surged forward and crowded themselves in front of me, giving me varying looks of idolatry.
The jeering from the crowd behind us quietened down almost immediately, all of them trying to comprehend the scene in front of them.
I bet the last thing they expected was the gods they worship to start worshipping someone else, especially when the someone else was the person they had regarded as insignificant.
I raised my hands to calm them down but instead, a few of them rushed forward and started rubbing their heads on my palm.
"Ahh! All Creator is giving us headpats!"
"To get a head pat from All Creator?! Not fair!! Me too!!"
That spurred the rest to start pushing forward as well in an attempt to get a head pat from me too, each of them pleading with me with their puppy eyes so that I would pat their heads.
The peanut gallery finally recovered a little.
"Am… Am I dreaming?"
"Why… Why aren't the Gods striking that servant down?"
"This must be staged… There's no way… There's no way he could actually be a God…"
While I patted Lian Li, Manami and Kiyomi who had snuck their way into the throng of gods, a voice roared out from behind the gods.
"ENOUGH!!"
Everyone turned to see Sylphy striding forward with a stern expression on her face, Anul and Shea flanking her sides.
The other gods parted to let her walk through the crowd, although my disciples simply ignored them and stayed where they were.
"Haha, that guy must have tricked the minor Gods somehow, but now that the Three Great Gods are here, he's finished!" Someone in the audience shouted.
Murmurs of agreement soon exploded out amongst the crowd and they were back to believing I was going to get humiliated right here. They really are trying to grasp at straws now.
Of course the last thing they expected was for Sylphy to kneel down in front of me with her head bowed, "Not fair!! Pat me too, All Creator!! Pleeeeeease!!"
Even Anul and Shea had joined her side in adopting the same pose as her.
There was a loud crash as several people in the audience fainted from the sight, some of them even spasming on the ground.
I dutifully patted the three gods, it's the least I can do for the help they did in letting my disciples take another step on their road to divinity.
It took me about ten minutes, even with me making use of splitting myself into multiple copies, to pat everyone here until they were satisfied.
And by that, I meant more than half of the gods were collapsed on the ground with looks of bliss plastered on their faces.
The fact that half the spectators were also fainted on the ground and spewing out foam from their mouths may or may not have anything to do with me.
"So, what did you call me here for, Sylphy?" I asked, getting the attention of the administrator goddess.
She quickly wiped the drool for the side of her lips, "Ah! I thought All Creator would want to reveal yourself after the tournament is concluded? Also… Quite a lot of us are having trouble holding ourselves back after hearing what these mortals have been calling you."
"Unnngghh… If it wasn't for All Creator's head pats… I think they would have rioted already," Shea muttered while curled up on the floor in bliss.
"Mmmnnn… I think a good number of them will be losing their Sacred Treasures too…" Anul groaned, also sporting a blissful face.
I shook my head, "It's fine, most of them already lost a lot of money from this and it's kind of true that I manipulated them to be this hostile to me so it's not completely their fault. Although…"
Fishing out the piece of paper that a number of people had so helpfully wrote their name on, I passed it over to Sylphy, "For these people in particular, I wouldn't mind having you guys denounce them or something. I gave them a warning and they chose not to heed it."
Someone flew onto the stage behind me as I handed over the paper to the goddess.
"Senior!! Please forgive this trash! I truly did not know who you were! I was lied to and led to believe that Senior had tricked everyone else of your power! Please give this old trash a chance!"
Oh, it's the old man who was so happily condemning me not a few moments ago. Now he's doing a perfect dogeza in front of me with his head pressed firmly on the ground.
He doesn't even know who I am but I suppose seeing the gods basically act like this in front of me is enough for anyone to know what the power dynamics are over here.
As if on cue, everyone who had written their name on that paper showed up and did their pose of pleading for forgiveness.
"Please forgive us, Senior!"
"We are but trash! To think we failed to see Senior's greatness!"
"I was against this from the start, Senior! Please believe me! I was forced to join them!"
"Please show mercy!"
It almost made me want to forgive them… Almost.
"What should we do with them, All Creator?" Sylphy asked, sending them a gaze full of disdain.
I shrugged, "I did warn them that their standing on this Plane would plummet if they crossed me. I'll leave it to you guys to decide how to do that. Don't kill them though."
"We shall undertake this task greatfully!"
The old man panicked and looked up, "Wait! Senior, wait! I--"
"Silence. Did we allow you to speak, mortal?" Shea growled, waving her hand to cause his head to smash back into the ground. "To disrespect All Creator is one thing, to spit on His benevolence is another. Your fate is already sealed."
Damn, the gods can be scary if they are serious huh?
All of them were looking at me with a pleading gaze and my response was to give them a bright smile, "Look at it this way, you guys can boast that you tried to extort money from me! Not many people can say that!"
"Senior!"
"Please! Have mercy!"
"I don't want to be an outcast!"
Sylphy raised her hands and the crowd silenced.
"By my name as one of the Administrator Gods of this World, I hereby declare that these people can no longer receive the grace of the Divines and we take back everything that we have given you. Begone!"
All of those Practitioners disappeared from the stage before they could say anything else.
I had to check with omniscience on what this would entail and damn… Just those words from Sylphy would be enough for everyone to cut all ties with them and have them disowned by their own families. No one in this Plane would ever associate themselves with them again and their cultivation would practically be stopped.
They're basically ruined for the rest of their lives.
…
Oh well, none of my business now. Let's just go back to the VIP area to pick up Master Hei and enjoy the rest of the festival!
