The God of Suffering was puzzled, his frown seemingly permanent. He immediately began to inquire into his own churches across various worlds to see if there had been any problems.
However, this surge of suffering belief with an unknown source continued to grow, prompting the God of Suffering to consider an unwelcome possibility.
"Could it be, that there has been a war in the mortal realm?"
Such a large amount of unidentified suffering faith, intangible to a deity, could only occur during a war.
This thought inevitably caused the God of Suffering to worry.
Normally, a great war would plunge all mortals into profound suffering, which should be a good thing for the God of Suffering, right?
But as the saying goes, things in the world always swing from one extreme to another.
Gorging on so much suffering at once means paying a price later, with a steep decline in world populations and the total amount of suffering available for harvest.
Do you choose to sustainably harvest or feast once and then starve for three years? Most deities would choose the former.
And at most, they'd opt for "sustainable overfishing." To put it in human terms, it means to exploit as much as possible without causing extinction.
As long as life persists in the world, suffering will not vanish, and the authority of the God of Suffering will never be taken by other deities, making every day a joyful life for him.
Even deities can sometimes feel pain, let alone living beings. What era is it that you still resort to war to inflict pain? It's old-fashioned, lacks creativity, and also leads to intermittent satisfaction of hunger.
"Don't all the worlds have the churches of some god? Why don't they come out and save the day?"
The God of Suffering was still checking the status of his churches, when suddenly a sensation like a radio wave entered his perception.
The Church of Suffering in the Grey World had contacted him, then spoke a lot of strange words that the God of Suffering couldn't understand!
"What... what do you mean 'you must control me in the game to defeat the opponent, to make them feel the suffering'… what, and you also seek my blessing, wishing me to grant you suffering?"
"What, what training... training what? Some machine… machine? Huh? Could it be that you've gone to war with the Steel Church?!"
The God of Suffering couldn't make sense of his devotees' prayers and thought his own church had suddenly gone mad and started a war with the Steel Church, which gave him such a shock that he immediately used the Divine Proclamation!
This cannot be, this cannot be, this cannot be!
The God of Suffering decided to immediately stop the mad actions of his subordinate church and thus began to prepare for a divine intervention. Meanwhile, the Pain Devotees of that church were overjoyed upon learning that the God of Suffering was about to make a "divine intervention."
Under the eager gaze of the believers, in front of the enormous statue of the God of Suffering at the Church of Suffering in the Grey World, a hazy figure of light appeared. He took the form of a noble king, and because the intervention was hastily done, only a blurry silhouette was visible without any specific features or colors.
The deity anxiously verified the truth about the war with his devotees, while the Pain Devotees respectfully brought over an iron box.
"What is this thing? Could it be some new weapon from the Steel Church?"
"My devotees, all eyes on me, I have important matters to discuss! You must not go to war with the Steel Church. The Steel God possesses the most formidable Ironman Legion among all the gods, indifferent to life and death, emotionless, disregarding value, and ready to destroy everything they see. No deity or mortal from the secular world should provoke this Supreme God of Steel."
"You lot of devotees, don't make me suffer."
The God of Suffering was urging his devotees, while they respectfully asked him to sit on a chair. When the God of Suffering, perplexed, sat down and began to operate the iron box... he saw the screen light up, displaying two box-like options.
"Oh God, please choose the one on the left... Yes, that one is called Fist of the Gods."
Under the "instigation" of the believers, the God of Suffering activated the Fist of the Gods and widened his eyes as large as lightbulbs.
This character selection interface... these characters, why are they all deities? And I myself am also among the selectable characters.
Oh my God, this is me!
At this point, the Pain Devotees could finally explain to the God of Suffering what the so-called "start of battle" was all about. It turned out to be a plan devised by the Divine Officials here, who believed that no one understood the God of Suffering better than themselves, except perhaps the God of Suffering himself.
Therefore, they invited the great deity to spar with them and point out their inadequacies in combat.
The God of Suffering now understood what was going on.
So that's where those strange beliefs without a home were coming from! And it was all because of a game developed by a deity known as the God of Fiction.
You're right, but "Fist of the Gods" is an entirely new fighting game independently developed by the God of Fiction. The game takes place in a vast cosmos called "All Worlds," where the deity that is singled out for condemnation by the players is granted the title of "Dominant Dog."
"How dare you weaken me, I must help you win this competition, we must retrieve the glory of our Church of Suffering."
"Nobody understands me better than myself! I'll enter the fray myself, for heaven's sake, who could ever beat me then!"
A million points of Suffering Power, Pain Explosion Punch!
As a deity, the God of Suffering didn't have the same toxic attributes as the God of Death, and as he said, no one understood him better than himself. After playing a few rounds, he quickly defeated everyone in the Church of Suffering, even though both sides used the same character, "God of Suffering," the real God of Suffering still had a deeper understanding of the character.
"Ah, for some reason, when I use 'me,' it feels as if I'm manipulating a true avatar."
"I can feel it, the connection is so close... You mortals believers, your downfall... is because you don't understand me well enough..."
The God of Suffering looked at the defeated Divine Officials and gave them a profound teaching, but he also learned that the initial spark for this was a Dog-headed Person.
According to the believers, that Dog-headed Person's handling of the "God of Suffering" character was far superior to theirs.
"Do you really think I couldn't take down a Dog-headed Person in a one-on-one challenge? Ridiculous, they are the challenger!"
The God of Suffering donned a mascot costume, still in the image of a King but looking somewhat comical. Following the guidance of the believers, he soon arrived at the door of the Fictional Church and saw that Dog-headed Person player.
To be honest, the God of Suffering was actually very thankful to this Dog-headed Person, as his gameplay suddenly brought him a great deal of faith. And from what the believers described, this kind of faith was sustainable and unlikely to be interrupted.
So, let me reward him with a "combat PK."
If he can provide me with an enjoyable fight, if he can make me exert my full strength, I shall make an exception and allow him to become one of my Saints.
The King in the mascot costume challenged the Dog-headed Person to a fight.
Both parties used the same character.
After a three-round, four-minute PK battle, the God of Suffering began to shake violently in front of the machine.
The God of Suffering placed second in the God of Suffering imitation competition, feeling an intense and novel pain, but unexpectedly, he found pleasure amidst this pain.
However, the Dog-headed Person beside him was even happier, not only giving him a thumbs-up, saying he did well, but also thanking him, exclaiming, "Thank you for such an exhilarating match!"
"What a delight, this King, I probably won't forget you for about a week!"