"God, a normal world! I can finally see a normal world again. I never thought the Steel Forest, which always felt so cold, could look this beautiful."
"You only appreciate what you lack. You only cherish what you've lost. After breathing air that faintly reeked of rot for so long, I can't put into words how I feel breathing clean air again."
"Thank you, Feathered Serpent God. Thank you for saving me from the nightmare of the Old Ones. From this day on, I'm your devout believer."
"..."
Across the Americas, people watched the shadow of the Old Ones retreat and rejoiced.
They hammered at their keyboards, sharing their excitement and joy with friends while pouring out their gratitude to the Feathered Serpent God who had saved them.
To them, it made more sense to worship a god who had descended and shown all the Americas his miracle than to pray to distant gods who cared nothing for them.
Perhaps he could not pluck stars and seize the moon like the mysterious god of the East, or restart the universe like God. But they had only seen those gods on television or livestreams. Even when they told themselves those events were real, it still felt removed from their lives.
The Feathered Serpent God Kukulkan was different. His figure had appeared before their eyes, looming over both North and South America. The sight shook them to their core.
In that single moment, the Feathered Serpent God, whose fame across the Americas had long far outstripped his following, gained a number of believers worthy of his renown.
If the gods of the Otherworld learned that one grand miracle could win hundreds of millions of believers, envy might make them weep tears of blood.
Before the pillar of fire, Hodgson gazed excitedly at