[“So, what are we to do with you?”] asked a group of beings that were humanoid in appearance yet were nothing but a pure, fuzzy, white facsimile of a human lacking any features that would differentiate them.

[“You’re going to let me get back to destroying that monster.”] stated the Dark Harvest God bluntly. He had done nothing that he had considered to be wrong, so why had he been ripped from his self-appointed task and been forced to deal with these inane idiots?

[“Sadly for you,”] stated one of the white, featureless humanoids, [“that is not how things will be going. You broke the rules, and now you must pay the price for that.”]

The Dark Harvest God scoffed and slammed its ‘hands’ down on the featureless void of pure nothingness that it was in. [“I am a GOD!”] it screamed. [“My will supersedes anything of yours!”]

The faceless beings looked at each other, and if they had all been able to they would have had a smile cross their featureless faces.

[“And who told you that?”] asked one of them. [“ the whole reason the System runs so smoothly is because everyone plays the part that they were assigned to play. Gods do not manifest on the mortal plane until one faction and their deity or deities have gained complete dominance over the planet.”]

[“Fuck your rules!”] yelled the petulant child of a God. [“Gods are above ALL of that bullshit!”]

[“If you are above it,”] the beings said as one, [“then why were we able to bring you here and render you powerless?”]

The Dark Harvest God had nothing to say to that.

[“We have also taken the liberty of reviewing your interactions with other Gods and parts of the System.”] One of the blank entities tapped one of its hands on a bunch of papers held in its other hand. Where these papers came from and what was written on them was something unknowable.

[“...And?”] the Dark Harvest God asked, a bit concerned now about where this all would go.

[“We have determined that we have been a bit negligent regarding the governance of the System. Apparently, a bit of corruption has seeped in. Perhaps it was a poor move on our part to allow former Chosen to gain such positions, as mortals, even after becoming demigods if not true Gods themselves, seem to be prone to acts of, shall we say, bribery?”]

[“I did no such thing!”] exclaimed the defendant.

[“You didn’t, as you lacked the power and influence, let alone assets, needed to do such a thing. Your seniors and those you affiliated yourself with, on the other hand…”]

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

[“NO! Impossible!”] the edgelord Harvest Deity screamed. [“Everything I gained was by my own hand, I had no help from anyone! My fellows told me that!”]

[Then you were lied to.”] one of the beings said before continuing in a stern and irritated voice. [“But we all know that what you just said was a lie in and of itself. We will be taking direct control of the situation from now on, and you will be punished and made an example of.”]

[“What are you going to try and do, you powerless bastards?!”]

The beings laughed and snapped their fingers as one, and the former Dark Harvest God felt something inside himself shatter irreparably.

[“We are repossessing the divinity that you and some other Gods and demigods have, as well as the power of their and your individual Chosen.”] stated the beings as one and in one voice. [Do enjoy your stay here in this empty void. Until you die of hunger, thirst, exposure, or any number of other things you will experience as a mortal. Ta!”]

…

[“Fucking hate this.”] growled the Primordial Serpent as it listened to an endless loop of Muzak. Getting through to the proper people who maintained and ran the system took time, patience, and a willingness to grind through being after being to reach the top, and she had already dealt with around ninety-five individual Admins who had tried to either get her to stop her attempts at fixing things or had tried to tell her that she was going too far.

Customer Service was, as always, just a b*tch to get through, no matter who you were and what situation that you had to deal with them in. Suddenly, the Muzak ended and she found herself not in her own realm but in the empty, vacant, pure-white realm belonging to the highest parts of the System.

[“Well!”] she exclaimed with surprise and concern. [“Shit just got escalated immeasurably!”]

[“Indeed.”] said a voice that the Serpent God knew all to well. [“We’ve begun the process of cleaning house. Please stand by while we audit you and your realm. Thank you for being patient, and don’t try and hide anything.”]

A shiver ran through her body before the voice spoke again.

[“Audit complete. You are clean. Complaints have been noted and you are found to be in the right. Actions will now be taken to fix the issues presented. Thank you for assisting the System in cleaning up the garbage.”]

The Primordial Serpent then found itself back in the black void that it came from, and stayed silent as it processed what had just happened.

[“To quote my Chosen,”] said the Snake God as it blinked and processed things. [“What the actual hell is going on?”]

…

[“Our job seems to never be done.”] stated one of the Highest System Admins as it and its fellows processed the vast amount of bullshit that had transpired while they were not looking.

[“Indeed.”] stated another. [“We should actually thank that child of a God for alerting us.”]

[“Kind of stupid to throw that kind of a tantrum and ruin the whole thing they had going over something so minor.”] added a third.

[“Quite so. If we had not stripped him of his godhood, he might have faced an even worse fate. We did him a favor, really, though he wouldn’t call it such.”]

[“And now we have to even things out. I’m certain that many Gods and demigods are now foaming at the mouth at his foolishness. Not that they should have done all of this to begin with, of course.”]