John Keller first glanced at Agent Simmons beside him. The agent had completely set aside what had just happened and was now staring wide-eyed at Ethan.
He was not the only one. Besides John Keller, who was still paying attention to the others around him, the people he had brought, including his bodyguards and the soldiers stationed further back and ready to fight the aliens at any moment, were all looking at Ethan, this young man who appeared to be just over twenty, with various expressions.
Among them were devout believers who felt anger at Ethan's words, thinking this inexplicable man had blasphemed their faith.
"You said you are God?"
"Your understanding is incorrect." Ethan wagged his finger. The glowing bands and mysterious symbols surrounding him slowly dissipated with his movement, and the surroundings returned to their previous calm, as if everything had just been an illusion.
However, Simmons knew it was not an illusion, and so did Secretary of Defense John Keller, who had been closest to him. He had experienced those energies up close; that peculiar feeling was nothing like a holographic projection or any similar trick.
Moreover, Simmons had been lifted into the air by that magical energy. He had not seen any strange equipment above him that could hoist a person into the air.
Just then, Ethan's next words reached his ears. "I merely said that beings like me, possessing special abilities, would have been called gods by humans in the past."
Simmons quietly patted himself down, making sure nothing unusual had happened to him, before pressing the question again. "You say you are a being with god-like power. Can a god only lift people into the air?"
Even if ancient humans were not as knowledgeable as modern people, nor had such developed science and education, they would not worship someone as a god just because they saw a strange ability, would they?
In the end, the abilities Ethan had shown so far were not enough to compare with the gods in their hearts.
Ethan did not waste words on this.
He could tell that it was not only Simmons who doubted him. The Secretary of Defense also could not accept his earlier statement.
"Let there be light!"
Without warning, Ethan suddenly spoke these words. As he extended his left hand, an extremely dazzling light burst from his palm, transforming into a beam that shot straight into the sky.
John Keller was momentarily blinded, but Ethan controlled the brightness expertly, making sure it did not directly blind anyone. If everyone went blind, who would be left to watch? The few Autobots standing beside him? Letting only them witness it would not achieve Ethan's goal.
As everyone's vision gradually recovered, they saw the beam of light shooting from Ethan's hand straight into the sky, finally condensing into a ball of light suspended above.
As the beam faded, the ball of light suddenly contracted and then exploded in brilliance like the sun, instantly turning the entire area into daytime.
All the lighting equipment on the vehicles behind the Secretary of Defense became meaningless. No matter how powerful, they could not compare to this "sun." In the brightness of day, they were completely overwhelmed.
Night had turned into day, all because of the words, "Let there be light"?
Could Ethan truly be a god?
For most, this was still not enough to shake their beliefs. The object hanging in the sky could be explained away as a large flashbang, only bigger and lasting longer. Since they were dealing with aliens, it was normal for them to have more advanced flashbangs.
But would Ethan let them dismiss him so easily?
Of course not. He gave them no time to react before moving on to the second step.
"Let there be water and green grass."
Ethan spread his hands. His magic power was fully mobilized. This was the first time he had used such a large amount of his own magic power, and it could not be released crudely as usual. Every bit had to be applied with precision.
Otherwise, how could he put on a proper display?
The magic power dispersed, covering the area, and transformed into a fine drizzle falling from the sky. Even with a sun hanging above, it could not stop Ethan from summoning this magical rain. Given his own magic level and the many follow-up actions he needed to perform, the rain only covered this area. As for the areas further away, although people could see rain, it was actually just an illusion.
No one noticed this. With Ethan's current strength, even Loki would not be able to tell at a glance that the distant rain was only an illusion.
As the rain fell, moistening the dry land, something even more astonishing occurred.
Blades of green grass broke through the soil, growing from tiny sprouts into lush grass in mere seconds. Even more incredible, several tall trees grew up among the grass.
Although California has a pleasant climate, it is a region with relatively scarce water resources. Many places are as dry as deserts, and the wasteland they were standing in had been undeveloped for a long time for precisely that reason.
Yet this wasteland, similar to a Gobi Desert, had transformed into a green grassland? Witnessing such a change with his own eyes only made it feel more unbelievable.
At that moment, Ethan unleashed another move.
"Let there be vegetables and fruits!"
With that, several vegetables sprouted on the ground in front of the Secretary of Defense, and at the same time, a fruit tree grew beside Simmons, reaching over two meters tall in the blink of an eye and bearing clusters of fruit.
Ethan continued channeling magic power. This display of "whatever Ethan says, becomes" was the result of his diligent training in the previous period.
After gaining an understanding of the world's many things, he had been working on how to use magic power to transform or create them, and to make them last a long time or even become completely real.
The rain, grass, trees, and fruit created through this magic were all real on the smallest level.
However, with such large-scale casting, he could not make them permanent. Maintaining them required his continuous output of magic power.
Even so, it was enough to shock ordinary people.
"Would you like to taste some?"
Once the spell was formed, all that was needed was to maintain energy output, so Ethan could spare the attention to speak and sincerely invite them. They had to try it. Otherwise, the magic power he had spent would be wasted.
The Secretary of Defense was still in a daze. When Ethan invited him to taste the fruit, he did not think much and casually picked a peach, taking a bite.
Before reaching for it, he had suspected these were illusions, and that touching them would reveal them to be insubstantial.
For a moment, he even hoped his guess was correct.
But when he bit into it, the fragrance of fruit filled his mouth, and rich juice flowed from the corners of his lips. He knew the result he least wanted had come to pass.
He was not alone. The soldiers reached out to pick fruits or vegetables in front of them, tasting them to see if they were real.
Almost everyone reacted the same way: disbelief, shock, and fear.
"Attack a god? Are you kidding me?"
Ethan slightly spread his hands. A pair of softly glowing wings had formed behind him at some point, and he was already floating in the air.
The gentle drizzle had stopped. The grass swayed in the breeze. He hovered there, enjoying the feeling of being the center of attention.
For a moment, he lost himself in it. Then, scattered energy began to converge toward him. He instinctively absorbed it.
Fortunately, he quickly redirected it into the cross on his chest.
The incident startled him, and he began withdrawing his magic power, reclaiming as much as possible to reduce the cost of this display.
As he pulled back his magic, the fruit withered first, followed by the trees, then the grass, until only the ball of light remained overhead. It was no longer dazzling enough to turn night into day, merely lighting the area like a giant bulb.
The Secretary of Defense and Simmons both swallowed as Ethan drifted back down in front of them. The sweet taste of fruit still lingered in their mouths, reminding them of what they had just witnessed.
"So… everything you said is true?"
If Ethan's claim was true, that there were many beings like him in the universe with magical abilities, and they had visited Earth long ago, then it was no wonder humans had once worshipped them as gods.
If he had not declared himself an alien earlier, after seeing that scene, they would have taken him for a true deity.
The Secretary of Defense was a little intimidated, which was exactly what Ethan wanted. This way, he could gain the upper hand in the following discussions and secure terms favorable to himself.
It was not only the humans who were shocked. The Transformers, too, were stunned. There were such powerful beings in the universe?