The self-inflicted cuts made by the nauseating deity splattered drops of blood, which fell toward the ground. The gods avoided them, assuming his disease might be contagious.
Menrva stood after recovering her sight thanks to Tul’s care. She thanked the rabbit goddess, then looked at the god with concern.
“How are we supposed to fight someone like that?” she wondered to herself.
“This fella’s lost his damn mind,” Epona said, bewildered, watching as the god entered ecstasy every time he made another cut on his body.
“But even so, we have to get him out of the way if we want to pass,” Tania said. “Honestly, this man does not seem reasonable.”
“The only reason for life is sufferin’,” the god said as he continued cutting himself, his blood falling to the ground. “And y’all shall know that same blessed pleasure of self-sacrifice.”
At that moment, the blood began to emit a yellowish smoke that wrapped around all the gods.
“Teokokolistli (Disease of the gods),” the god said, and immediately everyone began suffering grotesque deformations across their bodies.
“Pain is the only road to salvation,” the man continued chanting.
“Suffer! Cry! That’ll bring y’all closer and closer to perfection!” he shouted in ecstasy.
Everyone’s heads began to expand, and some of their limbs did the same. Their hands and feet deformed grotesquely, and there was little they could do to avoid the attack, as they were almost immobilized by the pain it caused them.
But somehow, Tul pulled a potion from her bag and threw it into the sky. Once it flew high enough, the small vessel broke, and a purifying rain fell over everyone, making the effects of gigantism disappear.
At that moment, the goddess said:
“Kili’ich ja’ (Sacred Water).”
All the members of Orniskem were healed after Nanahuatzin’s attack, leaving him stunned.
“My sacred water can cure most diseases caused by viruses or bacteria that affect divine beings,” Tul said, looking smugly at the god covered in syphilis.
“You filthy little rabbit bitch! How dare ya stand in the way of yer own salvation?” Nanahuatzin asked furiously.
Without wasting time, Loki teleported behind the god with an ice spear to impale him. But before he could do anything, he was petrified like a statue behind the Chichimeca god.
Seeing this, Rodrigo hurled himself toward the terrible god, opening his fifth chakra. But before he could strike him, the young man began seeing him as a gigantic figure, with far fewer colors than he usually perceived. Then the Chichimeca god said:
“Kalatl akualitilistli (Frog Curse).”
When Rodrigo realized what had happened, he had been turned into a frog and was falling toward the ground, unable to do anything.
Tul ran toward Rodrigo, now transformed into a frog, to keep him from crashing into the ground and to cure him. But Nanahuatzin realized that she was the only one who could truly heal them, so he planned to get rid of her.
Then the god moved his hand and said:
“Nekokolistli (Pain).”
Tul then began feeling a terrible pain in her belly, forcing her to fall to her knees and scream in agony.
Furious, Tania saved Rodrigo from the fall and immediately launched herself toward the diseased god. But with his other hand, he said:
“Temostli (Pestilence).”
A yellowish vapor emanated from the god’s hand and wrapped around Tania. The goddess felt her body beginning to fall ill from within, but she did not stop and slashed the sickly god with her claw.
But the hand Tania had used to cut him became stained with the deity’s blood, causing Tania to contract the syphilis afflicting the god. She watched as her arm began filling with sores and pus.
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Horrified, Tania tore off her arm and destroyed it, but it did not work, because the sores continued spreading across her body.
At that moment, Tania saw that her arm was not growing back and began to vomit, while her skin turned yellow and her eyes red. Her temperature spiked suddenly, and the goddess collapsed to the ground, overcome by dizziness, while her entire body began suffering from both the plague Nanahuatzin had invoked and the syphilis she had contracted.
Ana, using her sword Gram, also threw herself at Nanahuatzin, but the green smoke of the plague caused by the god remained active, affecting the Irish goddess as well before she could attack.
“Don’t attack him up close!” Anpiel shouted.
“But we gotta get Tania and Ana back! And cure Rodrigo too!” Epona shouted as she took her reaper form and made her scythe appear.
Tul, who was being tended to by Susanoo, tried to use another of her bottles of sacred water, but the pain was so intense that the rabbit goddess could only scream, as if her body were being destroyed from within.
Nanahuatzin then said:
“Tonatitlamanalistli (Sacrifice of the Sun).”
Once again, the god trapped all the members of Orniskem inside a sphere of fire, while Tania’s and Ana’s epidemic spread among everyone present. Epona, despite having become immune to diseases, discovered that in that transformation she was especially weak against fire and fell to her knees.
Rodrigo, who had been turned into a frog, could not resist the heat and was cooked alive, without anyone present being able to prevent it, despite Epona’s attempts to rescue him.
“He is too strong,” Menrva said, almost out of energy before the deity’s simultaneous attacks.
“Now… cough, cough… y’all shall become the light of a new dawn,” the god said, almost sobbing.
“Enjoy the agony of becoming the essence of God!” he shouted excitedly.
At that moment, the sphere of fire was split in half, freeing everyone from the attack. Susanoo had his sword drawn and wore a serious, even angry expression after what had happened.
The eastern god stood as a cloud, similar to steam, swirled around his body.
“Impossible… cough, cough… you shouldn’t be able to move,” Nanahuatzin said, surprised as he saw the eastern god standing and staring at him with determination.
“If something is liquid, I can control it as though it were one of mine own limbs,” the god said, and the cloud swirling around him expanded around all his companions. They began feeling better, and the symptoms of their diseases started to improve.
“How did you do this, yuum?” Tul asked the eastern god in surprise as she slowly got back up after the terrible pain that had made her feel as if her belly were bursting.
Susanoo offered his hand to the rabbit goddess so she could stand, which she accepted, still looking surprised.
“The liquid of thy magical elixir—I merely turned it into vapor to shield us from that man’s diseases, my dear Tul-chan,” Susanoo answered as he helped the rabbit goddess up.
Nanahuatzin quickly invoked more plague emanations from his hand, and Susanoo energetically shouted to the rabbit goddess to throw more healing potions into the air. The goddess obeyed and threw three full bottles, which Susanoo cut in half with his katana and turned the liquid into vapor. The virulent plague of the Chichimeca god could not surpass the rabbit goddess’s magical medicine.
All the members of Orniskem, except Rodrigo and Loki, stood with determined eyes, ready to defeat the opponent before them.
“How craven canst thou be, using viruses and bacteria to attack us instead of facing us with thine own strength?” the eastern god asked.
“But thanks to our great doctor Tul, we are capable of overcoming your dirty tricks,” Tania added with a sarcastic smile.
“Doctor? That rabbit?” Nanahuatzin asked.
“Ah, I see she’s a deity from Mayapán. Ain’t that peculiar,” he said.
Tul had a serious expression, unlike the cheerful look she always wore. It seemed something in her had not been left entirely well by the Chichimeca god’s words.
“I heard some worthless little rabbit tried to cross our kingdoms, but she got caught by the Caxcanes and sent all the way to Mississippi as a slave,” said the god covered in syphilis.
“And now you mean to come back so we can teach ya another lesson?” he asked.
“You’re evil people!” Tul shouted furiously, but Nanahuatzin hurled a ball of energy at her.
Susanoo quickly deflected the attack and stood before the goddess.
“Yuum bo’otik, yuum Susanoo,” the rabbit goddess said in surprise.
“Tul-chan, I need thee to give me one of thy disease-curing potions,” Susanoo said without turning to look at her.
“Did that attack affect you?” the rabbit goddess asked as she gave him a small vessel containing the panacea.
Susanoo then broke the vessel and surrounded his body with the medicine in the form of mist.
“Iie, Tul-chan,” Susanoo replied. “I simply need it to slay that repulsive being and prevent him from afflicting me with one of his foolish diseases.”
“Oh, it’s good to see ya seekin’ God’s grace by sacrificin’ yerself, fightin’ against me,” Nanahuatzin said.
“Sacrificing myself? Iie. I am going to cut thee down because thou insulted Tul-chan, bastard,” the god replied, pointing his katana at him.
“Wait a moment!” Epona shouted as she tried to make Rodrigo, still transformed into a frog, react. “We want to fight too!”
“Do not worry, Epona-chan,” Susanoo replied. “Only I can avoid diseases in this manner, and besides, I can withstand his heat attacks with my water ability.”
“As much as I hate this, he is right,” Menrva said, frustrated.
Tul quickly treated Rodrigo and returned him to his original form with more medicine, but the boy’s body had suffered great damage, and he did not regain consciousness.
“Finish him!” everyone shouted, just as the eastern god hurled himself forward to cut down Nanahuatzin, while the latter continued cutting his own body in sickening ecstasy.
Meanwhile, the fight was being watched through a magic mirror by a man in the darkness. He was seated on a throne and wore the mask of a black dog, which covered his face completely.