The dark sky over Chicomóztoc began to cloud over, and a thunderstorm started to fall across the entire region. The people watched the phenomenon nervously, for they knew that a mortal confrontation between their king and another immensely powerful god was about to take place.
Would the sacred city withstand such a conflict? No one knew for certain.
Menrva, Freyja, and Tul climbed up into the stands and reunited with their companions, who stared fixedly at the battle that was about to begin.
Ehécatl made a motion with his hands, and the bracelets that prevented the gods from using their power shattered.
“Lord Rodrigo, I understand that you must have many questions at present, but I shall escort you to my master so that he may clarify them all for you,” the god said.
“How arrogant you are, Ehécatl!” Xólotl shouted. “I do not intend to let that bastard leave this place either.”
“Your reasoning lacks coherence, Lord Xólotl. I had believed I was the one you desired,” Ehécatl said as he gathered wind in his right hand.
When the wind dissipated, a knife appeared in the god’s hand, though its tip was shaped more like a hook.
“A bastard with the same face as my brother and myself?” Xólotl shouted.
“It is clear that his mere existence is a mockery of my family, and I cannot allow such a thing to exist… especially now that he appears to be awakening the power my brother sought,” he concluded.
With the dark power in his left hand, Xólotl made an enormous staff appear, adorned with black and red feathers. At the top of the staff, a perpetual flame burned with great violence.
“What are you implying?” Ehécatl asked as he raised his hook and took an attack stance.
“Is it not evident?” Xólotl said. “My brother surely found ways to clone himself or create homunculi. I shall open that man up and discover his secret so that I may use it as well.”
However, while he was still speaking, Ehécatl cut Xólotl’s chest with his hook. The wind god appeared quickly behind the Zacateco god with his weapon drawn.
“You damned wretch!” shouted the Zacateco god as he created spheres of dark energy filled with lightning.
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“I have trained so that I might one day kill you, and that moment has arrived,” Xólotl said as he hurled the attack at the wind god.
But Ehécatl, using a kind of tornado around his body, dispersed the dark energy created by Xólotl without the slightest difficulty.
“Wind can only fan the flames!” the Zacateco god shouted, creating an enormous fireball as he cried:
“Miktlantletl (Hell's Fire)!”
But Ehécatl, with the wind covering his body, caught the fireball and sent it flying toward the firmament, making it disappear.
“No matter what trick you employ, Lord Xólotl, you shall never defeat me,” Ehécatl said calmly. “Besides, you would do well to remember what my primary ability was.”
Then Ehécatl disappeared completely. Not only his body, but his divine essence as well.
“Did he run away?” Epona asked, confused.
“Iie. It is an exceedingly advanced wind ability,” Susanoo said in surprise. “He hath, quite literally, divided himself into atomic structures throughout the entire heavens, thereby rendering himself quite impossible to assail or to restrain,” he explained.
“I cannot believe he was that powerful,” Rodrigo said, still looking astonished.
“Do not think I have not devised a counterattack against your ability to become intangible!” Xólotl shouted.
Then the god wrapped himself in dark energy as he thundered:
“Atlatoualotl (Waters of Darkness)!”
The dark energy surrounding the Zacateco god burst from him like fire. Dark lightning also emanated from his body. Before everyone’s eyes, it was clear that the god was using an enormous amount of power.
“He has combined darkness, fire, and thunder into a single attack,” Tania said, still astonished.
“It is evident that he barely has enough power to maintain the balance of three elements at the same time,” the Etruscan goddess said.
Xólotl then began to laugh.
“Come then, Ehécatl. Try to destroy this dark barrier,” the god said with the attitude of someone who believed he had already won the battle.
“But when you do, your entire atomic structure shall be torn to pieces,” he warned.
However, at that moment, Xólotl’s body began exploding in several places, as if small detonations were erupting from within him.
His entire body was then torn apart just as a tornado emerged from inside his abdomen, and Ehécatl materialized once again.
“My apologies, Lord Xólotl, but I had already introduced my atoms into your body before you activated that technique,” the god said as the Zacateco god’s body fell unconscious onto the ball court, drenched in blood.
“That was impressive, and he did not even damage the city,” Anpiel said in surprise.
“He is on a completely different level,” Ana said as well, her face filled with amazement.
However, Tul wore a look of annoyance and uncertainty, as she did not fully trust the Toltec gods.
Ehécatl descended from the sky and landed in front of Rodrigo, to whom he bowed.
“Lord Rodrigo, we have spoken before, though I had not yet formally introduced myself to you and your companions,” the wind god said.
“My name is Ehécatl, and I am the servant of the great Quetzalcóatl,” he then introduced himself.
The man’s eyes were silver, and his hair was bluish green, as well as quite long. Though his skin was brown, it shone as if it were oily. The god was quite tall, standing nearly two meters high.