“Wouldn’t that put us at a huge disadvantage?” Ana asked worriedly when she heard Tul mention the reducing bracelets, but Menrva was smiling with enormous excitement.
“Do you have any of those bracelets?” Menrva asked the rabbit goddess.
“I can create some with a special enchantment,” Tul replied. “Only gods can make that kind of artifact.”
“Wait a moment, Tul,” Ana interrupted with a surprised look.
“Could you make arrows with that enchantment? We could shoot all our rivals with them and defeat them without any trouble,” she suggested with a wicked smile.
“Is it that simple?” Menrva asked in surprise.
“If it could be done that way, no one on this continent would be afraid of being invaded,” Tul said.
The rabbit goddess then explained that, for the bracelets and anti-divinity seals to work outside the barrier, the victims would have to undergo a ritual in which they were cursed with those artifacts, and in addition, almost all their ichor had to be drained.
“Now I understand why Lel has not used this technology on our continent,” Ana said.
“So the cuffs are only an extension of the barrier’s power?” Menrva asked.
Tul nodded her head.
“That barrier is fed by the divine power of all the leaders on the continent,” the Maya goddess replied. “Unless more than eighty percent of them died, the barrier would disappear.”
“I see. So without the barrier, these bracelets are completely useless,” Ana said, disappointed.
“Why are you looking for a way to cheat?” Menrva asked.
“It’s not cheating. It’s to make our fight easier,” Ana said, annoyed.
“And you call yourself a goddess of war?” Menrva added, disappointed.
Ana pouted and said nothing more.
“Well, I’ll enchant these three bracelets, and that way we’ll be able to fight as if we were under the effects of the barrier,” the rabbit goddess said while showing the golden bracelets she had taken from her bag.
Tul drew complex markings on the ground with chalk and placed the bracelets on them. Then she began making enchantments in her native tongue.
Meanwhile, Ana went to check on the unconscious Toltec goddess and began encouraging her. Chalchiuhtlicue regained consciousness and panicked when she saw that she was lying on Ana’s lap.
“Are you feeling better now?” Ana asked.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to attack you!” the Toltec goddess said nervously, suddenly rising from the Irish goddess’s lap.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about that,” Ana said.
“But still, you defeated me in a single blow. That has never happened to me before… Who are you?” the goddess asked, still frightened.
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Ana then told her about them, about their arrival in Vinland, and about their mission to reach Tula.
“All of that will be very difficult for me to digest,” the Toltec goddess said, embarrassed.
Then the rabbit goddess shouted:
“They’re ready!”
“Excuse me for a moment,” Ana said, then approached with Menrva to see the bracelets Tul had enchanted.
Menrva took one of the bracelets and placed it on her right arm.
“I do not really feel anything,” she said.
“Me neither,” Ana added, having also placed the bracelet on her left arm.
“That’s because I still have to perform the curse that allows these bracelets to draw power from the barrier,” Tul said. “And you’ll also have to lose almost all your ichor.”
“How do we drain the ichor?” Menrva asked, confused.
“Do you want us to fight each other?” Ana asked.
“Just lower your divine power to the minimum,” Tul said with a very sweet smile.
“All right,” the two goddesses said, relaxing their bodies to the minimum.
Tul then placed both hands forward and prayed:
“Áak’abil yóok’ol kaab (Dark orb).”
A translucent dark sphere emanated from the Maya goddess’s hands and slowly traveled toward the two goddesses. When the attack reached them, both felt terrible pain. The dark energy disappeared, and the two goddesses felt utterly exhausted.
“This ability reduces ichor to the minimum, but it can only be used on very weak enemies, or on those who are sleeping or defenseless,” Tul said.
“You should have warned us it was going to hurt like hell!” Menrva said in frustration as she lost balance on her legs.
“You would’ve resisted. I’m sorry,” Tul replied, embarrassed.
“Was that a dark ability?” Ana asked, confused.
“No, it’s a sacred ability,” Tul confessed. “It’s something known as the forbidden arts of sacred power or something like that.”
The two goddesses then collapsed onto the ground, right where the Maya goddess’s chalk drawings were.
“Good. Don’t move from there. I’ll curse you now,” Tul said.
The rabbit goddess then began repeating a Maya mantra again and again while sitting on her knees, raising her hands with her eyes closed.
After about five minutes, Tul said:
“Done. I’m finished.”
The goddesses felt their bodies very heavy, but they did not know whether it was because of the bracelets or their lack of ichor. Then Tul gave both of them a brew so they could recover their energy.
After recovering, and after making a disgusted face, the two goddesses were finally able to confirm that the bracelets were effective.
“I adjusted them to the level of the barrier. I hope that’s okay,” the Maya goddess said.
“That is fine, Tul,” Ana said.
Tul was about to put hers on, but Menrva stopped her.
“We will need one of us not to wear them and to remove ours if we need it,” the Etruscan goddess told Tul.
Tul nodded and put the bracelet away in her bag.
“Are you insane?!” Chalchiuhtlicue asked, frightened, when she saw that both Menrva and Ana had anti-divinity bracelets. “Tláloc will kill you if you face him!”
“Tell me, how great is the difference between your power and Tláloc’s?” Menrva asked the Toltec goddess.
“He is a little stronger than I am,” Chalchiuhtlicue confessed.
“Then we will be fine,” the Etruscan goddess replied and ran toward the pyramid.
“Don’t worry. This is training for us,” Ana told the Toltec goddess, then ran toward the pyramid as well.
“They’re very strong. You’ll see, they’ll win!” Tul said very cheerfully to Chalchiuhtlicue.
“I do not doubt that they can, but those illusions are made using Tláloc’s maximum power. Besides, they lack consciousness, which always limits our power,” Chalchiuhtlicue replied.
Then a watery explosion erupted from the great pyramid. Both Ana and Menrva fell to the ground near where Tul and Chalchiuhtlicue were talking, cracking it. Then Tláloc appeared floating as he emerged from the great pyramid.
The god looked similar to how he dressed on Earth, with his grotesque helmet shaped like a marine reptile, whose mouth, through which the god showed his face, was completely filled with sharp fangs. He also wore greenish goggles that protected his eyes, and a headdress with green feathers.
The attire of the Toltec water god consisted of an emerald-colored tunic with red decorations along its lower part. In his right hand, he held a staff that looked like a tree branch with flowers, but it emitted electric discharges as if it were lightning.
“Run right now!” Chalchiuhtlicue shouted, then stood and fled as Tláloc floated above the two goddesses lying on the ground.