“I cannot win with only the fifth chakra,” Rodrigo thought, gravely wounded on the ground.
Then the young man remembered that Ana had forbidden him from transforming into a tannin if he went alone to Cholollan.
“Rui, no matter what happens, do not transform into a tannin, because we will not be there to heal you,” the Irish goddess said imperatively.
“But if I do not try, I will not be able to win,” Rodrigo thought, his consciousness almost fading.
Tezcatlipoca flew to where Rodrigo had fallen and watched him stand.
“I cannot believe you endured one of my best techniques,” the Toltec god said. “But this ends now.”
However, when Tezcatlipoca looked at him closely, he realized Rodrigo’s skin was green and scaly, and his hair had turned reddish. Now his posture had degenerated into a hunched shape, and saliva dripped from his mouth.
“This is… a coateotl?” Tezcatlipoca wondered as he saw the boy’s transformation.
But before he could do anything, Rodrigo punched the Toltec god in the jaw, making him fall backward onto the ground.
“It is like my brother’s ability,” Tezcatlipoca said as he stood again after the heavy blow Rodrigo had landed on him. “However, I am certain that an increase in power like this must have diminished his consciousness.”
“Not this time,” Rodrigo said calmly, though with a shrill and eerie voice.
Rodrigo, in his tannin form, was floating above the Toltec god. His posture was no longer hunched, and his mouth had stopped drooling. The god was calm and showed little emotion.
“I have finally been able to control this,” the young man said very calmly as he descended to where the Toltec god stood.
“First, you imitate Ehécatl’s abilities, and now my brother’s,” Tezcatlipoca replied. “Do you have no originality?”
But Rodrigo ignored the Toltec god’s words and, infusing sacred power into his fists, struck the former Toltec king several times. Tezcatlipoca could not avoid the rain of punches he was receiving.
“You think you have terrible neighbors?” Rodrigo asked as he beat the Toltec god down.
“Every place I have visited, we have found wonderful people with different beliefs and cultures… and you say you have to throw a spear at them first before they attack you? You arrogant piece of shit!” the young tannin shouted while continuing to strike the god.
Rodrigo raised his leg and crushed Tezcatlipoca’s skull with a kick. The toltec god fell to the ground and made a hole. However, the impact was so great that the god pierced through the entire interior of the planet, only to appear on the opposite side. There, Rodrigo was already waiting for him, and with a whip-like blow, he punished Tezcatlipoca’s back, which broke from the impact.
Hurled by the powerful attack, the Toltec god crashed into the dimensional shield and fell to the ground like a meteor.
“Some time ago, I met a god named Nabu, who helped my friend Tania,” Rodrigo said. “It was an unpleasant surprise when she told me he was a deity from a region now considered Muslim.”
Then Rodrigo kicked Tezcatlipoca hard, throwing him several kilometers away.
“I used to believe that everyone born in those lands were soulless monsters, but he was someone who helped my friend greatly, and I appreciate him very much,” Rodrigo continued, kicking Tezcatlipoca again and sending him to the other side of the planet.
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“Then three gods joined Orniskem. One is called Al-Qaum, another is Ishtar, and the last is Ninshubur. And they are wonderful people, full of interesting stories, dreams, and hopes. Why should I discriminate against them just because one group from those lands invaded my hometown?” Rodrigo continued shouting as he kept kicking Tezcatlipoca across the entire planet.
“The nature of both gods and humans is merely to fight for their own group and discriminate against the rest,” Tezcatlipoca replied, trying to stand despite being covered in blood and having several broken ribs.
“Then we just have to make our groups larger and more diverse, so that all of us can feel part of one single identity,” Rodrigo continued, approaching Tezcatlipoca, who was kneeling with one claw touching the ground.
“Only a child like you could believe in such a utopian world,” the Toltec god said.
“The only thing we have is ourselves, and we must fight the world and win in order to survive, so that our culture may remain alive,” the Toltec god declared.
“I will not allow more empires like yours or Lel’s to keep forcing people to believe whatever they say!” Rodrigo shouted furiously.
“You will not allow it?” Tezcatlipoca asked.
“You want to steal my brother’s teotonli and take it far away from here. My brother, who always sacrificed his life to protect Tula and his own people!” Tezcatlipoca shouted furiously.
“Because I have not decided to abandon Tula either!” Rodrigo said with a defiant stare.
“When we destroy Lel, the ghosts of that invasion will disappear, and you will no longer have an excuse to keep creating your empire of terror in these lands,” he added.
“That… is the fantasy of a petulant and ambitious child!” Tezcatlipoca shouted as he raised his hand from the ground, which shone with greenish-yellow energy.
The Toltec god lifted his hand and pointed it at Rodrigo, then shouted.
“You want to destroy Lel, but we shall see if you can even overcome my greatest technique!”
Then Tezcatlipoca made a punching motion through the air with his energy-filled hand. A whip-like shot emanated from that movement as he shouted:
“Ieluayotl atlalkalpankayotl (Power from the Earth's Interior)!”
But Rodrigo raised his right hand and began gathering his sacred energy.
“Of course I will do it, because this is my dream, the dream of my friends, and everyone’s dream. I will carry their wills until the very end,” Rodrigo said.
While that happened, Tania and the rest of the gods of Orniskem were preparing to fight Tezcatlipoca’s illusion. All of them were ready to attack when, suddenly, they felt Rodrigo’s energy. It was like a cry asking them to unite their strength with his in order to win.
“Rui! Where are you?” Ana asked, surprised.
“He is not here!” Epona shouted. “I feel… he needs our help!”
“Our help? How?” Bellona asked.
“It was something I saw happen when they faced Xólotl,” Tul confessed. “Their energies united with his to unleash a devastating attack.”
“Union of energies? Is that possible?” Tania asked.
“Only Rodrigo-san could devise such abilities,” Susanoo said with an expression of pride.
“Well, what are we waitin’ fur? Let’s send our energy to Rodrigo!” Freyja shouted.
“I hope it is something worth the trouble,” Loki added.
The gods of Orniskem, despite preparing to fight the false Tezcatlipoca, raised their energies. Those energies traveled all the way to Teoiztacuauhco, where Rodrigo and Tezcatlipoca were.
The energy surrounded the enormous white sphere Rodrigo had created, and now it looked like a multicolored sphere, filled with the energies and elements of his friends.
Tezcatlipoca was astonished when he saw it.
“It is like the ability my brother achieved… unity,” he said, stunned.
Then Rodrigo shouted:
“Esfera de Venus (Sphere of Venus)!”
The powerful ball of energy destroyed Tezcatlipoca’s technique and overwhelmed the god completely, forcing him to lose his jaguar transformation.
Tezcatlipoca was hurled several kilometers away from the sacred explosion the sphere emanated. When he fell, he realized he had landed at the feet of the warrior statue standing at the center of the planet, the only part of the celestial body that remained intact. The god then smiled.
“Now I understand why you passed your will on to this boy, brother,” Tezcatlipoca said in a nearly extinguished voice. “He is ambitious and naïve, just like you.”
At the same time, the illusion of Tezcatlipoca that the members of Orniskem were about to fight exploded into a beam of light, scattering colored lights across the dark planet. Where he had been, only a macuahuitl remained embedded in the ground, shining like a sun.
“But what happened?” Tania asked, confused.
“It is obvious,” Epona said with a smile. “Rodrigo defeated the real one, and this illusion fell because of it.”
The members of Orniskem then jumped with joy.
“He did it! Rodrigo did it!” they shouted, filled with jubilation.