It was still early, the day after the gods of Orniskem had departed for the ruins of the city of Puh.
The city of Tula looked like any other day. Conflicts between gods had no effect on humans. The farmers rose early to plow the land, the slaves began working, the merchants opened their stalls, the seamstresses began weaving their dresses, the priests began their bureaucratic exercises, and the Tlatoani, that is, the human king of Tula, sat upon his throne to deal with matters concerning his subjects.
In Tula, everything went on as if nothing had happened.
The city smelled of spices and food, while in the markets, people began preparing dishes for passersby, who went there to buy things, or simply crossed through that area on their way to work.
Markets filled with tomatoes, ears of corn, chiles, turkeys, small dogs; also pieces of craftsmanship, clothing, and sandals. It was, without a doubt, the largest and most important city in the entire region.
Tláloc and Xipe Tótec had infiltrated the city by disguising themselves as merchants. But both were surprised to see how little importance the people gave to the coup d’état in Tollan. To humans, the god who ruled them was irrelevant.
However, when they reached the enormous gate that connected the city of Tula, where humans lived, with Tollan, where the gods lived, there stood not only the Caxcan soldiers Itzpapálotl had brought to protect the portal, but also a gigantic serpent surrounding the divine city.
The monstrous serpent had the face of a crocodile, as well as monstrous legs and fishlike fins. Its body was covered in poisonous spikes, and it was green as an emerald. The beast was sleeping deeply.
“Cipactli!” Tláloc said nervously upon seeing the gigantic monster guarding the entrance to Tollan.
“Can the humans not see that monstrosity in their city?” Xipe Tótec asked, bewildered.
“I suppose they must have used an enchantment so it would not be visible to human eyes,” Tláloc replied.
Then the monstrous creature opened its mouth and devoured several soldiers. Its mouth filled with blood and bones as it grotesquely chewed them. The soldiers did not scream or cry. They allowed themselves to be devoured by the enormous beast.
“Now those are well-trained soldiers,” Xipe Tótec said, surprised by the Caxcan warriors’ immovability.
“That does not matter,” Tláloc replied. “That horrible monster is the one Quetzalcóatl and Tezcatlipoca defeated together with great effort.”
“And that is how Tezcatlipoca lost his leg,” Xipe Tótec added.
“Do we have any chance of defeating it?” asked the Toltec god of rain.
“We must,” Xipe Tótec shouted. “We cannot depend on the allies we obtained.”
“Assuming they come,” Tláloc replied, disappointed.
“If they do not survive the Trial of the Thirteen Heavens, they would have no chance of surviving the war that is coming,” Xipe Tótec said as he stepped out from the shadows where they had been hiding and invoked his totema before the monstrous being.
The beast Cipactli opened its yellow eyes and looked at Xipe Tótec, who challenged it with his bloody knife. But the creature simply ignored him and went back to sleep.
Xipe Tótec stood paralyzed, filled with indignation and rage upon seeing that Cipactli did not even consider him a threat.
“Are we not even a threat to this monster?” Tláloc wondered.
“Do you like my creatures?” a voice was heard from above.
Xipe Tótec and Tláloc looked toward the sky, and there was a woman floating there.
The woman had a serpent helmet and a face painted red and black. Her hair was green and her eyes amber, as if she were a reptile. She wore a red blouse and a white skirt adorned with shell-like decorations.
“Who are you?” Tláloc asked as he invoked his totema and prepared to fight.
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“My name is Cihuacóatl, and I am second in command of the army of great Huitzilopochtli,” the woman said bluntly while continuing to float in the sky.
“Are you the one who has been controlling these creatures that should be rotting in Mictlán?” Xipe Tótec asked.
“Indeed. I am the one who controls the creatures our lord Huitzilopochtli brings out from the underworlds,” the goddess replied.
“Well, that makes things easier,” Xipe Tótec replied with a smile. “If I kill you, your monsters will no longer obey your command.”
The flayed Toltec god leapt toward Cihuacóatl with his obsidian knife, ready to cut the Chichimeca goddess’s nape. However, Tláloc shouted at that moment for him to stop.
The monstrous Cipactli appeared behind Xipe Tótec, and opening its disgusting crocodile mouth, caught the Toltec god and began chewing him with its powerful jaws.
“Damn it!” Tláloc shouted.
Then the god covered his staff with electricity and hurled a bolt at the enormous creature’s head, but it caused no damage.
Then Cipactli’s mouth filled with bloodthirsty spikes, while Xipe Tótec shouted:
“Esonixtlauamilco (Bloody Field)!”
The monstrous creature could no longer close its jaw, allowing Xipe Tótec to roll out of it and throw himself to the ground. When he fell, the god was completely covered in blood, with missing limbs and intestines hanging out. But then he shed a layer of human skin onto the ground, which turned into a pool of blood. By doing this, Xipe Tótec fully recovered from the damage caused by the monster Cipactli.
The flayed Toltec god made a staff with a rattle appear in his right hand, and when he shook it, it emitted an extremely loud sound, causing all the spikes that had appeared in Cipactli’s mouth to extend and grotesquely pierce the monster’s head.
Xipe Tótec then pointed at Cihuacóatl with his staff. The god was now completely covered in blood from the effects of having lost one of the human skins covering him.
“Do not underestimate us, witch of the north!” the flayed god shouted.
To this, the Chichimeca goddess only smiled.
“Well, the rumors about the flayed Yope god who now lives among the Toltecs are true. He cannot be harmed,” the Chichimeca goddess said with a smile.
“Then you will understand that you are at a complete disadvantage against us!” Tláloc shouted as he made a clay vessel appear before him and shattered it with his staff.
An extremely powerful lightning bolt emanated from the god’s strike against the vessel, traveling at full speed toward the Chichimeca goddess as she flew. But when the attack was about to hit her, the beast Cipactli interposed its mutilated head against the attack, and its body absorbed the damage.
“We will not be able to harm her while that horrible monster protecting her does not disappear,” Tláloc confessed, disappointed.
“I will take care of the monster. You defeat that witch!” Xipe Tótec shouted, once again pointing his staff at the terrible monster.
Then the flayed god lowered his staff and pointed at Cipactli’s horrid claws while invoking his bloody field again. Spikes appeared on the monster’s two front legs, the ones with which it supported that part of its body upright. Feeling the enormous needles in its feet, the beast shrieked in pain.
Meanwhile, Tláloc prayed:
“Tlatekuinalohuey (Great Lightning).”
Then he invoked a gigantic electric sphere to hurl at Cihuacóatl. But the goddess did not even flinch.
Cipactli, despite being wounded by Xipe Tótec’s bloody field, quickly tore off its own front legs and used its body to stop Tláloc’s attack again. Poisonous blood emanated from the wounds of its torn limbs, corroding everything it touched. Tláloc and Xipe Tótec quickly avoided the beast’s fluids.
“That beast does not feel pain, since that woman is the one controlling it,” Xipe Tótec concluded, realizing they could not stop the goddess without finishing off the monster.
“Do not tell me you have already given up,” Cihuacóatl asked mockingly while continuing to float through the sky.
Then the Chichimeca goddess made a group of bones appear and crushed them with her left hand. When that powder fell over the monster, it quickly healed its wounds.
Tláloc and Xipe Tótec grew nervous upon seeing the goddess’s ability to restore monstrous creatures.
“I heard that you had destroyed my little ones before, so I decided to come personally to prevent you from killing them,” Cihuacóatl said.
“Then we will destroy that monster with our greatest strength!” Tláloc shouted, invoking his gigantic electric sphere once more, at the same time Xipe Tótec made a group of obsidian swords appear floating in the sky.
The two Toltec gods hurled their attacks at the beast in unison, but when they struck the monster’s head, they exploded and vanished. The monster suffered no damage.
“I forgot to tell you that every time I heal them, their skin becomes more resistant,” Cihuacóatl explained, and then the goddess positioned herself beside the monster’s face.
People began approaching the temple area of Tula when they saw lightning in that zone, caused by the gods’ attacks as they fought against Cihuacóatl and her beast Cipactli.
The Toltec gods tried to attack again, but the beast Cipactli quickly caught them in its mouth. Its fangs then turned into thousands of venomous spikes dripping with acid.
“It does not matter how many times you recover. If this poison enters your veins, you will die immediately,” Cihuacóatl said while looking at the two gods trapped inside the monster’s mouth.
When Cipactli was about to chew them with its poisonous fangs, a swift strike of air traveled through the area like a whip, and the monster’s head separated from its body. The two Toltec gods fell to the ground intact.
“What was that?!” Cihuacóatl shouted, furious and frightened.
Then lightning emanated from the ground, and the sky darkened. A being of light carrying a sword appeared, walking before the decapitated monster.
“Finally, on this day, I have become a slayer of Ryujin,” said the man.
As the light dissipated, it was revealed to be Susanoo, who had severed the enormous beast’s head.