“Tul-chan, thou didst it!” the eastern god shouted excitedly when he saw the little Maya goddess safe and sound together with the mysterious woman.
“Yes, yuum. She is my kaansaj Ixchel,” the rabbit goddess said with a smile.
Susanoo immediately bowed reverently before the Maya moon goddess.
“Thy disciple T’uul Uj hath spoken much of thee, goddess Ixchel of the moon,” Susanoo said, still bowing.
“I am glad you took care of my little one while she was running away from home,” the lunar goddess replied.
“Of course. She is already part of our nakama… that is to say, our group,” the eastern god replied, still in his bowing posture.
Ixchel looked at the god with disdain and boredom.
“Why is he still bowing? Is something wrong with his back?” the Maya goddess asked her disciple.
“He is always this formal,” Tul replied with a smile.
“Yes, well. You may lift your face now,” Ixchel said, making a dismissive gesture.
Susanoo then stood and looked at Tonatiuh, unconscious on the ground.
“May I ask thee what thou didst to him?” the eastern god inquired of the Maya goddess.
“That was my ability, Wóowóoch’, with which I can reflect any attack of fire or light,” Ixchel explained. “It is ironic that this Chichimeca god was precisely weak against my abilities.”
“It is a more advanced version of my Jeel ability,” Tul added.
“You can already use Jeel?” Ixchel asked her disciple curiously, while Tul kept hugging her.
“Yes! I finally could!” Tul replied, then turned to look at Susanoo. “He helped me awaken it in Cahokia.”
Susanoo once again bowed before Ixchel.
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“I am not worthy of such words,” he said. “And the name of this humble servant is Susanoo-no-Mikoto.”
Ixchel was left perplexed, because she had only just been about to thank him and ask his name, but the eastern god had gotten ahead of her.
“What a peculiar friend you have!” she said, surprised.
Susanoo stood straight again, and then, with a movement of his hands, gathered water from the environment and regenerated his sword, which he sheathed in his saya.
“However,” Tul said with a melodramatic look, “I accidentally killed many people while trying to rescue you, kaansaj.”
Tul began to sob and timidly showed the ruins that remained where Tonatiuh’s trap had activated. Only walls of coal were left.
“The humans locked inside those cells died because I was careless,” Tul continued, tears in her eyes. “Yuum Susanoo told me to be careful, and I wasn’t.”
Then Susanoo placed his hands on his hips and began laughing strangely, an act that surprised both Ixchel and Tul.
“Be at ease, Tul-chan,” Susanoo replied. “We are inside the alternate dimension Ana-hime invoked. Humans cannot be here. Only their reflections are visible.”
Tul realized it was true. That was why they had not responded when she had gestured to them that she had come to save them.
“Uhh!” Tul whimpered in embarrassment.
The rabbit goddess blushed and lowered her head, filled with shame. Deep down, however, she felt relieved that no one had died because of her recklessness.
“Tul-chan, if thou wishest, thou mayest stay with thy teacher,” Susanoo said as he turned around. “I shall go to that main temple to visit the forbidden land where Tania-san, Menrva-san, and Ana-hime were sent.”
“Wait, yuum,” Tul said, letting go of her teacher. “I will go too!”
Ixchel made a gesture of denial.
“In fact, all of us will go. We cannot depend on a foreigner to solve our problems,” she said.
“All of you?” Susanoo asked.
Then Tajín, Mixcóatl, and Tlatlauhaqui appeared behind the goddess.
“Thank you, boy. My wives must be worried about me,” Tajín said with a worried gesture.
“NOW THOSE DISGUSTING CHICHIMECAS WILL KNOW WHO WE ARE!” Tlatlauhaqui shouted.
Mixcóatl only nodded.
“We are gods from kingdoms neighboring Tula, and we came to argue with those bastards Itzpapálotl and Huitzilopochtli,” Ixchel added. “But after what has happened, we have now decided to take this personally.”
Meanwhile, Tláloc and Xipe Tótec had been defeated by Cihuacóatl and her two dark serpents.
“Bah, are all Toltec gods this weak?” the Chichimeca goddess wondered sarcastically.
At that moment, thunder headed toward the goddess, who avoided it with difficulty.
“Who is there?” Cihuacóatl asked furiously.
“Long time no see, Cihuacóatl. Should you not be in your Guachichil kingdom?” said a man’s voice.
“What the hell are you doing here?” the Chichimeca goddess asked.
“Me? Taking advantage of the chaos in the city to seize it,” the man replied.
Then a figure wearing a jackal helmet appeared from among the cloudy streets of Tula. It was the king of the Zacatecos, Xólotl.
“Help arrived that we neither wanted nor needed,” Tláloc said in a bad mood when he saw Quetzalcóatl’s brother make his appearance.