Tania saw Menrva’s corpse beside her. Her stomach churned, her legs began to fail her, and her vision blurred. Negative thoughts began to occupy her mind. Rage emanated from the depths of her heart.
“You damn bastard!” Tania shouted furiously and threw herself at the Chichimeca goddess with her flaming claws ignited, but Itzpapálotl elegantly avoided the attack, as if leaving trails behind her.
Immediately, Itzpapálotl extended the horrible nails on her hand and tore through Tania’s stomach. Her movements left ghostly trails, which, as if they were solid, all ripped a piece from Tania’s body while tearing her clothing.
Tania fell backward, driven away by the Chichimeca queen’s attack. When the goddess examined her stomach, she saw that it had twenty cuts on it.
“When did that happen?” Tania wondered, confused.
“Tania!” Ana shouted in fear. “We have to do something about Menrva!”
“She is dead, can’t you see?” Tania said furiously as she stood again, her wounds healing thanks to her ichor.
“I know!” Ana kept insisting, but Tania interrupted her.
“Can you resurrect gods?” Tania asked.
Ana shook her head.
“I am sure little Tul will be able to resurrect her if she arrives soon,” Tania replied. “We have to handle the things we can actually do.”
“But Tania,” Ana insisted. “Remember what happened to Epona when she saw that monstrous creature after she died.”
“You have to have faith in Tul, Ana!” Tania shouted. “She will come before Menrva sees that creature or before her consciousness is eaten!”
Tania was crying as she said her final words. She knew it was possible that they would never see Menrva again, or that Menrva might be damaged by seeing the monster that dwelled in the Beyond. It was a very dangerous gamble, but there was nothing she could do.
“Oh, so you… have already seen that creature,” Itzpapálotl asked sarcastically.
But neither Tania nor Ana answered a word.
“I forgot to tell you that, during the invasion of Puh, I was killed… but I was resurrected quickly,” the Chichimeca goddess began telling them, while watching Tania take her manticore transformation and Ana invoke Excalibur, turning her armor blue and purple.
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“However, when I died, I saw a monster that completely stole my sanity,” Itzpapálotl shouted, and at that moment, she extended her nails and tore into her own body with a look of madness and pleasure.
Tania and Ana then understood that the goddess was insane precisely because she had already died and seen the same thing Epona had seen. It was possible that, even inside her, she had that egg that had once resided within the equine goddess.
“But thanks to the blessing of the gods of the Beyond,” Itzpapálotl continued explaining, “I am capable of using very powerful and ruthless techniques based on death, like the one I used against your friend.”
At that moment, Ana began to feel butterflies landing on her body. But Tania, without thinking twice, launched a burst of fire at her friend, completely burning the insects, but also injuring the Irish goddess.
“You damn salamander-hair, warn me when you’re gonna do something like that!” Ana shouted, still not recovered from the shock.
“You stupid crow!” Tania shouted back. “If I had not acted quickly, you would have died just like Menrva!”
“I congratulate you for thinking quickly, fire girl,” Itzpapálotl said to Tania. “I see you are willing to hurt your friend in order to win. I find that interesting.”
“Do not think you will defeat us with something like that!” Tania shouted, and at that moment, the goddess launched herself at Itzpapálotl again.
Once again, the Chichimeca goddess avoided all of Tania’s attacks, leaving mirages behind her refined movements. Ana joined that assault as well, trying to cut her with Excalibur, but both attacks were avoided with great elegance.
Itzpapálotl began moving her arms, which left ghostly trails behind every motion. Then the goddess pierced the stomachs of both goddesses and threw them several meters away from her presence.
“I believe you do not understand the situation you are facing,” the Chichimeca goddess said while licking the goddesses’ blood from her claws.
Tania and Ana quickly stood as their wounds healed once more.
“I can immediately recreate multiple realities. Realities where I avoid your attacks and where I do not; realities where I strike you and where I do not,” Itzpapálotl said as she moved her arms again, and trails appeared behind her movements.
“In the end, I choose which realities I make true and which I omit,” the Chichimeca goddess continued explaining. “This is the gift I obtained from the lords of the Beyond,” she said mockingly.
The two goddesses looked frightened as they contemplated Itzpapálotl’s strange ability.
“When I killed your friend with my butterflies, there were three realities where one of you saved her, another where she created an electric field to save herself, and eight where she died. So I chose one of the eight probabilities where my butterflies extracted her soul,” Itzpapálotl explained.
Tania and Ana went pale and began sweating as they realized there would be no chance of winning. If Itzpapálotl wanted, she could do the same thing to their lives.
“Now do you understand why you will never be able to win?” Itzpapálotl asked with a smile as she approached Tania and Ana, who could not believe what they were hearing.
“But do not worry. I left you alive because I am still interested in your services,” Itzpapálotl explained. “That way, you will save your lives. Otherwise, you will end up like your friend.”
Ana’s pulse trembled as she continued holding her gigantic sacred sword. Tania was also nervous, not knowing what to do.
“What is your answer, then?” Itzpapálotl asked. “Do we have a deal?”
“NO!” Tania and Ana shouted furiously in unison.
“What a shame,” Itzpapálotl replied as butterflies landed on Ana’s body again.
Meanwhile, someone’s shadow watched the fight with great interest.