Meanwhile, Xipe Tótec continued fighting Camaxtli as their weapons clashed against each other while they flew over the city of Tollan.
Xipe Tótec then pulled five obsidian knives from his back and threw them at the Chichimeca god, but Camaxtli repelled them with his spear.
However, Xipe Tótec had been waiting for that distraction from the Chichimeca god. In that moment, he leapt behind Camaxtli and pierced his back with his staff.
Furious, Camaxtli cut open the flayed god’s chest, but as expected, his tunic fell to the ground, soaked in blood, while Xipe Tótec’s body appeared bathed in blood, yet completely recovered.
“You have no chance of defeating me, because I am immortal,” Xipe Tótec said calmly, making a self-satisfied grimace.
“So the fame of the flayed god was true,” Camaxtli said. “Every sacrifice made to you, every person you murder, becomes one of your skins, which prevents your real body from being damaged.”
“Correct,” Xipe Tótec replied. “No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to defeat me.”
Camaxtli then looked at his spear, and as if time had passed in an instant, the Chichimeca god cut Xipe Tótec’s throat.
The Toltec god, feeling the cut, began to bleed out and agonize, clutching his neck in pain and uncertainty.
“What’s wrong? Weren’t you ‘immortal’?” Camaxtli asked sarcastically while pointing his red spear at the Toltec god.
Camaxtli then showed the agonizing god his spear. Both its tip and shaft were red, while the end of the shaft was adorned with green feathers. It also had black drawings of men devouring others. It was a deeply disturbing and terrifying image.
“The name of my spear is Tlakanakua, that is, the Devourer,” Camaxtli said. “It has the ability to destroy any spell, curse, or technique.”
Thanks to Xipe Tótec’s reserve ichor, his wound healed, and the god stopped clutching his neck, though he was still coughing from the damage to his throat.
“Your little cheating with human skins protecting you will not work on me!” Camaxtli shouted as he hurled himself at Xipe Tótec to attack him.
The Toltec god quickly invoked a field filled with corn cobs shaped like daggers to impale Camaxtli, but with a movement of his weapon, the god destroyed the Toltec god’s attack.
“Your techniques will not work against me!” Camaxtli shouted, cutting open the Toltec god’s chest.
Xipe Tótec made a grimace of agony, but escaped from there by leaping into the air. However, the Chichimeca god flew after him with his spear held in attack position.
“Where are you going, Xipe Tótec?” the Chichimeca god of the hunt asked mockingly. “There is nowhere to run from me, the god of the hunt.”
The Toltec god quickly tried to attack Camaxtli with his staff, but Camaxtli immediately avoided the attack by leaning his body backward. Using the momentum of his movement, he impaled Xipe Tótec’s shoulder, making him grimace in pain.
“You are not used to avoiding attacks because of your invincibility,” Camaxtli said mockingly as he pulled his spear from the flayed god’s shoulder.
At that moment, Xipe Tótec understood that the only way to win was to fight Camaxtli hand to hand. However, he was not accustomed to belligerence at the same level as the Chichimeca god. He was a god of fertility and cultivation, but not a god of war.
“Stand up, coward, and fight with your weapons,” Camaxtli said provocatively while spinning his spear in challenge.
Stolen novel; please report.
Xipe Tótec’s ichor healed the wound in his shoulder, but not as quickly as the previous ones. Although he still had ichor, it was running out quickly.
The Toltec god raised his staff and entered a combat stance, ready to fight his Chichimeca opponent. Camaxtli smiled and lunged at the flayed god with his spear.
Xipe Tótec avoided Camaxtli’s charge by defending himself with his staff. Even so, the force threw him several meters back.
Both gods drew near the esplanade. Now there were several Caxcan guards patrolling the area. It could be seen that they had divine power in their blood, since they were able to move within the dimension Ana had created.
The blood in the area was still palpable, since that liquid had been invoked by Uichilat to help Mayáhuel clone herself infinitely. Obviously, the goddess had already fallen, but the members of Orniskem and their allies were nowhere to be seen.
“I see. You have chosen this place to die,” Camaxtli said when he saw Xipe Tótec step into the pool of blood on the esplanade.
The Chichimeca god then approached the flayed god at full speed and tried to pierce him with his spear, but Xipe Tótec avoided the attack with a swift movement.
“Is that all you know how to do, avoid attacks?” Camaxtli asked mockingly as he kept launching spear attacks at the Toltec god, while Xipe Tótec avoided them.
At that moment, during Camaxtli’s final attack, Xipe Tótec not only avoided his blow, but also managed to drive his staff into his rival’s chest.
“When did you surpass my speed?” Camaxtli asked, confused, as he felt the pain of Xipe Tótec’s attack.
“Did you look at your feet?” the flayed god asked his rival.
Camaxtli then looked at the ground and saw that it was completely dry. The entire lake of blood that had been there had already disappeared.
“Yes, besides having an immortal body,” Xipe Tótec said, “I can increase my powers by absorbing liquids with my body, especially blood.”
The flayed god tore his staff from Camaxtli’s chest, then quickly cut the Chichimeca god’s body with another swift attack.
“All that blood was an invocation, and you could have made it disappear with the power of your spear, but you grew overconfident,” Xipe Tótec continued as he forced the Chichimeca god of the hunt to retreat.
Camaxtli leapt backward and shouted in rage. His eyes were blazing, and foam spilled from his mouth.
The Chichimeca god tried to make a magical cut against Xipe Tótec’s body, but it had no effect, since the power increase was not an invocation or a spell. It was an ability of his own body.
“It is useless. Now I am on a different level from you,” the flayed god said as he raised his staff to attack his rival.
Three Caxcan soldiers noticed the fight taking place and quickly ran to attack Xipe Tótec with their spears.
“Your increase is only temporary, until your body has processed all the water you absorbed,” Camaxtli said. “And once that happens, I will defeat you without hesitation.”
“To your misfortune,” Xipe Tótec replied, “I only need one attack to finish you.”
Camaxtli raised his spear to attack the Toltec god with all his strength, but Xipe Tótec shouted with all his might and cut through the air with his staff. An overwhelmingly powerful shockwave emanated from his weapon, causing Camaxtli to be split in half and, in addition, killing the three Caxcan soldiers who were approaching. The entire city of Tollan fell apart before the tremendous attack.
Camaxtli’s two halves fell to the ground, soaking it in blood. The god had not died, but he was agonizing in pain.
Xipe Tótec approached to kill Camaxtli, but then he remembered the words Tania had shouted at him and Tláloc:
“Sacrifices are a crime, you damned blood-addicted bastards!”
“All right,” Xipe Tótec said before Camaxtli’s agonizing body. “I will not kill you, but I have no intention of helping you either. If you survive, it will be by your own strength and will.”
“You will pay for this offense, Xipe Tótec,” Camaxtli said in a choked voice. “And next time, there will be no carelessness to save you.”
“And we will defeat you again,” Xipe Tótec said calmly, throwing him his obsidian knife.
“To live or die, I leave that decision to you,” the Toltec god said. “If you wish to die, I will not judge you, and you have my word that I will not use your body as one of my skins.”
The two gods were then surrounded by several Caxcan soldiers, who pointed their spears at Xipe Tótec. The god only smiled and prepared his staff to attack.
Meanwhile, Ixchel and Tajín continued avoiding Cihuacóatl’s attacks. However, it was very difficult, since she was teleporting by creating dimensional holes all over the place, making it easy for her to attack both gods from any angle.
Tlatlauhaqui’s body lay inert on the ground, since Ixchel had not had time to resurrect him because of the serpent goddess’s constant attacks. They had not been able to move him away from the battle area either.
At that moment, Cihuacóatl stopped and began to hiss. It seemed as if she were laughing.
“Will she give us a chance to heal Tlatlauhaqui?” Tajín asked, confused by the Chichimeca goddess’s reaction.
Then Cihuacóatl began speaking to the two gods through her mind.
“Three Caxcan warriors have fallen, and they shared my power. The more of them die, the faster I will recover all my strength,” she said.
At that moment, the two gods felt the serpent goddess’s power increase and turned pale, seized by terror.