An overwhelmingly powerful explosion destroyed a quarter of Tamoanchan. It was so destructive that a spatial hole could be seen from the surface, and asteroids floated above the gigantic crater left behind by the previous phenomenon.
In the middle of the imposing hole, Ana, her skin completely burned, fell almost unconscious toward the ground. Since a hole had opened in Tamoanchan’s atmosphere, the goddess began to float due to the absence of gravity in that area.
“Why… Tania?” Ana asked in a nearly extinguished voice, just as she lost consciousness.
Tania was on the other side of the fissure with both hands raised. The Punic goddess had attacked Ana with all her power, and now Ana lay unconscious, floating in the crater.
“You truly tried to kill your friend. You are interesting,” Itzpapálotl said as she approached the area of destruction with a look of satisfaction and madness.
Without turning to look at the goddess, Tania asked her, “How many realities did you see before you allowed me to attack my own friend?”
“In every reality, you attacked your friend,” the goddess answered, laughing. “Only the intensity varied, and I decided to make the most impactful explosions I saw come true.”
“Indeed. I was able to count about ten explosions,” Tania replied, still looking at her unconscious friend.
“Did you do all this to join my ranks?” the Chichimeca goddess asked with a smile.
Tania shook her head.
“No, Chichimeca queen,” Tania said calmly, and then she turned to look at Itzpapálotl with eyes full of tears and rage, but also with an aura of calm.
Then the goddess looked at the butterflies fluttering around her body, though they did not approach.
“I understood that you cannot use that sudden-death technique on me because of the fire covering I have, thanks to my manticore transformation. Or am I wrong?” Tania asked, looking at the Chichimeca goddess defiantly.
Itzpapálotl stopped smiling and assumed a serious expression. She refused to answer the question.
“I understand. Even though you use them as pawns, they are still simple insects injected with your divine power, and they are easy to kill with fire,” Tania continued.
“I see. Do you think you are immune to my attacks just because you emanate a little fire?” the Chichimeca goddess replied sarcastically.
“That leads me to another question. Was there not even a single probability, even much less than one percent, where I did not attack my friend?” Tania continued asking.
But Itzpapálotl did not answer.
“From what I have heard about universes and alternate realities, they are created according to the thousands of probabilities that can occur from a single action,” Tania continued explaining.
“Even I, standing here, can create thousands of probabilities in the speed of my speech, my blinks, my breathing, the movement of my hands, and so on,” she added.
Then Tania looked defiantly at the goddess.
“A million probabilities are more than ten realities, correct?” the Punic goddess asked challengingly.
Itzpapálotl still did not answer. Frustration could be felt in her gaze.
“In truth, you can only see realities that have a high percentage of occurring. I would say, greater than ten percent, probably?” Tania said. “That is why you were not able to see a reality where I did not attack my friend, because I was so certain I would do it that the probabilities were less than one percent.”
“And what if that is true?” the Chichimeca queen asked furiously. “Either way, I only need to attack you with all my power to kill you.”
At that moment, two black butterfly wings appeared from Itzpapálotl’s back. The wings were enormous and had red drawings resembling skulls.
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“There will always be realities where you do not avoid my attacks, brat,” Itzpapálotl said with a manic smile.
Then the goddess threw herself at Tania with her horrible obsidian claws.
But Tania quickly grabbed Itzpapálotl’s head in mid-flight and squeezed it violently.
“Did you not understand what I said, Chichimeca queen?” Tania asked in a dry voice. “I simply must not hesitate and must attack to kill.”
An enormous explosion emanated from the goddess’s hand, blowing apart the Chichimeca goddess’s grotesque skeletal mask. Itzpapálotl was thrown several meters in front of Tania, who walked slowly toward the wounded goddess.
“Impossible! You cannot be stronger than I am!” Itzpapálotl shouted in fear. “I have instituted dozens of human sacrifices every day with anthropophagy. Nothing can give a god more power than human suffering!”
“Oh yes, there is something more effective, Chichimeca queen,” Tania answered with a wicked smile.
Tania quickly ran to where the Chichimeca goddess was, and with a kick, she broke the ribs in her abdomen. Itzpapálotl was thrown to the other side of Tamoanchan, destroying several islands and trees with the impact as she passed.
“What happened to your ability to choose your realities?” Tania asked the Chichimeca goddess mentally as she slowly approached the place where Itzpapálotl lay collapsed on the ground.
Itzpapálotl’s face was very beautiful. Her red eyes stood out with a sinister charm over her white-painted face marked with black lines. Cute but dangerous fangs peeked from her mouth, while her lips were painted black.
At that moment, the Chichimeca goddess stood and raised her wings, as if trying to fly with them. However, the goddess remained motionless there, watching Tania approach.
“I admit you are stronger than I am, but there is something you lack in order to defeat me,” the Chichimeca goddess said, just as her eyes shone like those of a wild animal. The skulls drawn on her wings also shone, giving the impression that they were laughing.
Tania then felt her entire body become paralyzed and could not take another step forward. The goddess tried to break the spell with brute force, but she could not.
“Indeed, your mental power is very low,” Itzpapálotl said. “I only had to use my paralysis ability against you several times, until one probability was high enough to stop you.”
The Chichimeca goddess then approached Tania, who could not move, and using her claws, stabbed them repeatedly into the Punic goddess’s chest.
“Paralyzed, you give me the ability to strike you with one hundred percent certainty,” the Chichimeca goddess said triumphantly while continuing to carve apart Tania, who could not move. Since her body was paralyzed, she could not heal herself with her ichor either.
“Now, I will tear out your heart and eat it,” Itzpapálotl said, preparing her claw to rip that organ from the Punic goddess’s chest.
But right at that moment, her attack failed completely. Itzpapálotl’s claw ended up on the left side of Tania’s chest.
The Punic goddess felt her paralysis weaken, so she quickly headbutted the Chichimeca queen with great force. Itzpapálotl lost her orientation at that moment and fell sitting to the ground. Fresh blood flowed from her forehead and covered her eyes.
“How could I fail my attack?” the goddess said in surprise, not knowing what had happened.
But Tania no longer had time to keep exposing herself to the Chichimeca goddess’s abilities, so with her scorpion tail, she pierced her rival’s chest.
“My venom will eat away at you now,” Tania said. “You are finished, Chichimeca queen.”
Immense heat began circulating through the Chichimeca goddess’s body as she fell face-first to the ground and screamed in pain.
Tania then turned behind her and saw Mixcóatl standing there. Since the goddess did not know who he was, she quickly turned around and threatened the Xicallanca god with one of her flaming claws.
“Wait, Tania!” Epona’s voice was heard at that moment.
The Punic goddess realized that her friend was behind the god she did not know.
“Epona? How did you get here?” Tania asked, and at that moment, the goddess grew anxious.
“Did Tul come? Menrva needs her help urgently!” she shouted.
“Yes, she is already with her,” Epona replied. “And as for him, he is an ally,” the equine goddess said.
“Were you the one who made the Chichimeca queen miss her attack on my heart?” Tania asked.
The Xicallanca god nodded.
“When I discovered Itzpapálotl’s ability to choose whatever realities she wanted while fighting, I designed an ability to counteract it,” the god said, and then he showed smoke in the palm of his hand.
“I sent this smoke into her realities and made her see them differently. That is why she chose an incorrect reality,” the god continued.
“I was not expecting that, but now that I know, you will not be able to use it again,” Itzpapálotl said while standing from the ground with great difficulty. Her body had been dyed red by Tania’s venom.
“You still have not fallen unconscious?” Tania asked, confused.
“You did not apply enough venom to kill me, correct?” Itzpapálotl asked. “You fear that I will die in front of you, do you not?”
“It does not matter whether I used a lot or a little venom,” Tania replied. “There is no point in standing up. You are already defeated.”
“I will not die, and much less in front of the man who already murdered me once before,” the Chichimeca queen said, laughing as she fixed her gaze on Mixcóatl.
Then the Chichimeca goddess, using her ability to multiply her limbs through realities, violently tore parts of her own body away so the poisoned blood would leave her.
Tania made an annoyed gesture when she saw that her rival had chosen a very painful method to rid herself of her venom.
“Great Lord of Darkness, give me the power necessary to destroy my enemies,” the Chichimeca goddess began praying in Nahuatl, an act that put Tania and Epona on alert as they felt a dark presence begin to spread throughout the environment.
“It is just like that energy that was inside you, Epona!” Tania shouted as she watched the Chichimeca goddess’s bones begin to break and take the posture of a macabre puppet.