Chapter 1743 – All is not yet lost
‘That is an issue,’ John thought. ‘A big issue.’
Through his mental connection, he followed the initial clash of Liakan and Ehtra. Through the singular perspective, it was a confusing entanglement of arcane projectiles and limbs. Tiamat had latched onto her daughter as a secondary spinal column made of clenched, parasitic jaws. Liakan was still struggling against it, but the black had crept up her neck enough to take control of her limbs.
The daughter of Mother Chaos was all too similar to Tiamat not to be taken over swiftly.
Singed was faring better, trying to claw Jackal from his back. Success was found in the form of delays alone. The Lorylim were investing everything into getting these two. Their forces circled the area. Even if more of John’s familiars arrived in the area, he wasn’t sure what could be done about all of this. He had seen corruption removed from entities of high enough power, typically by pushing it into a dormant, slowly dying state.
It was harder with elementals. Still, there was one lifeline.
John: Where are you?
The answer came swiftly.
Nia: Observing.
John: You should intervene now.
Nia: No.
John bit back his immediate response, seeing that Nia was already typing again.
Nia: I am uncertain that revealing myself now won’t cause bigger issues.
“What are you doing?” Kharn asked, looking at John’s moving hands.
“Just an arcane gesture to lend some power to my elementals,” John lied.
“Since when do you need to do that?” Nahua asked in a skeptical tone.
“Need is a strong word, I just prefer to do it,” John continued his lie.
The demigoddess raised one of her finely swung eyebrows enough that the roots of her hair shifted. Frilly gills rose slightly. “If you say so,” she drawled, her doubt apparent.
“Stop it!” Rave’s admonishing tone gave John a swift excuse to step out between Kharn and Nahua. He felt the duo’s eyes on the back of his head and found them both smiling with a sickening sweetness when he turned around. He was used to it from both.
The reason for Rave’s exclamation was Velka’s continued attempt to fly off and across the blood pool, towards the massive wall of gold. “Sit!” John ordered.
Velka was a rebellious creature, but she remembered that tone, plopping her butt down reluctantly. She let out a low, rumbling tone between hum and growl. That she was unhappy about all of this was something John currently had to ignore.
They were in the centre of the temple, the room that anyone and everyone had to pass through in order to get through to the inner realm. The three god-warriors and Huitzilopochtli stood in the crimson liquid, unmoving like guardian totems. The fighters of the Illuminati, the three riders of the apocalypse, and the remainders of John’s haremettes were in the room. The Azure Tribe had volunteered to fight after John had sent Metra and the elementals to follow the First of Hatred.
Therefore, with John still were Aclysia, Rave, Momo, Stirwin, Hailey and Scarlett. By courtesy of their presence, Copernicus and AM were also present, the latter standing next to its primary engineer.
‘How sensical is it for us to stay here?’ John wondered. He had originally agreed to this post because he had assumed the Lorylim were there for him. The estimation had been proven wrong and the second most likely scenario had manifested instead. ‘I should have been more insistent that they don’t take to the field.’
John was considering just how deep he wanted the defences to remain. If the Lorylim attempted to advance, they needed to keep holding this position. Letting the first foe sweep into the city would be disastrous in every single way. If that was not a threat, then-
Lorelei: The giant was the titan Atlas. He was used to carry a terrible plague, which brought him to insanity. He fought and infected the other gods that Remus had left behind, so that the Five-Headed Vulture may control Huitzilopochtli.
‘And so, all falls into place,’ John thought.
Without warning, he raised his hand. The Blast Rays fused together mid-flight, five of them, all headed for Kharn’s head. The seneschal was in the middle of talking to Nahua. The demigoddess was not fast enough to react, barely fast enough to see.
The arcane projectile shattered, swept aside by Kharn’s hand.
“What are you doing?!” Nahua shouted immediately. “He is Father’s…”
What dawned on Nahua’s face first was impossible to say. Was it that the ‘man’ had instantly reacted to an attack far above what even the upper crust of the Abyss was capable of? Was it perhaps the wide, hungry grin on Kharn’s face? No, almost certainly it was the dripping of purple goo from the back of the man’s hand.
“Aaaaaaah, it’s all so tiresome,” the man groaned and began walking. The wound in his hand closed near instantly. His steps carried him not towards John, not towards the exit, but towards the pool of blood.
‘Should I intercept him, Master?’ Aclysia asked.
‘We already lost the element of surprise, give everyone a moment to prepare,’ he instructed her in response.
“What is-“ Nahua stopped herself, her eyes darting between John, Kharn, and everyone else.
‘This is the best chance we’ll get,’ the Gamer thought. ‘A terribly strategic advantage that the Azure Tribe is… otherwise occupied.’ “Zelos?”
“Ready when you are,” Glory assured.
“May I be informed about the circumstances at play?” Norahnon asked.
John slowly nodded. Getting the Illuminati on his side here was reason enough to take the moment to explain everything. “I have received word that the giant was never the origin of the disease, only ever the carrier of it.”
“That’s nonsense!” Nahua shouted. “My father has assured us that-“
“Oh no, the invader is quite correct.” Wading through the blood, the ‘seneschal’ made his way to the empty throne. Yawning, he climbed up the singular step, turned around, and then fell into the broad seat. “Huitzi, I’m missing my footrest,” he spoke casually.
The diamond-eyed god moved with all of the awkwardness of a man that wanted to be anywhere but there. Despite that, he fell on all fours in front of the throne. The red back of the divine being became the footrest of the tanned man on the throne.
Nahua stared with blank horror and disbelief. The expression was mirrored by two of the god-warriors, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Xipe-Totec began to cackle. “What is the meaning of this?!” the demigoddess found her voice again.
“The old pantheon was sacrificed,” John continued his explanation. “Brought to the edge of death and then dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. The titan and all the gods, given to the god of sacrifice. An amount of offerings that could never be repaid. After that, the god that put together the plot ravaged the land. He brought the Abyssals of the area to near extinction. Only the fact that he could eat nothing new if he killed everyone held him back from devouring everything and so he devised a new system: he would split the continent into spheres of influence, where he would reside for a time, eat his fill, then move somewhere else. In order to ensure this was done smoothly, he used Huitzilopochtli as his instrument. He created ants and diseases to serve as ever-present threats, forever assuring the necessity of his own ‘benevolence’. What he did not eat or need, he kept giving to Huitzilopochtli, ever increasing the debt that was owed. Isn’t that right, Macuilcozcacuauhlti, the Five-Headed Vulture, the god of gluttony?”
Loud and delighted, the man on the throne clapped. His body shifted slightly as he did. Black marks appeared on his glistening skin, winding primarily over his shoulders, upper chest, and legs. His ears became pointy. One blink and his eyes had changed from green to a dark, glowing red, akin to the pool of blood all around him.
“Bravo!” he shouted. “Bravo! Once more I have been found out.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” Xipe-Totec stated.
“Be careful or I might just use you as a jar seal again.” The god of gluttony’s response was jovial and utterly out of place. Before him was enough combined power to level a city thrice over and scatter the remains to the winds. Yet, there he was, laughing. John attempted to use Observe. The window came back black. “Huitzilopochtli has to ward my secrets, as intentionally bad a job as he does of it. Don’t you?!”
The god raised one foot then brought the heel down on the back of Huitzilopochtli’s head. “Father!” Nahua shouted.
“Oh, do you still not get it, silly woman?” Macuilcozcacuauhlti shouted. “You devour diseases, you delight in food and drink, you gorge yourself on every pleasure you can find and do you honestly look like this portal provider? Tell her the truth!”
“I am sorry…” Huitzilipochtli muttered, blood and tears dripping from his chin. The back of his skull had been cracked. That his heart had not been broken totally yet, John found admirable. “You’re not mine, Nahua….”
“LOUDER! CLEARER!”
“He’s your father!” the god of sacrifice declared.
The god of gluttony and Xipe-Totec broke out into a renewed fit of laughter. Where she stood, Nahua sank to the ground. Her body just barely remembered how to control a fall. Terrible as the truth was to her, John could not console her yet. He needed to deal with the threat first. He exchanged a glance with Norahnon.
The scientist’s face was darkened by rage. Norahnon was a father himself, John knew that much about him, and no good father could see this scene without anger. “Why torture the poor girl so?” the Frenchman growled.
“Have you never wondered what pickled daughter tastes like?” The answer was even more vile than John had imagined. “Stuffing her to the brim with my diseases, then letting her ferment in it for however long – she would have been a delicacy. Then you had to make her metal! Urgh!” Macuilcozcacuauhlti tilted to the side, until his head rested on his knuckles. “You can repay me. Let’s say 500 of those birds every month and we can call it even.”
“I don’t think they’ll negotiate,” the Flayer Lord mused.
“I thought I’d give them the chance. They can’t possibly be stupid enough to fight me in my Sanctum.” Grinning, the god of gluttony let his challenging gaze wander over the crowd. “Defend me.”
The two words came out just as a torrent of attacks was unleashed by everyone in the room. The god-warriors moved immediately, as did Huitzilopochtli. The four entities drew from the blood pool, increasing their might. Be it thunder, sword waves, arcane projectiles, or even just arrows loosened from the bows of skeletons, the cascade of attacks continued to break on the god-warriors.
“AHAHAHAHAAHA! YES! THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER!” Macuilcozcacuauhlti shouted and bowed down. His hand disappeared in the waves of crimson and pulled back up with a human arm. His sharp teeth sunk into the muscle fibres of the torn shoulder. “True passion! True fights! True power! True-“
The god was suddenly gone from his seat. John snapped to where he appeared next. Grabbing the back of Famine’s neck, the god of gluttony yanked the Horseman up from the pool. A mere taste of the blood gathered pearled from the vampire’s chin.
“Do not touch my food with your filthy lips,” the god of gluttony hissed and threw the Horseman. “You’re lucky your master makes you deathless!”
The attacks ceased for a moment. Everyone was repositioning themselves to deliver the next wave of them. “Why surface?” Zelos wanted to know. “Why hide in the first place? Are you that much of a coward?”
“I had everything I wanted, so why waste my time defending the people from the Spaniards?” the god of gluttony answered with a yawn. “For the other question… boredom. I had everything I wanted, but now I have tasted everything. Every variety of maize bread, of alcohol, of fruit, torture, you name it, I have done all I can with these people.” He gestured dismissively towards the exit. “I did not expect you all to be on my tail so swiftly, but I suppose I have my unruly storage unit to thank for that.”
Huitzilopochtli was quivering with a rage that he could not live out. “Must I defend you still?” the god of sacrifice asked.
“No, I think this is the part where I stop playing around. Can’t have someone else drooling into my favourite food.” Macuilcozcacuauhlti clapped his hands and John found himself in another spot in the room. Looking left to right, he realized that all but the Aztecs in the room had been lined up. “You know, I am not the smartest man, I will readily admit to that.”
Looking forwards again, John saw the god seated back in his chair. After taking another bite of the human flesh, Macuilcozcacuauhlti continued.
“I kept the ploy simple. One face, one threat, one religion, all of that. Nothing a silly-billy like me could screw up.” Bone and cartilage crunched between teeth. “Buht, there’sh shtill always that one guy…” he swallowed, “…that figures it out, but smart as you all are, you always get something wrong. You think I still rely on this portal.” He gestured at the god of sacrifice. “He’s convenient to me. You just say ‘Huitzilopochtli, I sacrifice this to you!’.” Macuilcozcacuauhlti threw the arm through the portal that opened. “And then I tell him to give me what I want.” He reached into the blood pool and pulled the same arm out again. “That’s the extent to which I need him and… oh, would you look at that!” The god of sacrifice pulled out a live cat next – as alive as something half turned into sludge by the Purple could be.
‘A bluff,’ John thought. ‘He’s sacrificed all of those gods to him, so… oh fuck.’
The god of gluttony tore the head off the still live cat, then laughingly drank the blood from the neck stump. “Ah, he realized, did you see that, Xipe? Did you see his expression?! Priceless!”
“Sure did,” the Flayer Lord laughed. “I love it when their house of cards blows over.”
“Shit,” Norahnon cursed, reaching the same conclusion John did.
The sacrifice to make Huitzilopochtli compliant had occurred over a thousand years ago. If the god of sacrifice could spit back out what had been offered to him and if Macuilcozcacuauhlti kept feeding him new sacrifices, then that meant…
“Feel free to look for yourselves,” the god of gluttony encouraged. “Do not impair them, slave, let them feast their eyes on the gorged god!”
John activated Observe again.
“I made a severe miscalculation,” John whispered.
“Indeed, you did,” the god of gluttony gloated.