When Camazotz retreated, he said he was withdrawing to the Fourth Underworld. But the one who had stirred up chaos before, the Alien God, had only caused trouble in the Second Underworld.
That ant there was also a Third Underworld.
Given the current situation, Shiomi concluded that if they wanted to find ORT, the only option was to keep going deeper into Mictlan. Once they had fully explored the entire nine-layered underground world, they were bound to find so trace of the sleeping ORT.
But that created another problem.
In the middle of Mictlan as a whole, in the Fifth Layer, there was an obstacle they could not avoid.
xico City.
It was the city established in this Lostbelt a year ago by the Crypter Daybit and Black Tezcatlipoca, the city of the Oceloh, and also the source of the hunts and massacres carried out against the Deinos.
As the Second Underworld gradually returned to stability, the Oceloh beca active again. They could now cross the no-longer-chaotic Second Underworld without difficulty, reach Chichen Itza on the Third Layer, and attack the Deinos there.
So if Shiomi wanted to remove the obstacle in front of him, he had no choice but to ignore the "request" Tezcatlipoca had left behind before retreating.
[Recover all of the authority.]
Taigong Wang had said before that there were gods who did not agree with what Lady Nuwa had arranged.
Tezcatlipoca was surely one of them.
Originally, Shiomi had intended to recover all of the authority first and only then fight Tezcatlipoca again, but things could no longer go that way.
If they wanted to pursue the Alien God, they had to go deeper into Mictlan. If Storm Border moved openly, it would inevitably be noticed. But if Shiomi and the others moved on their own, they would be separated from the main group and their strength would be split apart.
On top of that, there was still the giant of light of unknown origin sowhere in this underground world.
Whether it was a defensive chanism of the Maya that automatically responded to foreign enemies, or so kind of divine being, was still entirely unknown.
And so, on the eighth day after entering the South Arican Lostbelt, Shiomi and Morgan, accompanied by Scáthach and Artoria, infiltrated xico City.
Using disguise Magecraft to interfere with the Oceloh's perception, they made those leopard-faced raiders unable to distinguish them from their own kind, so no one grew suspicious.
They had originally assud that a city inhabited by the warlike Oceloh would be a place where the whole population lived as soldiers.
But now that they saw it in person, it did not seem to be quite like that.
The streets were orderly. The canals running through the city were well maintained. And at the city's center stood a ritual tower.
This city, full of traces of a civilization just erging into being, imdiately called Uruk from the Seventh Singularity to mind, yet it was also completely different.
At the root of it was the fact that Uruk belonged to Surian civilization, while this city bore the unmistakable marks of Aztec civilization.
"You'd never guess this was a city built only a year ago," Morgan said, running her fingers along the stone wall of a riverside road. "It should be... a city of roughly the sa nature as Calot."
When she said that, she looked toward Artoria and added another line.
"Whether your Calot or mine."
"To put it simply, this is not a city that human hands could have built. It's a city completed through divine authority or large-scale Magecraft," Artoria said thoughtfully. "According to the information Koyanskaya let slip, the city alone houses close to a hundred thousand Oceloh warriors."
Besides that, there were won and children who were not warriors, living in villages built in the sea of trees outside Oceloh territory, supporting the prosperity of xico City.
"The city itself is filled entirely with warriors." Scáthach looked toward the tallest divine tower in xico City. "It seems this city has only one function. It exists solely for the worship of Tezcatlipoca. So any Oceloh allowed to live in the city or do business here must be warriors acknowledged by that god."
"And that's not all. Since this is a city created by Tezcatlipoca, xico City would never follow the [Teachings of the Sun] (Kukulkan) the way Chichen Itza does. Instead, it worships the Black Sun, Tezcatlipoca the Smoking Mirror." Morgan folded her arms. "With their extraordinary reproductive capacity, the Oceloh multiplied to this scale in just one year, and unlike the Deinos, they possess a disposition for conflict...
So in the end..."
"War," Artoria said. "Since Tezcatlipoca is the god of war, perhaps the only thing that truly matters to him is war itself."
At that, Scáthach showed a dangerous smile. "If the god of war wants war, then let's give him one. It just won't be on quite the scale he's hoping for."
"More importantly, what is Tenkei doing?" Artoria did not object to what Scáthach said.
They had all infiltrated xico City. What they were supposed to do here hardly needed to be said.
"My husband has probably taken a liking to the goods here and is trying to buy a few things from the rchants to give to us." Morgan kept her arms folded.
They were speaking in the riverside comrcial district.
The original plan had been to rest a little before heading to the temple in xico City, but sowhere along the way Shiomi had wandered off to browse the stalls, looking more like a tourist out shopping than soone infiltrating enemy territory.
Because of the language barrier, Shiomi had subtly used suggestion during his attempt to communicate, making the Oceloh believe he was the priest Daybit. Then he casually traded so supplies taken from Chichen Itza for ornants of far greater value.
In essence, he was running a scam.
And he was doing it right in the heart of enemy territory.
As he counted the Aztec-style headdresses adorned with different gemstones, Shiomi could only think over which designs would suit Morgan and the others, and which one he should keep for himself, since none of them matched.
The others had already noticed that he had finished buying things, and were waiting for him to co back, each of them carrying a faint hint of expectation.
But in the span of those few steps, a strange voice suddenly caught his attention.
"Ah...! That jade headdress I specifically ca here looking for, and now...!"
A woman in fitted combat wear, wearing a jaguar mask and with long hair as green as a gemstone, was staring at the things in Shiomi's hands, her voice full of shock and regret.
"Hm?"
Shiomi paused and looked at her.
Her appearance was very much like an Oceloh's, yet the presence she carried was clearly not that of an Oceloh.
Like them, she was an outsider who had entered xico City in disguise.
If anything, she looked more like one of the Oceloh who lived in the villages outside the city.
"Oh my, I'm terribly sorry. Did I startle you?" The green-haired woman walked over.
As she drew nearer, Shiomi almost reacted as though facing an enemy.
Only because he sensed no hostility from her did he hold himself back.
She was not an Oceloh, not human, and not a god either.
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