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After the tied game, Hunahpu and Xbalanque spend the night in the House of Cold where they are intended to freeze to death. However, the brothers enchant the house so that the cold disappears and survive the night. Again, the lords of Xibalba are astounded by the brothers’ cleverness.

The next place that Hunahpu and Xbalanque stay is the House of Jaguars. There, jaguars await to eat them. The brothers offer the jaguars bones instead, which they accept. When the watchmen hear crunching bones, they think that the brothers are being devoured. However, they soon find out that the brothers have survived once again. 

Next, Hunahpu and Xbalanque visit the House of Fire, where they are to be burned to death. They enchant the flames and pass through the fire unscathed. 

Finally, Hunahpu and Xbalanque arrive at the House of Bats, where deadly bats made of blades threaten to cut them. For safety, the brothers hide inside their blowguns, with plans to wait until dawn, when it will be safe to come out. At night, the House of Bats grows quiet, and the brothers are unsure of the time of day. Hunahpu sticks his head out of his blowgun to check to see if it is dawn. When he sticks his head out, one of the bats slices his head off. After not hearing from his brother for a while, Xbalanque realizes that Hunahpu has been decapitated. One Death and Seven Death take Hunahpu’s head and hang it above the ballcourt.

Xbalanque thinks of a solution. He calls upon all the animals to bring to him the food that belongs to each of them. They each bring a variety of fruit, but it is the coati’s chilacayote squash that Xbalanque uses to enchant the head of Hunahpu. Hearing of the brothers’ struggles, Heart of Sky appears in the House of Bats to help create a likeness of Hunahpu’s head. The replacement head will rest on Hunahpu’s body until they are able to retrieve the real one. As the dawn grows near, Hunahpu’s head is only partially complete. Heart of Sky blackens the sky with soot so that it is dark for a little bit longer. With more time, Hunahpu’s head is finally ready and reattached to Hunahpu’s body.

Now that Hunahpu is restored, the brothers plot to best the lords of Xibalba in their game. Xbalanque tells a rabbit to hide in the tomato patch by the ballcourt. He gives the rabbit instructions to distract the Xibalbans at the ballcourt so that he can put Hunahpu’s true head onto his brother’s body.

When Hunahpu and Xbalanque join the Xibalbans for another game the next day, Xbalanque bounces the ball into the tomato patch where the rabbit is waiting. The rabbit hops along the ballcourt, distracting the Xibalbans, who attempt to chase away the animal that is interrupting the game. While the Xibalbans are distracted, Xbalanque swaps Hunahpu’s real head hanging above the ballcourt with the fake chilacayote squash head that Heart of Sky fashioned the night before. Xbalanque places Hunahpu’s real head back on his brother’s body. When the lords of Xibalba return, Xbalanque retrieves the ball, which has been hiding in the tomato patch before the Xibalbans are distracted by the rabbit. They continue the game and tie again until Xbalanque smashes the chilacayote squash posing as Hunahpu’s head above the ballcourt. This demonstrates to the lords of Xibalba that they have been outsmarted once again.

Despite having passed many trials in Xibalba, Hunahpu and Xbalanque know that they will not be able to leave the underworld alive. The lords of Xibalba are determined to ensure their deaths. As the brothers know their deaths are inevitable, they appeal to the seers, the Ascended and Descended, with a plan for their deaths. The brothers predict that they will die by having their bodies crushed against a hot stone. They anticipate that the lords of Xibalba will then ask the Ascended and Descended about what they should do with their bodies. Hunahpu and Xbalanque instruct the seers to advise the Xibalbans to scatter their ashes along a river when they die. The seers agree.

The next day, the lords of Xibalba plot Hunahpu and Xbalanque’s death as expected. They propose playing a game where they will jump over a vat of sweet drink. The sweet drink is in fact a pit oven. The Xibalbans plan for the brothers to fall into the pit during the game and die. The brothers exclaim that they know the intentions behind the game and jump into the pit of their own free will. When the brothers take their own lives, the Xibalbans rejoice. Just as the seers promised, the Ascended and Descended advise the lords of Xibalba to scatter the brothers’ ashes along the river. The Xibalbans do as they are advised.