Chapter 55: Clash of the Titans

On the highest platform of the ruined arena of the tower's top floor, the Six Sages known as Saria, Ruto, Nabooru, Impa, Darunia and Rauru stood in a circle around Link and Zelda, preparing themselves of what could be a risky yet endearing move to finally put an end to the threat that Ganjora poses to the lands of Hyrule, Termina and beyond. Link held his Fierce Deity Mask close, sighing as he tried to stay calm despite the situation. Zelda put a hand on his shoulder.
"Relax, Link. Once this is over and Ganjora's defeated, we can hopefully move back to our normal lives…" She said, smiling.
"Thank you, Zelda. I only hope we can eventually come out of this alive." Link said, nodding as he was ready.
"We all hope that, but we mustn't let that hinder us during our fight, which I know will be very difficult." Rauru said, nodding as he understood Link's concern, as did the other Sages.
"May the Goddesses be with us." Ruto said, holding her hands to her chest for a moment, before looking up to her left as she felt a hand on her left shoulder, only to see Impa smiling at her with a reassuring nod.
"Alright, let's do this. For Hyrule, Termina and the rest of the world." Zelda said, to which the Sages nodded.
When Link got in position, the Sages each prepared themselves in a similar fashion as they did before they opened the gate in the Sacred Realm to seal the defeated Ganondorf inside, turning themselves into wisps that remained in position for a moment, waiting for the Princess of Destiny to do her part. Seeing this, Zelda turned to Link, who smiled as he looked at her.
"Well, I guess I'll see you all later then." Link said with a smile.
Zelda giggled, planting a soft kiss on Link's forehead, causing the young hero to blush for a moment.
"That you will. Just take comfort in the fact that we will be fighting together as one for real this time around." She said, before nodding to him and turning herself into a similar wisp, waiting for Link to do his part.
"Well, here goes nothing. I hope you're prepared, Ganjora, since we'll be coming for you!" Link said, after which he put the Purified Fierce Deity's Mask on, which instantly clamped around his face, igniting the beginning of the transformation as he felt a rush flowing throughout his insides, bracing himself.
The instant Link hunched over as the transformation took place, all seven wisps then moved around a little before promptly entering Link's body as he was staying like that by flying directly at him, touching him all at the same time, causing Link to grunt for a moment as the energy flowed into him, coupled with the ongoing transformation…

Having regained herself after the shockwave of Ganjora's new transformation sent her reeling over for a bit before frantically trying to re-stabilize her ship before she would fall off, Reimu first checked on her comrades to see if they were alright, in particularly her sister Leia, whom was still unconscious yet stable. They were still around, although Leia's ship was destroyed due to Ganjora's attack, but one of her comrades managed to intercept and catch Leia before she could fall to her doom from the tower.
"Will she be alright?" Reimu asked.
"Give or take a few minutes, she will be back on her feet before you know it." The Gerudo Pirate said, nodding as her comrade was nursing Leia, having bandaged her wounds.
Before Reimu could reply, there was a white flash, followed by another explosion. This explosion shook the area, while a few platforms around the direct vicinity either partially or completely crumbled into pieces, the debris falling all the way down the tower, onto the ground or within the lava far below. For a split second, there appeared to be a distorted scream that came from the upper area, which was abruptly cut off by the explosion.
"What was that?!" Reimu asked as she regained balance and brought her airship back under control.
"LOOK! UP THERE!" Another Gerudo shouted as she saw the source of the explosion by looking up.
As Reimu and the rest of the Gerudo looked upward, they could see that a rainbow-colored shockwave ring exploded outward, vanishing after a few seconds, while a white aura was present on top of it. This aura was shrinking down slowly, but it was still big enough for the group to see, while the dark clouds directly above the source split open for a brief moment, showing a clear blue sky above before the clouds closed up again, although their color was at first a bit lighter, as if the shockwave from the explosion briefly dispelled the darkness that was in that area altogether.
"Oh dear… what has happened?!" Another pirate asked.
"It's likely that our leader and her friends are planning something." The first pirate said.
Seeing this, Reimu sighed, making up her mind before turning to the Pirate tending to her sister, first gazing sadly down upon her unconscious form. Then, she looked at the pirate herself, determination within her eyes
"I want you to take good care of my sister. In my absence, she is in command of the fleet once she regains consciousness." She said.
"What are you going to do?" The Pirate asked, confused and curious.
"I'm going to help our friends to reach their destination. You can stick around here if you like, but as far as I know, there's nothing else for us to do here." Reimu replied.
"I understand." The pirate said, nodding.
"One more thing: when she recovers, tell her… that I'm sorry." Reimu said, before she flew off on her machine.
"Sorry for what?! Reimu?!" The pirate asked, but Reimu didn't respond as she was now beyond hearing range…
The Gerudo didn't understand why Reimu was acting like this, but felt that she should heed to her orders.
'Ma'am, I hope you know what you're doing…' She thought to herself as she watched her leader approach the higher platforms…

As Reimu appeared at the top platform where she found the epicenter of the new explosion and light she saw, she gasped at what she saw. In the center of the platform, was a man, obviously in kneeled position, before getting up. What Reimu saw, was that the man had white hair, facial markings in the appearance of a V-shape mark on his forehead in a glowing blue, while red glowing stripes were present around his eyes and on his cheeks. He wore a light blue tunic underneath a metal cuirass, which bore a lunar crest and triangle on the breast plate while on the belly area was the crest of the Hyrulean Royal Family. On the areas between the lunar crest, triangle mark and the insigna of the Hyrule Royal Family were symbols that were only found on the Sages' Medallions, representing Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow and Spirit. On his hands were metallic gauntlets with gold plating on the top, his legs were covered by black leggings and his boots remained brown in color, although they were now reaching to just below the kneecap. His eyes were completely white, lacking the presence of irises and pupils which left only the sclera, but what bothered Reimu the most so far was his height, as if the man stood two heads taller than a normal adult Hylian. In his hand he held a large, double helix-edged sword, which was now pure gold in color instead of the turquoise and green, which by itself could inflict even more damage than the original by the mere size alone, coupled with the power that was flowing through it! The man relaxed, before spotting Reimu, remaining silent. Deciding not to press on it, Reimu sighed.
"I want to help you to take you to the portal to the one you seek." Reimu bluntly said.
The man nodded, moving to her airship to get on board, making sure his massive sword didn't damage the ship or Reimu herself for that matter.
"So, how should I call you, sir?" She then asked.
"Just call me… Fierce Deity." He said in a gruff voice, obviously similar to Adult Link's voice, but with a deeper, more firmer undertone to it, almost like it had a bit of Darunia's voice mixed in it.
It was also there that Reimu could notice the appearance of the Fierce Deity itself, looking quite buff while retaining a slim appearance as a whole, making him appear more agile and athletic as if the muscles have been fitted to match his length and size properly. Nodding, Reimu then powered her airship up, steering it towards the portal and flying towards it. The other Gerudo present watched them go, each of them praying in good fortune towards them…

Entering the portal, both Reimu and the Fierce Deity looked around the area, blinking as they observed their surroundings. The air itself looked like it was an infinite stretch of blue sky with a sun shining in the air and clouds in the far distance around, making it almost reminiscent of the paradise-like appearance of the moon due to Majora's magic or curse placed on it. But instead of a grass field around and a single large tree in the epicenter where the children wearing the masks of the slain bosses were playing around and the child wearing Majora's Mask was sitting at the base of the tree, there was now plain, flat ground with what appeared to be water standing on sole-height, as if walking on top of an infinite mirror. Both the Fierce Deity and Reimu looked around, traveling along using Reimu's vessel for quick transportation, but where the Fierce Deity looked focused and determined, Reimu was more apprehensive and nervous, something which the Fierce Deity himself could sense with the way she was looking around, as if she was expecting something to attack them while they were en route. Thankfully there were no such attacks in the first place, but Reimu remained alert, just in case. When the two saw a lone figure standing in the far distance, the Fierce Deity knew it was the one he was looking for.
"Stop here." The Fierce Deity said.
Reimu did as she was told to and stopped the vessel, letting it lower enough for the Fierce Deity to disembark from it.
"It is likely that Ganjora will use some kind of barrier that will prevent you from interfering. I suggest you stay here or otherwise back up a bit to get some proper distance in; this fight will get brutal." The Fierce Deity said.
"I understand. Just be careful out there and good luck. You're going to need it." Reimu said.
"Thank you."
"I'll be waiting at some distance from here, close to our entry point. Just make sure you win."
"I don't plan on losing, Reimu, but thanks for your support." The Fierce Deity said, smiling at her despite his rather fearsome, intimidating appearance.
"Anytime." Reimu said with a nod, smiling at the Fierce Deity, before retreating with her vessel to where she said she would be waiting.
The Fierce Deity watched her leave, before turning again to the lone being in the distance ahead. Taking a look at his right hand, he saw that both the Triforce of Courage and the Triforce of Wisdom were glowing strongly, this confirmed to him that the battle was drawing near, coupled with the presence of the third piece, the Triforce of Power. With his Golden Double Helix Sword lifted over his left shoulder, the Fierce Deity marched onward, towards his target.

After a few minutes of walking in a straight line forward, the Fierce Deity was finally addressed.
"You have exceeded my expectations…" Ganjora's voice said, as the being suddenly appeared at a closer distance in front of the Fierce Deity.
"… You took up my challenge after all, but I didn't expect you to appear in your stronger form." Ganjora said, before his eye fell on the Medallion insignias and the crest of Hyrule's Royal Family, surprising him.
The Fierce Deity's expression remained serious, his sword still laid on the shoulder.
"Well, this is… an unexpected change. Combining the powers in a new effort to defeat me? You are most certainly creative, I'll give you that much." Ganjora said, blinking.
"You did the same before, albeit in a different way. I just took the liberty of evening the odds." The Fierce Deity said.
"You got me there, cretin. At least one thing you've bested me in already."
"But now that I'm here, let's cut the talk and let's settle this." The Fierce Deity said, drawing his massive blade.
"Very well then, let's see how well you'll hold up now." Ganjora said, preparing its invisible barrier around the two, before drawing his own weapon.

For a moment, both the Fierce Deity and Ganjora stared each other down, before charging at each other, their blades clashing against each other as they tried to best each other in this battle. While Ganjora had the advantage of a smaller sword that enabled him to move more rapidly, the Fierce Deity's blade was stronger and was capable of inflicting far more damage, even shooting out Sword Beams whenever he wanted to. For about several minutes, the two were trading blows with their swords, most of the time blocking or parrying each other's strikes, but also managing to get a few stabs and cuts here and there in, with the Fierce Deity sneaking in several Back Slashes, Jump Strikes and the Great Spin, the latter of which now was a circle of pure golden energy. Ganjora on the other hand preferred the use of his own rapid strikes, coupled with dashes to charge in at the Fierce Deity, whom did his best to block or parry the incoming strikes despite him having no shield for proper defense, although he was hit on a few occasions or otherwise avoided it altogether. The Fierce Deity managed to get several strikes in the sides as well, proving that Ganjora wasn't as invincible as it thought that it was. This all began to power the Fierce Deity's vigor to beat Ganjora into submission and finally bring peace and prosperity back to Hyrule and Termina and beyond. Things were made even more painful for Ganjora when the Fierce Deity managed to strike those points where Ganondorf himself had those scars, even though his fusion with Majora pretty much covered those wounds/scars with new flesh as if to camouflage it. Still, both Ganjora and the Fierce Deity fought like never before, intending to finish the other off right there, but so far the battle was a stalemate, with neither side gaining an actual advantage so far…

After a while, Ganjora was frustrated enough to bring out a second blade, dashing towards the Fierce Deity and performed a cross-slash on his chest area, making the Fierce Deity grunt. In response, the Fierce Deity let his own blade shimmer with sparks, indicating he was charging magic power into his sword, getting ready to retaliate as he fired one Sword Beam, which Ganjora easily avoided, only to be struck by a second one which blasted him a few meters away, the golden light zapping him all over and around as if he was hit by a Light Arrow directly. This stunned Ganjora enough for the Fierce Deity to dash in himself and delivering a vicious strike across the chest, leaving a cut straight through the left 'eye' of Majora's Mask on Ganjora's chest, causing Ganjora to grunt in visible pain, before the latter recovered and used one of its tendrils to smack the Fierce Deity across the face, before moving in to strike him in the side with his swords. The Fierce Deity recovered on his turn after the first strike and blocked the second strike, before moving in to deal a powerful upwards kick to Ganjora's chin, followed by a spin kick and a sword slice across the abdomen, causing Ganjora to drop his swords. This in turn surprised Ganjora, not expecting the Fierce Deity to throw in a bit of the Zora fighting style in the current battle, before seeing the Fierce Deity approaching with his sword poised to deal damage. Ganjora decided to play the Fierce Deity's game and promptly unleashed another Fire Beam from its torso, which the Fierce Deity avoided by hopping or rolling to the side whenever it followed his direction, while still coming closer to his nemesis. Before the Fierce Deity could strike him, Ganjora leapt above him, before delivering a powerful strike to the ground; akin to the one Ganondorf used in the Future That Almost Was to make it harder for Link to cross the gap from the corner of the room to the center area where Ganondorf attacked him from. This punch created a shockwave that caused the Fierce Deity to stumble forward to the ground, before he rolled to the side to avoid another punch that could have damaged his back. Getting back on his feet, the Fierce Deity had little time to react before he was grabbed by one of Ganjora's tendrils and tossed to the far side of the barrier encompassed area, after which Ganjora pelted the warrior with numerous electric sphere-like attacks; akin to Majora's Incarnation's primary attack. Even though some of them hit their mark, the blasts were either blocked or avoided by the Fierce Deity, whom let his sword shimmer again, retaliating with several powerful Sword Beams that flew directly at Ganjora, striking it multiple times which made Ganjora howl in agony as it was stunned. This allowed the Fierce Deity to charge directly at Ganjora, performing a powerful Jump Strike against the enemy that made it howl in pain, indicating it had received quite the damage. In return, Ganjora retaliated by delivering a powerful kick of his own to the Fierce Deity to knock him away for a bit, after which it began to charge up a powerful magic sphere cluster, firing it at the Fierce Deity. Clocking the blasts, the Fierce Deity readied his sword and used the Great Spin to send the spheres back at Ganjora, which hit him and stunned him again, long enough for the Fierce Deity to come back in close combat and deal another vicious strike across Ganjora's chest. Grunting, Ganjora used its tendrils to grab and toss the Fierce Deity away again, allowing Ganjora to pick up his swords and charge at his opponent with his swords crossed, intending to use a scissor-like double-slash to cut the Fierce Deity's head off, showing that Ganjora was getting angry. The Fierce Deity however saw him coming and prepared another Sword Beam, firing it at the charging menace to zap it with its energy and stop its advance with success, before charging at it himself and pounded against Ganjora's abdomen with the hilt of his sword, sending Ganjora flying. Now getting really pissed, Ganjora promptly tossed his swords away, one to each side, before charging at the Fierce Deity with its fists and tendrils ready, intending to beat the living daylights out of him, first striking him full in the face which in turn caused him to drop his Golden Double Helix Sword in turn, although regaining his balance, before summoning vines of his own to smack Ganjora across the face much like how Ganjora used its tendrils to strike the Fierce Deity with. The Fierce Deity then extended his own shadow to catch Ganjora, teleport himself to closer range and dealing a swift combo of Zora Kicks and Goron Punches to send Ganjora flying, with the last punch being used to extract a bit of Ganjora's life force and power in the process. The Fierce Deity then focused his power to launch a beam of magical energy to zap Ganjora with, its execution being similar to how Zelda used her powers to keep Ganon at bay so Link could deal the death blow back in That Future, before summoning a Light Sphere to strike the nemesis right in the chest, knocking it to the ground. Using that bit of reprieve, the Fierce Deity then summoned a few vines to quickly boost up the healing of his own injuries, smaller wounds vanishing rapidly while the more serious cuts either slowed down or stopped bleeding altogether, regaining some of his own stamina back in the process.

Dispelling the vines after seeing Ganjora rise again, the Fierce Deity decided to take matters in his own hands by charging directly at his opponent, delivering an onslaught of punches and kicks that seemed like a flawless combination of the Goron and Zora fighting styles altogether, battering Ganjora around for a moment. He didn't give Ganjora a chance to fight back properly as he rolled around it when it tried to strike back, occasionally using a Shadow Trap to aid him in scoring a few more hits in ways that would make a Gerudo proud to achieve. Coupled with using a double-axe handle punch in the style of a Jump Attack or Jump Strike, a Spinning kick as his Spin Attack and even a double heel kick as a second jump attack made the Fierce Deity quite versatile, although Ganjora eventually managed to strike the Fierce Deity several times in the back, chest, belly and the face whenever he missed a few specific moves or got caught in the momentum of other moves that left him open to counter attacks. But whenever Ganjora was kicked away at a distance, the Fierce Deity rapidly summoned a few vines to give him a bit of their life force to heal him to a degree in order to keep fighting and deter where this new Ganjora had its primary weaknesses to exploit, for what the Fierce Deity himself believed was that if Ganjora would remain unchecked or even come out victorious, the powers he would take from him would make Ganjora strong and perhaps even confident enough to challenge the three Goddesses themselves, perhaps bringing about the apocalypse to Hyrule which had once been prevented in Termina. The very idea of Hyrule, Termina, the rest of the world and its entire population suffering under rule of eternal darkness or otherwise be destroyed using an apocalyptic event by Ganjora's hands, while the Hero of Time and the Seven Sages' corpses would be withering away in an endless void between dimensions, never to be seen ever again was enough to strengthen the Fierce Deity vigor to let that not come to pass, whatever the cost may be. As such, his own fighting style was starting to become more aggressive in nature, despite his attempts to remain focused and be on the watch for potential counters or intercepting attacks. The Fierce Deity did have one advantage, which was that Ganjora was ironically enough mimicking this aggressive behavior of offense, mostly due to it wanting the exact things to happen which the Fierce Deity wanted to prevent. If this form of stalemate would remain as it is, the two would likely be fighting here for a long time, perhaps the combat outliving Reimu who was still waiting for the outcome of the fight in anticipation and also in nervosity, hoping that the Fierce Deity would be able to land the death blow, otherwise she'd be joining him in the void as their eternal grave. Coupled with what has been done to Reimu would make the revenge all too sweeter whenever Ganjora would be finally beaten into submission. She didn't understand fully how it could have come to this. Had she become too careless when defending her home and her sister which eventually led to her capture due to being caught by surprise? It would seem logical due to the complex nature of the Fortress, but she didn't understand why the Gerudo did fall into a civil war. Her mind went blank as soon as the brain-washing spell was activated on her after she was captured and after her subsequent liberation courtesy of her sister Leia, she sought out a path of redemption for the pain she had caused. She hoped that she was still able to contribute in some way, even though this wasn't her fight. A tear slipped past her eye as she watched the two beings duke it out in the far distance.

It was clear that, even without his powerful sword, the Fierce Deity was more than a formidable opponent for Ganjora to beat, since he was not only making use of just his fists and feet to fight with, he also employed the very magical abilities that the Sages, even combining some of them with each other for extra power or speed, depending on how he was using the abilities. However, Ganjora was able to put on the pressure on the Fierce Deity as well, pummeling him with several fierce crosses and jabs, before elbowing him in the stomach, kneeing him in the face, followed by another fierce punch in the stomach, which was a particular painful one since the punch was similar to the one Ganondorf used to torture Link and Zelda both with. Despite this, the Fierce Deity recovered and clocked Ganjora in the face, followed by a spin-kick in the stomach and a fierce cross in the face, right before punching Ganjora between the eyes. In retaliation Ganjora used its tendrils to grab the Fierce Deity and toss him around, smashing him on the ground a few times before tossing him in the air and blasting him with a powerful magic sphere, sending him down to the ground, although the Fierce Deity recovered during his fall and landed on his feet, before charging at Ganjora once more, striking him head-on in the face with a fierce right hook, followed by a vertical spin kick which planted his feet in its face heels-first, which was used as a momentum to jump more forward to he landed behind Ganjora, before spinning around and kicking the fiend into its back, sending it flying forward and skidding over the ground, but Ganjora rapidly got back up, using the momentum to launch himself back at the Fierce Deity with a ferocious headbutt. The Fierce Deity grunted visibly at this, but recovered and retaliated with an elbow strike and another spin kick, followed by a vicious Goron Fire Punch Combo, with the last punch striking Ganjora hard in the stomach to send him flying backwards for several meters.

Ganjora got back up, now being pissed enough to charge directly at the Fierce Deity, its arms and tendrils raised to again attempt to beat him to death. The Fierce Deity was ready however and manipulated his own shadow to even the odds, moving to retaliate against Ganjora as they engaged in an onslaught of rapid-fire fisticuffs, with neither side gaining the upper hand for a few seconds as their own attacks were continuously blocked or parried by the other, although Ganjora eventually got the upper hand by dispelling the Shadow Manipulation that the Fierce Deity was pulling, unaware that the Fierce Deity was within reach of his Golden Double Helix Sword. The Fierce Deity didn't let himself be beaten any time soon and, mustering all of his strength, he dashed forward, delivering a rather vicious uppercut to Ganjora's chin, sending him flying for a moment. In this momentum, the Fierce Deity grabbed his Golden Double Helix Sword and charged at Ganjora with unseen vigor, the Triforce on his hand glowing brightly, stunning Ganjora in the process. This was more than enough for the Fierce Deity to act as he then proceeded to repeatedly strike the menace several times in rapid succession, delivering serious injuries to it, before using a final Sword Beam in the stomach to blast Ganjora away.
"A being that seeks pleasure in harming the innocent and those who seek to protect the lands deserves to meet its end!" The Fierce Deity proclaimed before launching the beam to send Ganjora flying, sending him tumbling backwards and skidding over the ground, the ironic echo being as it was similar to how Link skidded over the ground after being launched from the Ruined Hyrule Castle, but now there were no cliffs or the like to halt its skidding, only gradually slowing down.

Grunting, Ganjora moved in a sitting position, visibly weakened, but not entirely finished yet. Looking ahead, it saw the Fierce Deity, his sword ready to deal the death blow, but being wary as he watched it getting up, not taking any risks for potential sneak attacks which it could pull. Overlooking its own body, Ganjora saw the damage done to it, with numerous slashes spread across the chest, belly, arms, legs and face, before forming its hands into fists, now being royally pissed at feeling it was being denied its wish of conquering the world... He then looked at the Fierce Deity, who was still poised to strike at him.
"You…" Ganjora growled, which immediately caught the Fierce Deity's attention, the latter going immediately in a defensive stance as Ganjora first bent down, obviously in pain as it tried to get itself together…
It was then that Ganjora howled in the air in rage as it began to float up, gusts of wind emanating from it as he apparently was preparing something, right as an aura appeared around Ganjora, pulling itself towards it as it floated higher and higher in the air, now outraged at the Fierce Deity…
"Arrogant deity! I shall erase your very existence and of those who created you! HYRULE AND TERMINA ARE MINE TO CONTROL!" Ganjora roared as a hideous sphere of dark magic enveloped it, consisting of a very volatile dark purple to black color combination, all the while the Fierce Deity had to shift his stance in order to maintain balance, just as the purple and black sphere dissipated into nothingness, leaving the area silent for only a few seconds…

A few seconds later, the Fierce Deity blinked as the sphere now returned, being a pure crimson red with white and black shining from it, after which a being appeared from it. This being appeared at first to be Ganjora, but was now wearing robes and a hood over its main body and arms, coupled with a mask over its face. From the eye-holes in the mask were eyes that were glowing a hideous crimson to blood-red, while the mask itself had an uncharacteristic mouth-piece that was enough for one to breathe through safely. This all to the shock of the Fierce Deity himself.
"I am Garo Ganjora, the one who will end your miserable life!" The being proclaimed as it armed itself with two blades, which also looked different; instead of red flames, both were flaming an eerie dark purple, similar to the torch that Meg, one of the Poe Sisters was holding when Link confronted her.
The Fierce Deity also spotted a vicious battle-axe on Garo Ganjora's back, which indicated it was from an Iron Knuckle, but this one had an eerie green flame around it, as if it was also empowered similar to Garo Ganjora's blades. One thing was for certain, this was the beginning of the end, but for who? That was the question that went through the Fierce Deity's mind right now…