DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: I glad you like it, things are going to get intense from now on at this point.
CHAPTER 11 – HELL SWAMP II
DEAD MAN'S MIRE
Celica and Roxas stumbled into Jedah, who gave her a deadly offer to save Alm's and Mila's lives in exchange of sacrificing her soul to Duma.
That shocked Celica tearing herself between doing what this monster said and rejecting his offer, however, doing so would result in Alm and Mila being slaughtered in a many horrible ways.
But, Roxas had sensed something was wrong with Jedah "sincere" words, he could tell he was lying about sparing Mila and Alm, he wasn't a fool as he used to during his time with Xemnas and the other members of the Organization XIII.
Yeah, that's right. Roxas knew Jedah was trying to trick Celica to have her soul stolen and given to Duma, therefore, he was willing to prevent Celica from dying and make sure of her survival and the others.
Celica was surprised by Roxas protective actions, no one in the whole party had done this as the keyblade wielder did. She felt something deep down within her soul a sort of inspiration coming from him, watching him fight for his life and the others lead her to decide to learn everything from Roxas.
She decided to learn to stand up for herself and her friends, because she wanted to become a warrior princess, and she was determined to do so by any means necessary.
"Milady! Where have you been?! We were looking for you!" Boey called them upon seeing them show up.
"I'm sorry I worried you guys, it's just something came to me and we had to check out for ourselves." Celica apologized for her reckless actions. "Roxas went with me to make sure of my safety.
Roxas explained to their team what Jedah wanted to do with Celica, leaving them stunned by the news.
"What?! They wanna have your soul stolen to Duma?!" Mae freaked out in shock concerned about Celica's life.
"Yeah, they do want me to sacrifice my soul so I could save both Alm's and Mila's lives, but I'm not so sure if what Jedah said is true, for what Roxas told me, I'm beginning to realize that Jedah is trying to scare me so he would use me as his puppet." Celica stated Jedah's dark intentions. "But… I will not be stupid as to fall for his trap, because I will learn to stand up for myself and you guys, hence, we will make sure of Alm's and Mila's survival by any means."
"Celica? Since when'd speak like that?" Saber was curious by her resorted attitude and speaking. "Looks like something inspired you to leave that fragile behavior aside."
"You see… Roxas told me about a boy who apparently looks like him, he risks it all to help people who need him and is like me. His name is Sora." Celica explained her attitude change.
"Sora? Who is that?" Kamui asked out of curiosity, like everybody else.
"He is a keyblade wielder like me who has also defeated a lot of dark creatures and many tough enemies." Roxas explained to them.
"A keyblade wielder? We thought Roxas was the only one?" Leon frowned his eye curiously.
"Well, there are another keyblade wielders everywhere." Roxas affirmed his words remembering Xion, Riku and the others.
/
MIRE BONEYARD
As they were having the conversation while heading to the tower, the party stumble into a place that Boey feared of, it was another graveyard.
"What's this? Another graveyard?" Boey mumbled looking scared of the place they just landed. "… Of course it is."
"Ugh, seriously?" Mae reprimanded him for showing cowardice like always. He really needed to man up. "How are you not used to this by now? If you've seen one ghoul-ridden deathscape, you've seen 'em all!"
"I suppose you have…something of a point. Fine. Let's press on." Boey acknowledged her words, leaving his fear aside, at least for a few minutes apparently as he headed to the battle.
"Actually, looks like this place is full of necrodragons, and not only that, the heartless are there as well. So that's new!"
"HEEEELP!" Boey freaked out as he ran for his life screaming for help.
Roxas didn't waste a second and took the necrodragons down alongside the heartless in a second, Celica did also handle the situation casting magic against the last heartless, clearing the field in the process.
"All done!" Roxas noticed his partners.
"Come on, let's keep going!" Celica called them to keep walking through the swamp.
As Roxas and the team kept walking, they soon noticed a kind of… creepy mansion in amidst of the swamp, it was then Roxas sensed something really evil lurking inside that mansion.
An unsettling face peered down at them through the pitch black of darkness. It was the legendary arcanist Nuibaba, mistress of Hell Swamp and terror to all. By offering up her soul, she had purchased the very darkest of sortilege; a single word from her lips was enough to snuff out life itself.
Roxas and the others didn't know that they would come to meet the deadliest woman who can end anybody's life with a deadly spell.
The keyblade wielder had a bad feeling about the abode, he had to really watch his back and the others'.
"Watch out, guys. Something's fishy inside." Roxas warned everybody to stay alert.
"Inside that old house? This whole thing seems abandoned, nobody is habi—"
"Eee hee hee…" a creepy and evil laugh was heard as she showed up, it was Nuibaba, who came out of the mansion. "Welcome, you people, you don't seem to belong to the Deliverance… but never mind… I had been waiting for you, boy of the black coat." She pointed her gaze at Roxas.
"Who are you? How did you know we were coming here?!" Roxas interrogated her pointing his keyblade at her.
"I merely used a vision of whoever you held fast in your heart to draw you in, and I glad you became aware of my presence, you hold a kind of power to detect darkness in people's hearts… I'll give you that." Nuibaba explained the way she felt his presence, and how he came to sense her. "My name is Nuibaba, Roxas was it?"
"I knew something was fishy!" Roxas said acknowledging his senses, he knew this was a trap.
"What the fuck? You are trying to flirt with Roxas, aren't you?!" Saber gabbled assuming that Nuibaba was trying to have fun seducing him.
"You knew this was a trap, and yet you all fell into it, eee hee hee hee!" Nuibaba laughed mockingly at Roxas trying to make him fall into despair. "The specter of love ever draws fools such as you like butterflies to nectar. And yet, the real feast is yet to come… when I dine upon your souls!"
Nuibaba launched a lethal Medusa spell on Roxas, who barely managed to defend himself and bounce it back with Reflega, destroying a part of the abode in the process.
"Get ready, everyone!" Roxas told everybody to prepare themselves, upon seeing the heartless emerge from the ground.
"Okay, Roxas, go defeat that woman! We will take care of the heartless!" Celica indicated him. "Everyone! Let's go defeat those guys!"
[INFORMATION: Defeat Nuibaba!]
Roxas proceeded to face Nuibaba putting out his second keyblade and surged against each other as she put out a sword she had kept hidden.
Nuibaba swung her sword trying to slit his throat, but Roxas came to dodge backwards and countered with another swing across her thorax, almost ripping the half of her dress and mostly exposing her cleavage in the process.
"Uugh! You really nailed at this one, kid." Nuibaba said in a sarcastic tone while covering her breasts in an attempt to seduce Roxas. "Don't tell me you are into woman's chest?"
"What if I am, many man like me are after all, but I won't fall into your seduction trap you are trying to throw on me!" Roxas defended himself admitting his women taste like every men, while declaring that he couldn't bring himself to fall that down easily.
"I see, you are good at restraining yourself from getting laid with a woman like me, what a shame." Nuibaba expressed her "disdain" while casting the medusa spell. "You are gonna die a virgin!"
Roxas ran through the walls of the abode dodging the spells she was launching at him and leapt through the columns with flowmotion and airstepped onto Nuibaba and performed a number of strong slashes and brought her down the ground.
"How'd you like that?" Roxas said expecting her to get up.
"I never thought I would come to face such a badass kiddo like you, pretty boy." Nuibaba laughed quite evilly, but her face was also written in admiration and… crush? "I like this strength of yours, Roxas!"
Roxas and Nuibaba engaged a brutal swordfight without holding back as they clashed their weapons moving throughout the mansion and outside near Celica and the others.
Suddenly, Roxas's strong blow made Nuibaba's sword slip off her hands and he didn't waste time to finally perform Ars Arcanium to eventually finish her off with a critical and strong Zantetsuken defeating her in the process.
"Ahhh… it cannot be… I supposed this is my end…" Nuibaba acknowledged her impeding death as a darkness corridor appeared below her, which began absorbing her into the void, awaiting her death as she knew.
However, Roxas felt her darkness vanishing from her heart so he quickly ran towards her and grabbed her hand fleeing her from the portal to the void, surprising her.
"But why?" Nuibaba asked her out of surprise. "I have made a lot of evil things, and yet you choose to save my life."
"I no longer sense any darkness in your heart." Roxas explained his reason to prevent her death. "Seems that you were being manipulated."
"Was I? That makes sense… I sacrificed my soul to Duma, hence, I used to work for him and Rigel doing a lot of bullshit jobs for these assholes, and… I begin to admit that I made a terrible mistake." Nuibaba admitted her evil actions being part of the Duma cult. "A very terrible mistake."
"What mistake?" Roxas asked her out of intrigue of her former life.
"I… gave Berkut a mirror, a mirror that should he lose against either Alm, or you, and need to shatter it, my sorcery that I put in will answer to his call and grant him a huge power that will make him lose his mind." Nuibaba revealed her mistake and warned Roxas of his impeding battle with Berkut. "I really suggest you to be careful with him if that happens."
"I… thanks for warning me, Nuibaba." Roxas understood her warning helping her to stand up. "So… where are you going now?"
"I don't know, now that you broke the Duma's spell, I no longer have desire to return to Rigel." Nuibaba said not having any more reason to return to work for Duma and Rigel.
"Then how about you help us to erase the whole Duma cult for good?" Roxas proposed her to join their quest to defeat Duma and the others.
"That's… Interesting. Okay, I will join you, I wanna see how things against Duma are unfold." Nuibaba accepted his request, turning herself into an ally to the team.
[Nuibaba has joined your party!]
Roxas and Nuibaba went to reunite with Celica and the others, making them surprised by the woman's presence who used to work for Duma.
"Roxas! What the hell?! You brought that creepy woman!" Kamui got nervous and skeptical after seeing Nuibaba join them.
"Don't worry, she's at our side." Roxas affirmed them that Nuibaba had changed her heart after her defeat by his hands and being spared.
"Yeah… despite her appearance, it looks like her heart is finally free from the darkness who had imprisoned her." Celica agreed with Roxas sensing Nuibaba's cleared heart from the evilness.
"It's that so? This trip has had everything." Mae gabbled in a funny tone while chucking. "First, we got Roxas, then we always stumble into the masked man. What else could we ask for?!"
"You seem to be a lucky guy, Roxas." Saber complied the keyblade wielder scanning at Nuibaba's attractive body, in a stealth way of course.
The whole party resumed their quest to Duma Tower managing to go through halfway of the toxic swamp, until they came to stumble into a fortress from another Duma faithful.
"Heh heh heh Welcome, child of fate." The creepy Duma follower let out an evil and threatening voice gazing at Celica. "Once your soul is offered to Lord Duma, our aims will be realized. Surely there is no call for needless struggle. This way, Your Highness…"
"Dolth… he's wanting to sell your soul." Nuibaba recognized that man and Duma's followers' mission.
"I can see that, Nuibaba." Celica knew what Nuibaba was saying. "Guess what, you monster, I refuse to accept your offer!" She pointed her finger at Doth in an accusative voice.
"I don't care what kind of whacko nonsense you're spouting—We won't let you lay a finger on Celica!" Mae seconded trying to sound as hard as she could to scare Dolth, but nothing seemed to work on him.
"Hmph. The buzzing of ignorant flies is so very vexing." Dolth seemed annoyed by their attitude. "Perhaps the jaws of my necrodragons will silence your interruptions!"
"You think so? Princess!" Nuibaba casted the Medusa spell alongside Celica with her Seraphim magic managing to kill the whole number of necrodragons, leaving him more than angry in the process.
"You motherfucker!" Dolth screamed in anger as he surged against Celica and the others.
Saber came to shield her while making a strong vertical swing across his body. Sonya casted the Thunder spell on Dolth while Roxas and Kamui performed a limit attack with lots of blades blazing through the cantor and made a ninja-like fast-paced team slash technique, apparently taking him down…
"Impossible!" Dolth let out an angry scream as he was dying, but… something was wrong, he was not dead, not yet. "Wait… Anthiese!"
"He's still alive?!" Boey crept out in disbelieve.
"Even if you leave this place alive, the Faithful will hunt you down." Dolth let out a threatening message for Celica. "How long will you place the lives of your friends at risk, Your Highness? You're more clever than that."
"Shut up." Celica grew upset by constants death threats of those people, he was insulting her cleverness, and she didn't like it. "You are just saying this to induce fear on me and the others, do you really think we would fall for that stupidity?"
"Come with me now, and all the fighting ends." Dolth tried to make Celica go with him. "Come to Duma's side!"
"Like I would!" Celica spat refusing to accept his offer, falling back behind the whole party.
"You're not taking lady Celica!" Boey screamed trying to intimidate him, but Dolth replied back. "Silence!" he said as he struck him with a black ball and made Boey lie down in the ground.
"Boey!" Roxas was alarmed by his friend's current state, and then he turned his gaze on Dolth. "That's enough! How about we have a one-on-one match?!"
"Oh… you want to fight me? You have made a wise decision, boy." Dolth congratulated him of the good choice. "If you ever kill me, I'll leave you all free. What do you say?"
"So be it." Roxas was more than ready to face him in this deadly battle.
"Roxas, No!" Mae tried to prevent him from fighting Dolth, it was a dangerous situation already for everybody.
"Mae, I know he can do it. Have faith on him." Celica asked her not to show negativity and cheer Roxas.
[INFORMATION: Defeat Dolth!]
[KINGDOM HEARTS BGM: Scherzo Di Notte]
Roxas and Dolth surged against each other clashing their weapons, creating a large wave which made the place stumble for a second.
Dolth performed a horizontal slash on Roxas, who dodged the attack with a backwards jump before casting the Thundaga spell on him.
Roxas quickly ran to him and performed a strong combo sword technique across Dolth's body and with a strong slash finished his combo sending him down to the ground.
As expected, Dolth got back up and proceeded to go ballistic and tried to stab Roxas in his chest, only to send him flying few kilometers and stumble against the wall due to the latter shielding himself with Reflega, preventing Dolth from killing him on the spot.
"Roxas!" Boey cried out witnessing the brutality of the man.
"To think that he's stronger than Xemnas and Master Xehanort…" Roxas said as he got back up. "If Sora could defeat strongest enemies… Then I will too!"
"Do you really think you will defeat me and protect that child of the fate?" Dolth mocked him letting out an evil laugh. "Regardless of what you do, that girl will offer her soul to Lord Duma and this is not something that you kid can do about it!"
"I will not let this happen, Dolth." Roxas was not willing to let Celica die by Duma's hands as he was showing determination on his face. "Not while I'm still breathing!"
Then, Roxas proceeded to enter in Double Form using his keyblades' powers to make his coat acquire both white and black colors on each side, and to engage a real fight against Dolth as both two clashed their weapons making the whole place shake as the swords hit each other.
Dolth realized of Roxas' tremendous power as he was being overwhelmed by his fast-paced slash combos reaching to the point that Roxas managed to create a diagonal wound across Dolth's body, who was bleeding black as he was helplessly became stunned.
"You fucking son of a bitch…!" Dolth snarled becoming weak and defenseless. "You will never succeed in preventing her death!"
"Say what you will! Because we will take down Duma!" Roxas screamed as he performed Ars Arcanium on him and gave the final blow with the Zantetsuken technique, ending his enemy's life in the process as Dolth finally disappeared in dust.
[Music Stops]
Roxas turned down his Double Form to go back to normal, he finally defeated his most tough enemy and defended his friends' lives including Celica's.
"Roxas! That was amazing!" Boey said in amazement after watching his performance against Dolth. He didn't have any doubt that Roxas really turned out to be stronger than he and everyone thought.
"You really have what it takes to be stronger than any foe you face." Saber compelled him with a smirk.
"Roxas, thank you." Celica thanked him for defending her and their friends in a kind voice. "You two were a match for each other, but in the end, you overcame him and defeated Dolth with all your might."
"To think that you had an ace under your sleeve." Sonya also did compel about his actions against Dolth. "When I said that I like men with guts I wasn't lying, you do have what it takes to be a daring man." She teased making the keyblade wielder's cheeks turn red.
"Roxas, I think you will surpass me in getting many women as you want." Saber smirked laughing between his teeth.
"Sh-shut up." Roxas tried to stop them from teasing him, he wasn't seeking to sleep with women unlike his comrade, no sir, he was focused on his mission, not on having women in bed.
Suddenly, the masked man came to where the whole party were in his horse and went down to walk to them.
"I must admit that you had the courage to not throw your life away." He said compelling Celica for her strong will. "It is all thanks to that boy whom you have as your bodyguard. Seems that you want to become a warrior princess."
"I do… I know I'm gonna encounter a lot of hardships. But I do want to learn to stand up for the others and myself." Celica declared her initiative, making the man let out a subtle smile.
"You seem to have changed, Celica. As a brother, I know." He said making her gasp in surprise.
"What?!" Celica said as she saw the man take his mask off… leaving her and the whole team speechless.
"It's been a long time, huh, Sis?" he spoke revealing himself as her brother.
"You… But that's…" Celica couldn't believe what she just saw. "Conrad?! I don't know how, but… Is it really you?! I was certain you were not alive!"
"I managed to escape the night they burned the villa." Conrad explained to her the way he cheated death. "Some of the attendants led me to safety. From there, I fled straight to Rigel. My mother's home. Desaix's reach is long, but even he couldn't follow me into the empire."
"I should hate you for letting me mourning all this time, and yet… I'm so happy…" Celica was really happy to see her brother again. "But how did you come to possess my circlet?"
"It was entrusted to me." Conrad replied. "I had orders to pass it on to you once you grew up into the role."
"Entrusted by who?" Roxas asked, but Conrad respectfully refused to answer his question. "Sorry, man, but I swore an oath never to reveal that information. Once I received it, however, I learned you'd left the island, and this boy has been helping you to become a determined woman you are."
"I was?" Roxas asked with his cheeks going mildly red.
"Of course, I was so worried about her but by the time I saw you protecting Celica, it was good enough for me to simmer down and I decided to follow you guys and make sure you were safe." Conrad explained his reasons of watching them in the shadows. "I never wanted to lie to you, but… Well, you weren't the only one in hiding, guys."
"Heh heh. So that's why you wore the mask. I remember watching Roxas fighting nobodies with his hood on hiding his identity." Celica laughed while mentioning some curious stuff.
"Well, it IS rather dashing, isn't it?"
"Hah! You think THAT thing is—"
"Mae! He's Celica's older brother. You know, royalty?" Boey scolded Mae reminding her to show respect.
"Oh, right. Sorry." Mae apologized for recklessly speaking without respect to Conrad. "But man, he sure is a lot less moody once that mask comes off, huh? Just like when Roxas showed up his face taking his hood off. They both are like completely different guys."
"Almost as if he pretends to be someone else while in disguise. …Imagine that." Boey spoke while looking at Conrad. At least Roxas didn't pretend to be somebody else whether he wore the hood or not.
"Oh yeah… Hee hee!" Mae laughed as she acknowledged his opinion. "Yeah, that was dumb."
/
As they were heading to Duma's Tower, Conrad spoke some words to the team. "I actually hadn't intended to reveal myself at all. Halcyon—who looked after me at the Sage's Hamlet—made me swear not to. I'll have to work on my apology before I go back there…" Conrad knew he did something wrong, like not revealing himself to the others. "He's right, though. The most dangerous thing I could be is not dead. But after watching you… I couldn't listen to you speak as if you were all alone in the world. It drove a knife right through my heart."
"Conrad… I'm so sorry." Celica felt a lot of sympathy for his brother.
"Please don't apologize." Conrad asked her to not feel pity for him, it was his own decision to disappear after all, not her fault. "I understand. I watched you come this far, after all. I saw you bear the weight of the world by yourself as Sofia's crown warrior princess. But from this point on I'd like to share that burden with you. I'll be at your side and protect you with my life. But you have to promise me first… Whatever you do, don't ever throw your life away, defend yourself and survive. That's all I ask."
"You're right, I will, Conrad." Celica accepted his request. "
END OF CHAPTER 11
A/N:
Sorry for taking so long, folks, a lot of things happened in my house and I had to take a break for a while but here's the long awaited chapter for you guys.
Anyway, there will be a surprise chapter after the Roxas's story ends, what is going to be about this extra chapter is a top secret. So stick around for more.
Peace out!