DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.
BarianHunterAlpha: I'm glad you enjoyed it. Nope, I haven't seen the Union X finale, but I'll look forward it to read or watch the lore. And lastly, this Celica VS Celica is gonna leave some people in tears so embrace yourselves.
Anthex-The Legendary Zoroark: Thank you, I had been away for a long time because I had a lot of things to do but now I'm back.
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CHAPTER 16 – THE OTHER PROMISE
DUMA'S TOWER – SECOND FLOOR | HALLWAY
After taking down Berkut for good, Roxas and Liprica met with Celica and the others to go and confront Duma and eliminate him from the earth.
As they were going upstairs, Alm asked Roxas about Berkut's fate.
"Alm… Berkut lost his mind and…" the keyblade paused looking away sadly before telling him the truth. "Became a heartless… a giant dragon-like heartless, sorry man."
"We tried to reason with him, and he didn't listen." Liprica supported Roxas's statement, expressing the same blue feeling as his partner.
"To thing that he would become so insane of power and turn into a… monster." Alm mourned for his cousin's death. "I wished there was a way to turn Berkut back to normal… and have a talk with him."
"We could have solved it this way, yeah, but living in a huge ignorance bring very grave consequences like this." Roxas spoke remembering his time at the Organization XIII place.
Because it's right, Roxas had lived like this as well and made a lot of mistakes which lead to him to be erased from the existence, if it wasn't for Sora, he wouldn't have been brought back to life alongside Xion…
"I agree, however cruel a secret it is… it's important to trust your friends and talk." Celica agreed.
"You're right." Alm said lifting his face with a smile. "No more secrets between us."
The whole army was walking upstairs until reaching the last door which would lead them to the top of the tower, but something unexpected happened.
"Celica!" Mae cried. She and the others couldn't get closer to the girl.
"Mae! Everyone!" Celica ran towards her friends, but something prevented her to get closer to them. It was a purple-colored field of energy.
Celica then turned around to see a corridor of darkness appeared before her, and what really shocked her was a girl, or more accurately, a doppelganger that emerged from the portal.
"What the…?" Celica looked at her doppelganger, however, she came to notice the wicked personality that was written on her face, her eyes, crap. Her eyes were full of madness and uncontrollable rage.
Not only that, the doppelganger came to do something that took everyone's back.
"A keyblade?!" Celica said as her opponent summoned her weapon.
"What the…? That girl… it reminds me when I had made that terrible mistake long time ago." Liprica sensed the doppelganger's mind
"Celica! Watch out!" Alm exclaimed as the doppelganger charged and clashed with the real one.
Celica clenched her keyblade against the doppelganger's as they were glancing at each other intensely, but the latter showed alarming insanity.
Suddenly, they were transported to another place, leaving everybody, especially Alm, confused and worried about Celica's life.
"Hey! Come back here! Celica! Please come back!" he shouted for her to return to them.
"Anthiese!" Liprica seconded in the same manner, she was worried, and genuinely horrified for her real counterpart but then she came to remember her bravery and the way Celica came to overcome her fears and become a warrior princess she was. "Anthiese… We must be stronger, for her! I know she will make it out alive, we have to have faith on her."
"But… I'm afraid that she…" Alm expressed concern about her life in risk.
"Alm… I have a feeling that she has everything it takes to survive, trust me, if it wasn't for Roxas, she wouldn't have the keyblade she possesses now, and that's how Anthiese came to rescue you and the others, so we must believe in her." Liprica remarked her real counterpart's actions.
"You…" Alm was stunned by her heartening words, he never stopped to think about Celica's actions that led her to become stronger. "Okay… I will trust you in this, Liprica."
"Yeah, Celica wouldn't fall that easily, Falchion is a powerful weapon so I think she will win." Roxas agreed.
"I hope she will come back to us." Mae replied with expectation towards her friend.
/
DUMA'S TEMPLE | THE VAULT
Celica and the doppelganger reappeared in the place, the place that Celica remembers correctly, it was the zone where Mila had turned into a stone after being stabbed in the head with the Falchion sword, which was retrieved by Liprica moments before meeting them.
"That's… Mila…" said Celica as she went to shoot a glance at the dragon in dismay.
The doppelganger made a menacing grunt as she slowly walked few steps towards, and then she roared at the top of her lungs as she surged against Celica, who barely had time to react and shield herself with her Falchion keyblade.
[KINGDOM HEARTS 3D BGM: Deep Drop]
The doppelganger's strength was so immense that it made Celica stagger for a few seconds. She came to realize of her mad counterpart brutality, her eyes dictated everything, rage, anger, madness.
"Roxas… Mae… Genny, Alm… Where are you?" Celica thought in loud voice. "Please! You have to stop!"
Celica was alone.
She was on her own against one creepy and mad woman like her doppelganger, to think to have gone this far only to discover the end of her journey like this?
No, this wasn't possible, she had always relied on her allies, especially her grandpa Mycen, Alm, Mae, Boey, Genny, the others… and especially Roxas.
And now she had to deal with somebody alone.
The doppelganger let out loud and brutal scream as she charged against her again, however, she went to high speed between clashes with each other, something that Celica couldn't keep up for too long and received a slash and was knocked back to the ground.
As Celica came to stand on her feet, she felt a metallic smell and touched her left cheek only to realize of the wound her enemy made to her.
"Damn it…" Celica mumbled as she looked at the blood at her hand. Her opponent had really wounded her. She needed to do something to handle the situation by herself.
"You fool…" the doppelganger laughed at her with a lot of evilness on her voice. "This is what happens when you don't embrace lord Duma's powers."
"I wouldn't dare to do that!" Celica yelled as she surged against her counterpart, who swiftly shield herself with her keyblade and was looking at her with malice. "I have friends who are waiting for me!"
And then they both come to clash their weapons with a lot of brutality between each other until eventually… and much to Celica's horror, the doppelganger parried her incoming attack and made a vicious swing combo on Celica, who fell to the ground bleeding from her leg and belly.
Her opponent was so strong, not even the falchion keyblade could lay a finger on the doppelganger
"Give it up… your death is near. How long are you willing to withstand the pain you are just feeling right now?"
Celica tried to stand up above the river of her own blood, she seemed not well… there was some blood coming out from her mouth, one arm and leg.
"I… I need…" Celica tried to talk, but the pain was sharp that she couldn't keep up and fell to her knees. "I need… to meet with… Alm… Everyone…"
Celica leaned her head over her keyblade to keep herself standing, despite being aware that her eyes blurring as she felt weaker and weaker as her doppelganger was approaching to give her the deathblow.
In other words, the Falchion keyblade proved to be useless against her, because its magic and strength were not enough to deal with the mad doppelganger.
"I… Wanna win…"
The doppelganger walked towards her closer to closer slowly preparing her weapon to strike her down.
"Alm… I'm so sorry… Everyone."
Her enemy was few meters closer to her and was ready to kill her, she was about to murder her! And leave Alm and the others!
Celica came to remember her precious moments with her friends as she awaited her death.
"DIEEE!" the doppelganger yelled as she swung her keyblade towards when suddenly everything went white and she had to shut her eyes.
And not only that, the time stopped and everything was frozen.
[Music Stops]
/
UNKNOWN LOCATION
Celica closed her eyes awaiting her death, but she never came to feel the keyblade taking her life.
She was in unknown location, everything was white, white as a snow.
"Wha-what have just happened?" She wondered looking around.
"Anthiese… child of fate… bearer of the brand. If it were me, I wouldn't be giving up while my friends were in danger. No matter how hopeless seemed the situation."
"That voice!" Celica came to recognize the person who was talking to her. "Mi-Mila!"
"Yes… I am. Anthiese… you have overcome much to reach me here, and I thank you. You have shown me the strength possessed by mankind. Embrace your dreams! Your Falchion keyblade will awake its hidden powers and help you to overcome every danger should you encounter! Do it for Alm! The bearer of the Duma brand… So you will save my brother's soul. Do you need me to lend you a hand?"
Y-Yes… I need your help. But..." Celica replied standing up.
"I mean… you have come this far defending yourself and the others… what I'm going to do will cost my life… but know this… my heart will grant you my powers… and after you finish with your doppelganger… please… give my heart to your nobody Liprica." Mila made her a big favor.
"Mila… you…" Celica was taken aback by the goddess request, then she realized that she didn't have a choice if she wanted to survive and win. "Okay. I will."
"Don't forget it, Anthiese…" Mila gave her the biggest advice. "Don't ever forget that you are the proof of my existence, so Alm is my brother's. I entrust you Falchion to your care. I pray you will use it to free my brother… from the depths of his pain."
After that's Mila's spirit disappeared in front of her eyes.
And then, the keyblade glowed in yellow light, giving Celica the signal that the weapon itself had awaken its powers, the first thing she came to do was this… "Heal!"
Now she was determined to end this battle once and for all, and she was gonna do it anyways.
Celica reappeared in the same place in front of her doppelganger, who was in a few seconds of killing her.
However, Celica had expected her attack so she shielded herself with her keyblade, to her enemy's shock, Celica didn't flinch and pushed her mad doppelganger away.
"What the hell?!" the doppelganger spat in rage seeing her rival healthy without any wound at sight.
[KINGDOM HEARTS II Final Mix BGM: The Other Promise]
"Mila saved me!" Celica replied with determination pointing her keyblade at her. "She gave her life to awake my weapon… defeat you… and reunite with Alm and the others!"
"You son of a bitch! Do you REALLY think this will get you alive?! Don't make me laugh!"
"We'll see you about that! Come to me!" Celica challenged her to a real fight, literally this was going to be a real brawl between the two.
Enraged, the doppelganger charged towards Celica and clashed their keyblades giving themselves an intense glare at each other.
The doppelganger was knocked back by an overwhelming swing from her real counterpart, however, she maliciously smiled at her.
"Now you're talking! This is a fight I'm been awaiting!" she said expressing pleasure of battle, having her face written in max madness.
"I don't fight for pleasure, I fight for survival." Celica replied on the contrary. Because she wasn't willing to take anyone's life for pleasure unlike Jedah or every tough bosses they had encountered throughout their adventure.
Both Celicas charged and clashed at each other. "Cut your saint shit out! There's only one rule you must follow when you encounter someone who wants to murder you! Or even worse! Violate you! Kill or be killed! Your choice!" the doppelganger snarled getting sick of her words, and she started to become more aggressive with the swings she had been doing.
Despite being such a relentless girl, the doppelganger was right. Celica didn't have a choice if she wanted to survive every encounter she went through alongside Mae, Boey and the others, not only Celica went on to kill heartless, nobodies, but also humans as well, that's right, but it was only because they were harming the group.
During their clash, Celica was knocked away with a vicious vertical swing performed by the doppelganger, however she got back up and gave her enemy a serious and determined glance, much to her anger.
"Okay, my friend… You wanna fight? You got it." Celica said as she underwent through transformation.
Celica's outfit changed of color mostly everywhere to yellow, including her dress, her loincloth and cape, but in exchange, she came to wear a new red breastplate she got from nowhere.
"What is this? My body feels… more light unlike before." Celica thought as she jumped towards her opponent and clashed against the doppelganger.
Her evil counterpart managed to knock Celica away with a strong swing but the latter managed to land well on the wall and then rolled to land safely to the ground.
The doppelganger floated up to the sky and launched a couple of energy balls against Celica, who came to glide around the map to avoid getting hit by her enemy's attack.
After performing the technique, the doppelganger surged against Celica and everything went slow motion and…
[Duel Stance| *presses "The End" command quickly*]
With such a quick reflex, Celica came to knock the doppelganger away to the sky and on top of that…
"Light!" Celica shouted as she claimed and "stole" her counterpart's keyblade, which came to her as her own temporarily.
Now she was holding her keyblade and her doppelganger's.
The evil counterpart, however wasn't willing to give up on her loss, and started to use her evil magic on Celica, ran towards her quickly while dodging her enemy's attacks, and in a blink of an eye, Celica came to perform the Ars Arcanium combo slash on the doppelganger, and after finishing her combo, her opponent's keyblade also came to attack her as well.
"You little…!" the doppelganger snarled with extreme rage on her face as she attacked her with magic pillars.
Celica performed the Quick Run move set to dodge the incoming pillars and get closer to her again. Immediately, Celica came to perform a strong combo attack repeatedly until performing the Zantetsuken critical blow.
The doppelganger was getting sick, she really was sick of receiving the same treatment as Celica's.
In a blink of an eye, she came to position herself behind Celica to get her keyblade back and knock her away.
[Reaction Command: Reversal. *presses triangle button*]
Celica quickly stepped aside to get behind her and hit the doppelganger with everything she got and finish her combo with the Zantetsuken ability.
[Celica has obtained the Combo Master ability]
The doppelganger and Celica came to surge and clash their weapons with such intensity.
"Who are you?!" Celica inquired. "Why are you doin this?!"
"You should be aware of Duma's schemes." The doppelganger gave a vague but mostly obvious answer.
And then, she came to remember Saber's words about the witches…
"This whole thing is a bit outta my realm of expertise, but apparently offering up your soul to Duma buys you enormous magic power" Saber state them an ugly truth about those type of women's capacity. "Problem is, you basically turn into a living-husk sort of… thing."
"No way…" Roxas said in shock after hearing that frightening statement.
"That's horrific!" Celica seconded in dismay.
"So you are just a soulless witch controlled by Duma… Okay… I'll save you… And to that, I have to defeat you!" Celica exclaimed as she pointed her keyblade at her rival.
"FUCK YOU!" the doppelganger shouted in rage as she ran towards her and engaged in a swordfight between each other.
Between the clashes of their respective weapons, the doppelganger managed to slip Celica's keyblade off her hands leaving her defenseless. As she tried to run and pick up her keyblade, the doppelganger stomped on her weapon and pointed her keyblade on Celica.
"It's over."
Celica however, managed to get her keyblade back on her hands leaving the doppelganger stunned and shocked. "What?!" she said before being fatally slashed by her real counterpart.
[Music Stops] [Music change]
[KINGDOM HEARTS 2.5 ReMIX BGM: Roxas]
The doppelganger dropped her keyblade and she fell to Celica's arms.
"To thi-think you overcame this hardest battle yet." The doppelganger admitted her defeat. "I must say that you are such a capable warrior… very tough as to not become another Duma's witch."
"Because I have people who are important for me… and made me who I am…" Celica's voice started to crack as she began crying… "I wished… there was another way… for you."
"Don't cry… You had to do what you needed to… You truly are brave priest warrior, because… you make a good other…" the doppelganger let out a smile before fading away in white particles.
Celica wiped out her tears, she needed to end Duma's tyranny once and for all, Roxas, Alm, and everyone was waiting for her to return…
/
DUMA'S TOWER – SECOND FLOOR | HALLWAY
Celica reappeared with everybody, but not only that, the field of energy disappeared and Roxas and the others could get along with her.
"Celica! Are you alright?" Mae hugged her in relieve.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied in the same manner, but mildly sad at the same time.
"What happened? You look disdained." Alm was concerned about her.
"I didn't want to defeat my doppelganger but I didn't have a choice." Celica explained the situation before asking him something else. "What happened while I was absent?"
"We had to fight a big quantity of heartless and terrors, but at least we managed to subdue them." Roxas replied.
"Anyway, I think this battle I have just endured now taught me how to fight my fate and for my people." Celica stated the biggest reason to have endured this hard battle on her own.
"Seems that we have something in common, Anthiese." Liprica acknowledged her actions. "Now… are you ready to end this war once and for all?"
"Ready." Celica was prepared for the battle. "How about you guys?"
"Ready." Alm said.
"And me." Roxas also shared the same answer as everyone else.
"Well, behind this door there will be the biggest battle we have endured yet." Liprica stated as she opened the door. "Let's get going."
The two armies walked through the door which lead them to the Altar of Duma to end this cold war between Sofia and Rigel once and for all…
The real battle is about to begin…
END OF CHAPTER 16
A/N:
Oh man, we have reached the endgame. We are about to be the witness of the final battle for Valentia, and I think it will be a 2-part finale, plus an epilogue.
I can't say too much, but I will tell you only one clue, it will have a lot of KH1 vibes during the final battle, just look forward it when the chapters become ready.
Anyways, see you later.