DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.

CHAPTER 13 – ONWARD TO DUMA TOWER

/

Determined to end the war, Roxas and the party set their way to the Duma Tower to rescue Mila and defeat Duma once and for all, however, Celica was visibly worried about Alm who had gone to Rigel Castle to face Rudolf, and couldn't forget the fact that he could potentially suffer too much to take down the emperor or even worse, die in battle.

Celica shook her head to stop thinking about it too much, she had to focus on their mission and forget about Alm for the time being because if the party saw her like this, that would likely decrease their morale in battle and she didn't want this.

"This is the entrance to Duma Tower." She said noticing the gate, however they were soon met and surrounded by some heartless, witches, and nobodies.

"We've been ambushed!" Saber spat pulling out his sword preparing himself to fight.

"They're not stopping us, let's go everyone!" Roxas commanded his team pulling out his keyblades beginning their battle against the hordes of monsters.

[Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia BGM: The Sacrifice and the Saint]

Roxas lead the charge not only against as many heartless but certain quantity of nobodies and witches.

Atlas, Saber, Kamui, Conrad and Roxas combined their slash techniques wrecking the nobodies in half. "There's some more!" Atlas said as he charged towards them.

Roxas performed the Strike Raid technique throwing his keyblades on few more nobodies until completely eliminating them. "Take that!"

"Nicely done, fella!" Kamui spoke as he used his fast-paced sword attack to kill the last remaining nobodies leaving those no time to react and be eliminated as well. "You guys are not match for me!"

The swordsmen managed to wipe the nobodies out of the battle, meanwhile, Celica, Sonya, Nuibaba were taking on the witches.

"Begone!" Celica shouted as she casted the seraphim spell on few of the witches and killed them.

"Come here!" Sonya said while casting the Fire spell onto them, torching the witches and making them disappear in ashes.

"You're done!" Nuibaba yelled as she attacked few more witches with the Medusa spell, taking them down on the spot.

Valbar, Leon, Mae, Boey, Genny and Mathilda were dealing with the Heartless on their own way, these were the last monsters before clearing the area.

"You're going down!" Mathilda cried out as she slayed few heartless with her axe.

"Get out of here!" Mae casted seraphim spell on them.

"Move over!" Valbar brutally destroyed the heartless with his lance.

"Get lost!" Leon shot an arrow killing the last heartless, finally clearing the area.

The party finally cleared the area from the monsters, now they could finally enter the gate when suddenly, the land stumbled and few rocks fell off the roof making everyone fall back.

"What is going on?!" Genny cried out frightened.

"Somebody must have used a spell to make the earth shake, we must proceed with caution." Nuibaba warned them as she felt the presence of a powerful Duma Faithful.

"Is it a Duma Faithful?" Roxas asked about that high possibility.

"Yes."

Roxas and the others proceeded to enter the gate with caution, and as they expected, they were met with heavy resistance consisting of few fiends, heartless and nobodies.

They proceeded to fight their way to the tower defeating as much creatures as they could.

Suddenly, they were met with a creepy-looking arcanist who turned out to be a Duma Faithful, who didn't have intention to let them pass.

"Let us pass, you idiot!" Saber demanded him to step aside, but he refused as the arcanist said this. "Only if you give me the child of fate! Otherwise, you fools will suffer the consequences!"

"Then we just have to defeat you." Roxas declared as he steps forward to his enemy.

"I'll fight too." Celica put out her sword making everyone gasp in surprise.

"Celica! He's too dangerous, you're gonna get killed!" Boey tried to warn her.

"He's right, Alm entrusted you to my protection, stand down." Roxas tried to get her to not jump in the dangerous battle.

"No! I want to fight alongside you, Roxas! I understand you guys are worried about me and all, but I can't stand here without doing nothing as I see him suffer too much to kill that man… So please, Roxas, let us fight together." Celica expressed her beg to join him, she knew she was being reckless but nonetheless, she needed to do something to be useful to Roxas and defeat the monster.

"Fine, just stay close to me." Roxas accepted her request, aside of asking her to stick with him.

"Thank you, Roxas." Celica thanked him for fulfilling her pledge and the two immediately walked to their next enemy to defeat.

Celica and Roxas then came closer to the arcanist to battle him and clear the area for the others, at this precise second, Celica felt a powerful dark aura come out from the creepy man.

"Watch out, Roxas. He's a powerful arcanist." She warned him feeling the evil power from the man.

"Exactly!" the arcanist said as he casted a powerful spell which made fall some rocks over the duo, who managed to dodge every incoming rock and remain unharmed. "Impressive! You guys are capable of avoiding things like this! Jamil is my name! And hand me the girl over!"

"You gotta defeat us first!" Roxas challenged him to a fight, which the man accepted.

[MUSIC CHANGES]

[Devil May Cry 5 BGM: Voltaic Black Knight] [The rock portion begins!]

[INFORMATION: Defeat Jamil!]

Roxas and Celica approached Jamil and used their weapons to try to hit him, but Jamil let out an explosive wave sending the two flying across the room but this wasn't enough as for the two to get hurt badly.

"To think that you were right, he's a strong foe." Roxas got back up alongside her.

"He is, I think we have to come up with a plan to strike him down." Celica acknowledged her perception.

Roxas thought about it for a second until… "I have an idea, Celica." he said as he leaned to her ear to whisper something, which made Celica surprised.

"That sounds crazy, but I like the idea." She talked liking the plan as they gazed at Jamil.

"What the fuck are you guys talking about?! Stop with this nonsense!" Jamil lashed out in madness as he tried to punch the two.

Roxas and Celica dodged his attack via stunt dodge, Jamil threw some lighting attacks on the duo, however, they were able to dodge the attacks with reversal, making everything go through brief but slow motion as to get closer to him.

And then, Roxas's plan came into the motion.

"Celica, now!" he called her to get the plan in action.

"Right!" she replied as she shot a seraphim spell on Jamil while Roxas casted the Thundaga at the same time, leaving the arcanist in a vulnerable state.

"CURSE YOU ALL!" Jamil spat as he tried to recover himself from the attack.

What the duo did to wreck the arcanist was that Roxas came to give a brutal keyblade combo while Celica was in charge in casting bursts of seraphim, leaving the whole party speechless.

This was a Limit attack, a combined technique performed by Roxas and Celica, this was the keyblade wielder's plan to defeat Jamil once and for all.

"You're gonna die, you bastards!" Jamil snarled as he tried to surge against them.

"It's over!" Roxas and Celica chanted in unison as they performed the Magic Hour and mega Seraphim spells respectively defeating Jamil in the process.

Jamil was lying on the ground on deathbed after being overwhelmed by the duo's power, he never thought he would stumble into stronger people like them.

"Duma's blessings… be upon us…" Jamil said in his dying words before fading in dust.

[MUSIC STOPS]

"We did it… We finally defeated him." Celica was satisfied with their actions. "Your plan worked."

"Thanks… You really know how to kick some asses." Roxas compelled her fighting skills, making her cheeks go little red.

"Do I? I guess Alm and you are the reason you made me this way." Celica justified her reasons to have become a warrior princess.

"Guys! Are you okay?!" Mae approached them.

"We're okay." Celica assured them with a smile on her face, much to everyone's relieve.

"Seems that this nasty folk have disappeared from the earth." Saber said gazing at the two with a grin on his face.

"He was a tough enemy, but now we can proceed to the tower, are you ready?" Roxas acknowledged Jamil's brutal strength, before setting their way to the final dungeon.

"Yeah!" everyone yelled in unison showing their willingness to jump into the dangerous zone.

/

SWAMPS OF DUMA

Roxas and the others walked towards the Duma Tower to confront him and retrieve Mila, however, as they were getting closer, Celica became quieter than before as she sighed, something that his brother noticed.

"Something wrong?" Conrad asked her out of concern. "The closer we get to Duma Tower, the silent you become."

"What? No I don't!" Celica tried to speak awkwardly. "…Er, do I? I suppose I'm just getting a bit nervous as we draw near."

"And… that's really it? You're not hiding anything?" Conrad wanted to her to be honest with him and everyone.

"Conrad, you're worrying over nothing." Celica said trying to hide her inner concern from him.

"Well, alright, if you say so." Conrad agreed to let it slip.

It didn't take too long to meet with the most disgusting man who had Celica in distress for a long time. "Jedah…!" she said with such angst on her face. "What a-are you doing here?"

"Keh heh heh. I'm so pleased you've come, Anthiese." Jedah saluted her with an evil and threatening voice.

"Enough talk, Jedah!" Celica stated her motives to meet him face to face. "I've come to judge the truth of your claims. I will meet with Mila first. Any decision I reach will come after."

"As you will. But my bargain was with you alone." Jedah gave a deadly warning for the rest of the party. "The rest will die for trespassing upon this holy place."

"I will not let this happen!" Roxas countered pointing his gaze at the Duma Faithful with accusation as he pulled out his keyblades.

"Roxas, don't. My life is the only one he needs, I don't want you to die for me!" Celica stopped him from going on rampage against him recklessly.

"This is true." Jedah continued. "But I've no fondness for interruptions, and they've proven the meddling sort. I trust you will forgive me for being cautious."

"He's completely nuts…!" Roxas knew that the Duma Faithful was out of his mind.

"Everyone, be careful!" Celica pledged the party to watch each other's backs.

"I'll go after Jedah." Roxas said willing to battle the Duma Faithful.

"Be careful, Roxas." Celica spoke with concern upon watching him fight.

[INFORMATION: Defeat Jedah!]

Jedah surged against Roxas as he did the same but despite slashing him, he couldn't lay a damage on him, to make things worse, the Duma Faithful summoned a couple of creepy-looking eye tentacles and caught Roxas onto his grasp, what he realli wanted to do is...! Oh no.

"You fool! Your soul is very powerful so I wouldn't mind if I sacrificed yours alongside the girl's!" Jedah talked making fun of the keyblade wielder who was struggling to break free.

[REACTION COMMAND: Release] *presses triangle button*

However, Roxas's keyblade powers were strong enough to regain control of his body and soul to slice the eye tentacles in half and break free from their trap, much to Jedah's shock.

[REACTION COMMAND: Breakthrough] *presses triangle button*

Roxas quickly approached Jedah and performed the Zantetsuken ability to break his shield, leaving the man open and on a vulnerable state.

[INFORMATION: The Jedah's shield has been broken! Attack him with all your might now!]

The keyblade wielder didn't waste his chance to surge and beat the crap out of Jedah with all his might including the Ars Arcanium combo style, overwhelming the supposedly powerful Duma Faithful.

"Do you think you can defeat me like this?! Don't be ridiculous!" Jedah spat as he regained his shield and re-summoned the eye-tentacles, giving himself away in the process.

[INFORMATION: Destroy the eye-tentacles to deactivate Jedah's shield!]

Roxas had a plan to counter this attack so what he went to do is to trigger his Double Form and perform a quick Sonic Blade on these tentacles as Jedah couldn't keep up with such a high speed skill as Roxas swiftly tore the tentacles apart.

"YOU BASTARD!" Jedah screamed in rage as he was being pulverized by the keyblade wielder with a Ragnarok missile attack.

As Roxas expected, Jedah didn't fall in battle and let out a grin. "Keh heh heh… Your struggling is most precious. But I'll not end your meager little lives quite yet. Your dear friend Anthiese will ascend Duma Tower and join me at its pinnacle! …Unless she wishes to lose her precious Alm, that is."

"You gonna need more than that to make it happen." Roxas let out a warning upon seeing Jedah leave for the tower.

Meanwhile, Celica and the others were fighting the heartless and nobodies until they faded away right after the Duma Faithful left.

"I'm so sorry, I never thought it would play out that way." Celica apologized for the incident.

"You're SORRY?!" Saber scolded the two for their recklessness. "What in the name of hell just happened? You and Roxas KNOW that dog Jedah? And what's this 'bargain' he was talking about?"

"He said that he was going after Celica's soul, but he would kill us all afterwards." Roxas explained the situation. "I won't let this happen while I'm still breathing, Jedah will need more than that to put us down."

"Lass, listen up, whatever happens you always have to tell us, no matter how crude it is, no matter how bad it is." Saber said advising her to not keep secrets from her friends and learn to trust them.

"It's true, I was a fool for keeping the secret from you guys, sorry, Saber." Celica apologized for not telling everyone. "I didn't want to involve you and the others in danger because of me."

"You have gathered a lot of allies and thankfully we all managed to get through many difficulties and many foes, so there should any kind of thrust between each other, the only reason you have been a badass fighter is because of Roxas's influence and your drive to save Alm." Saber mentioned her past actions acknowledging Celica's strength.

"Thanks, Saber… Now, let's head to Duma Tower." She finished as everybody headed to the tower.

/

DUMA TOWER.

[Devil May Cry 5 BGM: Dark Ruin]

Roxas and the party finally entered into the last and most dangerous zone to confront Duma, the tower itself was massive, dreadfully oppressive like Duma's given form.

Roxas felt a dark and threatening power filling the whole place which prompted him to put out his keyblades in case they encountered a strong foe out of nowhere. He didn't wonder that this power came from Jedah, who was awaiting them in the top of the tower.

"Stay frosty, anyone could ambush us at any second." The keyblade wielder warned the team.

Everyone else nodded as they walked carefully upstairs and of course, they had to deal with quite quantity of Heartless who tried were getting on their way to keep going up.

They kept going, going and going upstairs until they finally reached the top of the tower and meet with the most disgusting man whom Celica deeply hated.

[MUSIC STOPS]

"Impressive." Jedah praised the whole team with an evil and creepy grin. "I did not expect all of you to make it here."

"Enough talk." Celica demanded him to let her know about Mila's whereabouts. "I will see Mila now. Where is she?"

"Keh heh heh… Such impatience is unseemly, Your Highness." The Duma Faithful made fun of her due to her attitude and gave them some bad-to-worse news. "And at any rate, I'm afraid Mila isn't here."

"Then where did you take her?!" Roxas interrogated him getting upset for his cruelty.

"She's underground—on Lord's Duma's altar." Jedah gave Mila's location, but, he was willing to show them something else, something really disturbing to the team.

"I don't understand." Celica couldn't believe what had just heard.

"I can grant you sight, if you so desire." Jedah spoke as he casted a spell to show a very terrible picture of Mila, much to Celica's and everyone's horror. "Gaze now upon your precious Earth Mother!"

What everybody witnessed, it was Mila's dragon form turned into a stone with the same sword used by Rudolf, piercing her head.

"Oh no! What have you done?!" Celica cried out in horror, she didn't think she would stumble into this terrible situation.

"Sh-she's been turned to stone!" Mae also was shocked with this unfortunate event.

"Look there! Piercing her brow! Is that… Falchion?" Conrad recognized the sword stuck over Mila's head.

"You have a keen eye, boy." Jedah said to Conrad. "It is indeed the divine blade. You will likely doubt me when I say this, but that was Mila's doing. The moment Emperor Rudolf sealed her powers, Mila sealed away Falchion."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roxas interrogated him showing a lot of intrigue, why would Mila seal the weapon away, was it for revenge?

"Do not ask me her motive in this, for I understand it not." Jedah denied having any reason for these actions. "But no force in this world remains which can harm Lord Duma. She's left her children to their fates!" he laughed madly at the group.

"No… This isn't possible!" Celica spoke expressing despair after learning the woman's actions. "Mila, I don't understand. Why would you do this? Have you forsaken us?"

"Heh heh heh." Jedah mocked her openly for her pity. "Your lamentations are wasted, child. If you truly wish for her release, you know what must be done. You must offer up your soul to Lord Duma! If you don't, then that boy in black coat will!"

"What did you just say?!" Boey didn't like what he had just heard.

"Offer their… souls?" Mae seconded as he said out of shock. "Oh gods! Roxas, Celica, no! He wants to turn you guys into a witch and a mad mage!"

"He wants to turn me into… a mad mage?!" Roxas was visibly annoyed by Jedah's threatening warning. This is was a really dangerous situation, he had promised Alm that he would keep Celica safe… he thought about a way to make sure Celica was unharmed and he came with dangerous choice. "There's no other choice. Without the divine dragons' power, all of Valentia's people are lost. And the only thing that can save the dragons is the heart of a keyblade wielder like mines."

"No! No! Please don't do this, Roxas!" Celica begged him in tears to not throw his life away. "You don't have sacrifice your life like this!"

"I'm sorry, Celica. I'm sorry everyone. Please forgive me… I can't tell you how much it means to me that we've come so far together." Roxas apologized to the whole party for the tragic actions he was about to commit.

"Roxas!" Celica called him out trying to get him back to his senses.

Roxas had made his choice to sacrifice his soul to Duma so Celica and the rest of the others would live, this was his end of the line as he no longer could fulfill his mission to save Valentia and head to Fodlan to help Sora.

"No… Please…" Celica shut her eyes filling her tears which were scrolling down across her cheeks in sadness, she should have been the one who offered her soul to Duma, not Roxas.

This cannot end up like this, not like this…

"Very good decision, boy… now… let's-" Jedah was about to end his sentence when…

"STOP IT RIGHT THERE!" a female voice echoed through the tower as… much to everyone's shock, the hooded woman appeared from the cellar in front of whole group.

"You!" Celica said out of surprise to see her again after a very long time. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

But the woman didn't say a word, moreover, she walked few steps towards Roxas and… to everyone's gasp, she punched him in the face and he fell to the ground.

"Why did you do that?!" Mae cried out in shock seeing Roxas grunt in pain.

"Do you think this will solve the problems?!" the hooded woman scolded him in a very stern and severe voice, making him look at her in shock. "Sacrificing your soul will not do any good! Jedah wanted Anthiese's soul, and yet you still believed this man's lies and decided to kill yourself... This is the biggest mistake you were about to make and this would be for nothing if I didn't come here in time!"

"What… are you talking about?" Celica demanded to know her reasons of behaving like this. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Because…" the woman proceeded to slowly put her hood away, revealing her face to everyone. "I'm you… Anthiese, I go by the name of Liprica…"

The woman turned to be in the same shape as Celica, the only difference between the two is that the girl was slightly taller than her counterpart, and she had a stern and hardened warrior-like personality as Roxas.

"Liprica…?" Celica expressed surprise and confusion at the same time. "No, no, no. This can't be! My mother died when I was a baby!"

"That's right, our mother passed away." Liprica coincided with her statement. "I went through the same path as you have done until now."

"Who the hell are you?! How dare you to interrupt my soul sacrificing ritual!" Jedah lashed out in anger.

"Somebody whose soul you had sacrificed to Duma, Jedah." Liprica let out a very big statement which left everybody shocked, especially Celica as she pointed her keyblade at the Duma Faithful.

"What?" the Sofian Princess was stunned by those words and her mind was filled with many questions… did her other self really undergo through this atrocity? How well did she know Jedah?

END OF CHAPTER 13

A/N: At last, the mysterious hooded woman turned to be Liprica, Celica's Kingdom Hearts counterpart, when I wrote her, I thought on Celica's Fire Emblem Warriors's version and I wanted her to have a Roxas-like personality, and be a battle-hardened warrior, oh, and share similar traits with her original counterpart.

Her past will be explained soon enough so stay tuned.