Celeste

"Would you stop drinking to spite the water you almost drowned in?"

Celeste (real name Maya) was a side character and Red Dorm Duelist in Seaside Rumble 1, and a main character in Seaside Ride 1. A bit of a stuffy church girl until she opened up via a relationship with Kerath Shadowstar, she lost her life in the aftermath of Seaside Ride's Vanguard Tournament.

## Personality

Acts quite devout in her daily life, and is happy to share the good word of the Lord to all who care to listen. However, if she opens up to someone (perhaps with a bit of help of sacramental wine) she drops the persona of Celeste and the true Maya came come out; strong enough that Maya is actually the one who picked up on Kerath, not the other way around.

## Biography

### Backstory

Grew up in a very devout household, and lives the part.  She believes that the so called God cards in Duel Monsters are mere aspects of the one true god, and is quite happy to utilize their power as a way to maintain the line between her faith and hobby. She had seen a lot of the bad sides of the world while out with her parents on missionary work, and hated how her parents manipulated people into the faith with fake faith healing and promises of eternity.

### Seaside Rumble 1

Celeste wasn't even named in her first appearance in Seaside Rumble, instead being a nameless Red girl walk of shaming from the Blue Dorm after sleeping the night with Kerath. Kerath described it to Isao as "She spends soooo much time trying to convince everyone she's soooo prim and proper, and the moment she got out from under her parent's roof? Damn but did she want to **experience** life.". She had a few other minor appearances subsequently, dueling (with alarmingly bad results - there is a reason she's a Red) with her assorted Divine inspired decks. She heard of the Ba'al the first time over a conversation in the Red Dorm with Akahito and JoJo - the latter of which had just actually cooked an edible meal in the dorm, something unheard of in Red. Though the discussion of just what the Ba'al were - be it aliens or demons or gods got Celeste convinced out of the available options that it was most logical that they were, in fact, demons.

Her first personal meeting with the power of the "Demons" came when chancing upon Azure Talon, when she was starting to lose herself mentally to the whispering voice of pain in her mind from the Pendulums given to her by Loptr. This meeting... did not go well for Celeste. An attack from Azure's Utopia, punctuated by her mocking "Where's your God now, Celeste?" that ended that duel cut clean through her jacket; thankfully, Celeste was turned, but "Somehow the attack wasn't too deep, looks like the same kind of injury you can get with a kitchen knife. Except, you know, that it crossed from right shoulder to left hip across her back." Celeste was helped to the infirmary by Delaga and Tabooru, disappointed in herself that she was unable to exorcise the demons haunting Azure. She was more surprised that when she woke up in the infirmary, Kerath was there, having slept in the room and been helping the staff with her, and admitting that he actually cared about her (despite the rather rude things she had called him on waking up in his room before.)

She had a few other check-ins during her time in the infirmary, although the worst of them had to be when Azure herself came to visit. Not because it was Azure; Celeste was sad that she had not aided more, although Azure did thank Celeste. In a twisted way, what happened to Celeste was the catalyst of Azure coming to terms with the darkness inflicted upon her, her Talon, and she explained as much. Then, with an apology for why she had come to visit, she left Celeste with two deck boxes; one a Dragunity/Assault Mode deck, and the other... Red-Eyes. She explained quickly that Kerath had been temporarily taken by the enemy, and left Celeste to wonder why Kerath had left his decks to her.

She returned shortly after to the Red Dorm, having also been left a bag with Kerath's Duel Disk and school phone - Kerath wanting to keep SaaZe's eyes out of the Raiders' group chat. After a warning from Akahito from his suspicions of Sora (who had been missing for a couple weeks at this point) being another possible host, Celeste kept her eyes open for JoJo; finally finding her later that week. Well, being found by her, by the misfortune of JoJo grabbing her by her still-injured shoulder. Upon mention of Sora, JoJo got noticably upset about the other girl being missing, and Celeste shared Kerath's fate as well as Akahito's suspicions about Sora. JoJo got even more noticably upset when she pushed Celeste into admitting her injury was caused by Azure and her pendulums. While mentally wondering why the power the Ba'al held seemed to be so much more apparent than the power of her own God, her mental voice was interupted by another: *"Because we are the true gods."*

The voice of the high Ba'al, that introduced itself as Ec Tisia The Sovereign quickly ran into the wall of Celeste's faith; Ec Tisia's promises of coming for Salvation and questioning her devotion to her own God were denied by Celeste, who despite everything was still quite faithful. Her insistence on refusing Ec Tisia's salvation finally reached the point where Ec Tisia offered a simple solution to Celeste's stubbornness. "*But if you shall not kneel... **You will be knelt."*** Immediatly, Celeste's vision and hearing were Denied to her, forcing her to drop to her knees, sightless and barely able to hear at the Red Dorm with JoJo holding her up and holding her tight. Celeste admitted she couldn't hear JoJo at all, let alone see, but JoJo held her close enough to feel JoJo's heartbeat, as a way to try to ground the sightless girl into reality.

She was taken to the infirmary (once again, she practically had a second dorm there at this point) and was lying there helpless, until Akahito and Jas appeared to offer support. Akahito intuited communicating with her by tracing letters on her hand, and let her know they were there. The next morning, she awoke still blinded by The Sovereign's light, and offered a challenge to the High Ba'al; a duel, that if she won Ec Tisia would free her and if she lost she would willingly serve the High Ba'al. Ec Tisia, unlike Loptr's faction, did not go easy on Celeste (who chose to use Kerath's Red-Eyes deck for the duel, rather than her Timelords). Though the duel was close: Despite Ec Tisia forcing several of the Red-Eyes monsters to "be knelt" with her Powers, and preventing some of Celeste's effects to prevent effects from functioning, Celeste took the Sovereign down to under 1000 life points, before she simply ran out of resources. Of course then, by the terms of her own deal, where her faith in the Christian God had once been was an unwavering support for Her Sovereign. Though Ec Tisia's influence simply was a measure of forced acknowledgement of Ec Tisia's undeniable Presence, she still let Jas and Akahito know what had happened; that though her will was her own, the fact that she was influenced by the Sovereign was as undeniable as The Sovereign itself.

When questioned by Isao and the Raiders in the arena, she pled the Sovereign's case; explaining how her faith had been faltering, and the comfort of knowing that if she prays The Sovereign, it will actually be answered is a comforting thought to her, though their reaction to her change of faith was... less than pleased. Celeste learned from Ec Tisia that it was Loptr who was actually the one who was instrumental to saving the Lesser Ba'al, for her ability to eat anything was what was able to open a pathway from Greater Ba'al to another world, so Ec Tisia wasn't directly opposing Loptr's will, instead knowing it benefited the Greater Good to allow Loptr to succeed before re-sealing her again. As a gift to Celeste as she professed her faith in the Sovereign again and asked for forgiveness for doubting it, Ec Tisia Denied her the ability to feel pain from the injury Azure had inflicted upon her; she was still careful as to not re-open the wound, but she was able to move much easier now.

After being informed by Azure that Kerath had been saved, she rushed to the infirmary with Kerath's belongings, though he was still quite unconscious after his 5-days-in-a-row-being-awake thing. Later that day, while discussing events (and starting to explain them to Sehr, who had helped her with Kay the day before) Celeste had approached, and upon Ec Tisia overhearing their desire to talk without being heard, Denied the area they were sitting in from the world, bringing a group consisting of Azure, Sehr, Kuro, Delaga, Akahito, Celeste, Isao, and Jas to the Sovereign's Throne. Celeste spent time and patience explaining to the group of Loptr's necessary evil; the sacrifice of a thousand lives of humanity to allow hundreds of thousands of innocent lesser Ba'al to escape their dying world, although the group remained rather dubious of Ec Tisia and its motivations, despite Azure's assertion that Celeste was not, in fact, possessed. When the Sovereign appeared in person, one member of the group, Kuro, began to loudly mouth off towards the Sovereign. Ec Tisia did not demand obedience, but as The Greater Good did demand acknowledgement, and Kuro got his senses Denied the same way Celeste had. After listening to Azure's queries about purging victims of SaaZe, Celeste asked Ec Tisia for further power to help aid The Sovereign's cause.

The end result isn't what anyone expected, as The Sovereign took one of the attendents at its side, and enfused Celeste with the Lesser Ba'al's spirit, essentially making Celeste herself a Lesser Ba'al. The spirit was Caritas, the spirit of Benevolence, and granted her the power to Heal others by taking a fraction of their pain onto herself. Of course, the rest of the group still refused to accept the situation, and in the end Akahito and Jas together challenged the High Ba'al to a duel. Celeste, trying desperately to get them to see reason, took the side of her new God - a God that actually existed - against her friends. Akahito, having just been damaged severely by a duel and then a 3v1 against SaaZe the night before, passed out from the assault of Ec Tisia's dueling. This however gave Celeste the chance to learn her new power, as she rushed to Akahito's side. Though the damage she received was lessened by Caritas's power, she did get some of the reflection of Akahito's pain when she Healed him of the damage SaaZe and Ec Tisia had caused him, for the Spirit of Benevolence within her wanted to heal his hurt. After the group returned from the Sovereign's space, she went to Kerath's side, easing some of his weariness, and explaining to him what had happened in his absence when he awoke.

The next day after class, Azure brought Celeste to see Kay. While Kay was paranoid at first, some of SaaZe's influence allowing her to see the Spirit of Benevolence in Celeste, Celeste talked her into trusting her enough to get Kay to pray for salvation from Ec Tisia. Ec Tisia denied the early stage SaaZe infection, and the worm was forced to leave Kay.

Celeste had a bit of calm the next few days, trying her newly formed Qliphort deck (which unlike Azure's Pendulums couldn't cause damage; the source of her power was the Spirit of Benevolence, and she was incapable of causing damage) against Akahito netting her a rare victory. She also dueled Kuro (without duel disks) to earn the right to Heal him after he broke his leg chasing Azure and getting blown into a tree by her Majespecter Cyclone for his trouble. Although this caused a bit more backlash to her than most of her Healings prior, she at least fixed his leg so he could walk again.

After Azure was cleansed of Pendulums, Ryuko reached out to Celeste, presenting her with the idea that they could save the Lesser Ba'al without using Loptr to open the path. Celeste was intrigued by the option: she knew Ec Tisia had no love for Loptr, and was only using Loptr for the Greater Good. She also knew Vii, who inhabited Smoke, wouldn't be pleased, given that Vii's goal was annihilation of the Lesser Ba'al as a species, but she cautiously agreed if Ryuko could find a way to do so.

When the Azure Gorgon appeared once again, Celeste was able to locate it using her Spirit to sense where the massive knot of pain was coming from, and she used her powers first to Heal Azure after Azure had the brilliant idea of hugging Cthulu, and then Akahito from the injuries he had taken losing a duel with the Gorgon and the subsequent launch into a tree. After the subsequent duel of Mezah defeating the "Hero of Justice" Yuusha-Ou, she and Akahito reported the duel to JoJo, considering the near certainty the girl was Sora infused with pieces of Devoured High Ba'al, similar to how the Azure Gorgon was created from the discarded soul fragment Loptr had placed in Azure.

In the finale of the first season, Celeste went with Ryuko/Vii to find the Azure Gorgon once more. She was told to stay back instead of helping, however, as Ryuko challenged the Gorgon one on one; as such she was spared the worst of it when the duel between the two High Ba'al ended with the entire outcropping of rock at the edge of the island they were on collapsing. Celeste was thrown back during it, but when it ended she could find neither Ryuko or the Gorgon, both seemingly lost in the sea.

In the epilogue of the first season, Celeste met Tilia and introduced her to Ec Tisia, doing her job as a priestess of the Greater Good. She also met JoJo again, who had confirmed Yuusha-Ou was Sora, though JoJo refused healing from the assorted injuries JoJo had received dueling the girl's Ba'al-powered HEROs. She also was rather upset by Ryuko's disappearance, feeling partially responsible since she hadn't been allowed to help in the duel Ryuko was lost in.

### Seaside Ride 1

Celeste, along with Kerath, began frequenting Card Capital around when Griffin and Odd vanished. Per Celeste, Azure asked Kerath for a favor, and Kerath passed the buck onto Celeste since he couldn't be bothered. She relatively quickly claimed an Angel Feather deck (surprising nobody).

She intervened in a fight between Akahito and JoJo, when JoJo and Akahito were having a "who is in a worse situation" fight after Namiko was kidnapped. When JoJo misunderstood one of Akahito's comments (thinking he had insulted Celeste), she punched him in the face, causing Celeste to physically drag JoJo out of the bar before she could get in trouble with the hardass owner. They had some coffee and talked over the situation, and Celeste even got JoJo to give Celeste her number and to at least try working with the Raiders some, since saving Sora and Namiko and all the others was the goal of everyone.

She began being involved with the plot primarily when SaaZe appeared before her, Griffin, Akahito, and Delaga, offering information on Odyssey to Griffin in exchange for Celeste, giving Celeste a SaaZe worm. Celeste and Griffin both refused, not willing to trade Celeste for information on someone who was working for Loptr, and therefore most likely broken beyond repair as Griffin saw it. She carried the worm around in a bottle, not wanting to bother Lord during break to return it as the Raiders tended to do. Unknown to her, was after SaaZe left, JoJo struck a deal with the High Ba'al, to leave Celeste alone in exchange for JoJo going with SaaZe.

Sora, not in her guise as Yuusha-Ou, appeared before Celeste not long after, telling her she should just stick the worm in. As Celeste balked in shock, Sora gave her an even bigger shock - *"...It must be nice, to be so dense as to overlook everyone's feelings just so you can feel better about yourself. She liked you, you know."* Sora also gave the helpful advice that SaaZe would likely even free Namiko if Celeste gave herself up, since Celeste was a bigger prize to Loptr than Namiko was. Namiko was a seed and a bargaining tool with the flowers, but Celeste was Caritas - Loptr would greatly prize having one of Ec Tisia's greatest servants under her thrall. She naturally refused.

Celeste joined the Vanguard tournament with Jas and Delaga as Team Ruby Angel, but were eliminated in the top 16, by the team of "Namiko", Sora, and a much darker JoJo. Celeste was defeated by Sora, and Jas couldn't hang on against SaaZe in Namiko's body, leaving them quickly taken out. She gave over the SaaZe worm to Lord and Aoi and Midori, and then watched as the End occured. Thanks in no small part to her noble sacrifice, the End was averted, however; the Lesser Ba'al that Midori gathered channeled their hopes and prayers through Caritas, and Celeste as Caritas left her body to rejoin her Sovereign, becoming one of the jewels of the Greater Good's weapon that he used to re-seal the Devourer, along with whoever else was present in the arena at the time. Her body lived on, but without a soul was just... there. Midori took Celeste's soulless body to hook up to life support, for reasons unexplained at the time.

### Post Seaside

After the Dimensional Reset, Loptr and her forces never won the Vanguard Tournament. This resulted in Loptr's Seal never actually being broken, and life eventually moving on. Maya was seen running a clinic, alongside JoJo - it wasn't widely advertised, due to Maya taking in some of the damage she Healed, but she did have a regular visitor in Azure. In this continuity, Azure had become the High Ba'al of Pain, and suffered from The Avenger's issue of never naturally healing from suffered pain - however, Maya was still able to relieve her of it, for a time.

## Abilities

### Caritas

Caritas is one of the Spirit companions of Ec Tisia, the Sovereign - the Spirit of Benevolence. Celeste was gifted this power for she truly had a benevolent soul, and used it to create a Pendulum deck, as well as its ability to sense people who were in pain. Her primary power, however, was Healing - Caritas had been "a truly gifted medic" in life, and a decendent of The Martyr. As such, Caritas gave her the ability to remove injuries from others, by absorbing a portion of the damage herself, although in the end she only took roughly 25% of the damage she restored.

After being absorbed by the Sovereign's sword in the finale of Ride, Celeste "lives" on in the Sovereign's pocket dimension, as the new Caritas, and in Rumble Season 3 was able to allow Ryuko to channel some of her power as well as the other spirits.

## Relationships

### Kerath Shadowstar

Celeste first met Kerath off screen. It's unknown how they got to drinking, though given Kerath's reputation its likely they dueled, he invited her back to his place, they had a few drinks since Kerath felt there might be something he could get out of it. He wasn't expecting her to pick up on him, however - once the wine relaxed her out of her shell of Celeste, Maya emerged and was *hungry*. Long repressed but eager to be out of her parents' grasp, Maya rather enjoyed her night with Kerath - and Celeste hated him for it in the morning, calling him everything up to and including the devil himself as she left for her walk of shame back to Red. That said, Maya had left an impression on him, and when Kerath found out that she had been hurt by Azure, he was there to help care for her. They dated for quite a while, before they both mutually realized they weren't right for each other - both had used the other to move past things in their life they couldn't have done alone, and they were thankful for that... however, they amicably parted ways after that.

### JoJo

Celeste knew JoJo at first mostly due to JoJo's amazing cooking, and since food was a major week point for Celeste this led them to bonding a bit. JoJo helped her focus her deck strategies down to just trying the Timelords, although that fell by the wayside as well after Celeste converted to being Ec Tisia's follower (which JoJo highly disapproved of, given that she was the one present with Celeste when Celeste's senses were initially Denied to her). This was also, she assumed, a large part of the reason why JoJo never allowed Celeste to Heal her when she showed up injured. Later, JoJo vanished, and when Sora appeared and told Celeste that JoJo had given herself up to SaaZe to protect Celeste because she *liked* Celeste (in that way) Celeste was absolutely dumbfounded, having never seen it coming or reciprocated her feelings in any way.

### Azure Talon

Celeste first met Azure when Azure was in the worst part of her mental breakdown from her "Talon's" influence, and tried to follow her parents' teachings to exorcise Azure's demons. This was exactly the wrong thing to do, as Azure finally broke a bit and unleashed her dark side's desire to hurt, with a Pendulum-fueled Utopia flaying open Celeste's back from shoulder to hip diagonally across her back. Once Azure was better, they worked together quite a bit - including rescuing Kay from SaaZe using Ec Tisia's influence, and after she became one with Caritas she even blessed the plan of having Azure utilize her de-souled body, having no use for it anymore.

### Jas Larimer

Celeste was a good friend for Jas, as much as a "misery loves company" friendship as they were easily Red's worst duelists. She gently nudged Jas and Delaga together as a couple, and teamed up with them in the Vanguard Tournament. In the end their friendship was indeed set to be eternal, as they lived on at Ec Tisia's side as Caritas and Industria.

## Decks

### Seaside Rumble

Celeste arrived at Duel Academy with no less than 5 decks, all built around different Divinities; Egyptian Gods, Wicked Gods, Sacred Beasts, Timelords, and Earthbound Gods. With some guidance from JoJo, she settled on Timelords, until receiving power from Ec Tisia, at which point she shifted into using Pendulums - first trying Qliphorts, and when that didn't work for her she shifted to an Odd-Eyes deck with Kerath's recommendation.

### Seaside Ride

In Vanguard, Celeste unsurprisingly used a Angel Feather deck built around Black Shiver, Gavrail.