Time for a climactic battle!

ON WITH THE SHOW!

Neptunia Guild Files: Fate/book one

A Hyperdimension Neptunia Fan Fiction

by Derald Snyder

Section 28: Flames of Darkness

"Jeanne!" Saber cried in recognition and relief.

"Oh, thank the goddesses," Archer grunted as he let go of his partner, standing straight again.

"It seems we've made it just in time!" Nero observed.

"Great, another dragon," Tamamo groaned upon beholding Fafnir.

"Gilles, this time you've gone too far!" Jeanne declared as she glared upon her former friend. "How could you terrorize this town with dragons, and make such a twisted image of myself?! I've told you again and again, vengeance will accomplish nothing! Why didn't you listen?"

"How could I, knowing that those who wronged us got off without punishment?!" Gilles shot back. "And for what?! Just because we didn't play video games?! When there were far more important tasks to accomplish, like growing food and animals for our fellow man to eat, or building houses for them to live in?! We did nothing wrong, yet they put us to the flame, for wrongly believing that we were assisting the Deity of Sin! Is that fair?! IS IT?!"

"Of course not! On that one point, we agree," Jeanne ceded, "but what you're doing now makes you no better than ASIC and the Deity of Sin! Can't you see that you will destroy the innocent along with the guilty?! It's not up to you to judge!"

"Oh, shut up!" Jeanne Alter yelled at her counterpart. "Your holier-than-thou act makes me sick to my stomach! This is precisely why Gilles created me, to take your place! So I could do what you're too weak to do!" With that she sent flames from La Pucelle up at her counterpart, but they simply washed over Jeanne and the other two with no effect whatsoever.

"My magic resistance is ranked EX, or unquantifiable for a reason," Jeanne stated dispassionately. "If you want to kill me, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way!"

"In that case... devour them, Fafnir!" Alter ordered, the dragon attempting to chomp on the trio, only for them to dodge by jumping down beside Archer and Saber!

"Allow me to assist you, Jeanne!" Gilles declared, summoning summoning spiked octopus monsters from his magic tome! "Tear them apart, my familiars!"

"Okay, these guys I can handle!" Tamamo said as she summoned ice spikes to impale the tentacle monsters, Nero joining her to fight them off!

Meanwhile, Jeanne had engaged in battle with her doppelgänger, her flagpole clashing against La Pucelle! "Do you really think you can win?! You're a wimp who never kills anyone!" Alter taunted.

"You'd be surprised what a person can live through!" Jeanne retorted, deflecting a slash, using her flag to temporarily blind her opponent before swinging for the head- only to be deflected by Alter's own flagpole!

"Nice try, but I know all your tricks!" Alter taunted again, slashing with her sword, Jeanne quickly spinning aside! She then looked up to see Fafnir with it's jaws wide open- but the dragon was struck in the mouth by a sharp arrow, causing it to rear back and roar in pain!

"Don't count me out yet!" Archer asserted, readying another arrow. Just then, he heard a long whine in the distance... "That's... could it be?!"

"It's Rider... on Bellerophon!" Saber gasped in realization. Sure enough, Rider's custom hovercycle came into view, flying at high speed!

"Let's see how you like THIS, you overgrown lizard!" Rider screamed as she charged in, heading directly for Fafnir's head! A loud report echoed through the air as she made impact, Fafnir stumbling before collapsing unconscious, a minor tremor resulting from it's body hitting the ground, it's head impacting soon after!

"No way! Impossible!" Jeanne Alter cried in disbelief.

"Red Saber! Finish him!" Archer yelled.

"So I shall!" Nero assented, leaping and jamming her sword through Fafnir's eye, then igniting her blade, the dragon's head burning underneath it's scaly hide! Not long after, Fafnir dissolved into so many hexagons and vanished as if it had never been there.

"Curses! How dare you!" Gilles screeched in fury. "All of you will DIE for denying me my vengeance!" He fired several magic blasts from his dark tome at the group save Jeanne, Nero and Tamamo scrambling to avoid them!

"Look out, Shirou!" Saber shoved Archer away from one blast, only to get nailed dead-on!

"Artoria!" Jeanne cried as she parried another blow from Alter.

"Ohhohoho! That's one down!" Gilles chortled... but then a pillar of darkness erupted into the sky! "Wh-what?! What is this?!" he cried, taken aback.

"Oh no..." Archer realized. "Saber got hit... with a dark magic attack!"

"Oh no, mikon!" Tamamo gasped in horrified comprehension. "That means...!"

(Music- 'Grand Battle', Fate/Grand Order)

Sure enough, the darkness soon dissipated, revealing none other than Saber Alter, completely revitalized. But this time, instead of the black armor, Alter wore a black jacket over a black tank top that was cut to emphasize her cleavage (what little she had, anyway), along with black short shorts and knee-high leather boots. Her sword had once again become Excalibur Morgan, pulsing with power in her hand.

"What the hell...?! You kinda look like me now!" Jeanne Alter stated, her eye twitching slightly.

"As in... Artoria Alter?!" the original Jeanne grunted, her expression a mix of curiosity and horror.

"...Something like that," Saber spoke, her golden eyes gazing upon Jeanne Alter. "Jeanne. Back off and leave her to me."

"What? But, Artoria-" Jeanne began to protest.

"That was not a request." Jeanne went nearly as pale as her counterpart as Saber Alter glared upon her, meekly withdrawing and leaving Jeanne Alter standing alone. "Now then, you cheap knockoff, allow me to show you how low you truly rank on the totem pole in terms of threat..."

"Ch-cheap knockoff?!" Jeanne Alter's face darkened at the insult. "Go to hell!" she screeched as she sent flames from La Pucelle at the blonde... only for said flames to simply wash over her with no effect. "W-what?! How?!"

"Is that the best you can do?" Saber scoffed as she walked forward, the fire not even harming her clothes. Jeanne Alter screamed in rage, charging forward- only for Saber to swing her sword with such force that it not only deflected the strike, her opponent was sent tumbling along the floor! "Pathetic. You can't even keep your feet in a real fight..."

"Jeanne!" Gilles cried in distress, summoning more familiars from his tome to assist her.

"Caster. Red Saber. Keep those demon fish off me." Saber's orders were blunt and to the point.

"Y-yes ma'am!" "Right away, mikon!" Nero and Tamamo obeyed, engaging the spiked squids.

"H-has this happened before?!" Jeanne asked as she retreated to Archer's side.

"Once," Archer replied. "You can thank her mother dearest for this... and just when she'd about recovered, too..." He then fired off some arrows at the monsters that Gilles had summoned.

Meanwhile, Jeanne Alter had righted herself, her flagpole and sword clashing with Saber Alter's blade, but was unable to make any headway against her adversary. "Dual-wielding is ineffective if your weapons keep getting in the way of each other," Saber stated bluntly. "Jeanne would give me a far better run for my money than you!"

"Shut up!" Jeanne Alter screeched, shoving Saber away with her weapons, then using La Pucelle to invoke a wall of flames between the two, attempting to blind her enemy and give herself a breather. But Saber Alter simply leapt over the flame wall and delivered a jump kick to the head, knocking the dragon witch flat on her back! Saber then attempted an overhead slash, Jeanne Alter barely bringing her flagpole up to deflect the attack!

"This is getting boring," Saber Alter said dispassionately, backing off and holding her black sword before her. "So I shall end your miserable existence now! "Hammer of the Vile King Vortigern, reverse the rising sun!" Darkness blazed up around her. "Swallow the light! EXCALIBUR... MORGAN!" She swung her blade, unleashing a wide wave of pure darkness at Jeanne Alter!

"Oh, shit! Luminosité Éternelle!" Jeanne Alter cried, her flagpole glowing as the dark wave swallowed her, a pillar of darkness shooting into the sky! When it faded, she was still alive, albeit down on one knee and panting heavily, her armor showing a few cracks.

"Impressive. You actually managed to survive that attack," Saber commented as she lowered her sword. "But it has only revealed you for the hypocrite you are. You claim to be an avatar of vengeance and destruction, yet you still possess your original's ability to protect yourself and others..."

"Shut up! It was survival instinct!" Jeanne Alter shot back as she stood back up, still leaning on her flagpole. "Where the hell did you get this kind of power?! I thought using that ability tired you out!"

"Not in this blackened state," Saber Alter stated bluntly. "And you. Don't think I don't see you trying to attack me from behind," she said without even turning her head.

"Geh-! How did you-?!" Gilles gasped in shock.

"Arrrrrggghh!" Jeanne Alter growled as dark flames surrounded her again. "I won't accept this...! I will NOT be humiliated like this!"

"Forget it. Your flames have no effect on me," Saber sighed in mild irritation.

"How about burning stakes then?!" Jeanne Alter shouted in psychotic rage. Raising up La Pucelle, she intoned, "La Grondement Du Haine!" This time, several stakes erupted from the ground, setting aflame as they closed in on Saber Alter...

Only for the blonde to smirk, before suddenly vanishing! Undeterred, the stakes continued their lunge forward- right at Gilles de Rais himself! The caster screamed in agony as he was skewered thrice over, flames erupting from every orifice on his body as Jeanne covered her mouth in horror!

By the time the fire had died down, nothing remained but a charred skeleton, Gilles' dark tome having also been burned to ashes. "NO! What have... what have I done?!" Jeanne Alter cried out, falling to her knees, her mouth hanging open from shock as her flagpole and La Pucelle clattered to the floor.

"How ironic," Saber Alter spoke from Archer's side, startling him slightly. "Those who pursue revenge will be consumed by it... literally, in this case." With Gilles' death, the spiked tentacle monsters also faded into nothingness, Nero and Tamamo turning to behold the grisly scene.

"Oh, my!" Nero gasped in horror. "That poor man, he didn't deserve that...!"

"Urrrghh... glad I haven't eaten recently, or I'd be losing my lunch right now, mikon," Tamamo grunted with one hand to her stomach. Her fox ears then picked up a familiar noise, looking up to see Rider setting down on Bellerophon, climbing off her ride soon after.

"Holy shit, what happened to him?!" Rider gasped, looking about to get sick herself. Then she saw Saber Alter. "Oh hell, don't tell me you..."

"It's not my fault he didn't know enough to stay out of his subordinate's line of fire," Saber snorted with her arms crossed.

Meanwhile, Jeanne Alter had collapsed to her elbows and knees, small spots of moisture appearing below her face as her sobs echoed through the now almost deathly quiet chamber... Then she felt someone pulling her up, raising her head to see her mirror image. "W-what do you want...?"

"Mad as he was, Gilles was still my old friend," Jeanne said haltingly, tears starting to roll down her own cheeks. "I take no pleasure in what has become of him..."

"W-why don't you just kill me then?! I killed him myself...! I no longer have a reason to exist!" Alter snapped harshly.

"I won't," Jeanne rebuffed her. "I admit, up until now, I would have been fine with Saber destroying you... but seeing you cry like this... that tells me that you're capable of being more than just an instrument of destruction. That you're capable of emotions other than rage and hatred..."

"B-but... I'm your polar opposite! I'm everything you're not!" Alter protested.

"Not necessarily," Jeanne disagreed. "After all, you are me, even if a twisted mockery. And if I can't forgive myself, who can I forgive? Besides..." She drew Alter into a gentle embrace. "My one wish that I could never have, is to celebrate birthdays and festivals with my old family... but maybe, just maybe... you could be my little sister..."

"S-sister?! A-are you freaking insane?!" Alter gasped out.

"I second that!" Rider agreed.

"I-I third it!" Nero nodded.

"Not insane, per se... just maybe, a little selfish..." Looking over at Saber, she said, "Please Artoria, at least give me a chance to try and reform her..."

Saber glared back for a moment before sighing and rolling her eyes. "Fine, do what you want." Turning to Archer, she said, "Shirou, you will take me to the nearest burger joint. I'm hungry."

Archer heaved a resigned sigh before nodding. "Alright... just, remember my wallet's not bottomless, okay?"

"Fine. Rider, since you abandoned us like a coward, you deal with the cleanup," Saber Alter ordered before going off with Archer.

"Hey! I helped take down that dragon, didn't I?!" Rider protested as the couple left. "Geez, you freak out one time..."

"Y-you aren't going to make us take a sample from that corpse, are you...?!" Nero asked with trepidation.

"No, I'll call the police from Planeptune City," Rider answered, pulling out her phone. "You and Caster... just keep an eye on Jeanne and Alter, just in case she tries something funny."

"Understood, mikon," Tamamo nodded, looking over at the duo, who were now crying into each other's shoulders.

"Y-you'll regret this..." Jeanne Alter got out between sobs. "I'll burn you... to ashes... just you wait..." Her actions belied her words, however, as she was hugging Jeanne just as firmly as her 'sister' was hugging her...

"Heh... you can try," Jeanne whispered back teasingly.

*To be continued...*

So, were you expecting that ending? I'll admit I was going back and forth on whether Jeanne Alter would live or not, right up until I was typing the scene out... Anyway, review!