Dislaimer: I do not own Code Geass, which is propriety of Studio Sunrise, and neither do I own Exalted, which is property of White Wolf Publishing.

This fiction originally appeared as a quest-style story on the forum Sufficient Velocity. As such do not be confused by the strange structure.

Fiendish Advent - Act 1

{●}

BANG!

The blood felt scathing hot on Lelouch's skin, almost like acid melting and gnawing at his bones. Until he realized the crimson liquid came not from the dead girl lying at his feet but it was his own, and that the sudden pain in his right shoulder was because the bullet that pierced straight through her skull grazed it.

She was dead. He didn't even know her name and yet she took a bullet destined for him like it was nothing. She was dead.

And it was Lelouch's fault.

"I've would preferred to take her alive." The scar-faced captain scoffed before looking down at Lelouch with an infuriating smirk. "This is what we are going to tell the higher-ups: 'We, His Highness's personal unit, found the terrorist base and destroyed it. However, the hostages had already been executed by the time we got there'."

But Lelouch wasn't listening: he was thinking about Suzaku. The two of them finally met after seven years, only for Suzaku to be killed because he refused the order to shoot Lelouch.

"What do you think about that, boy? Tragic, but so it's life."

Then those innocent Elevens, slaughtered like cattle because he escaped with the girl. Now she was dead too, and soon he will die too.

The last in the long list of failures that was Lelouch's life.

When he demanded the Emperor to avenge his mother's murder exile was all he received.

When Suzaku became his friend Japan was taken by surprise by Britannia because his value as hostage was completely disregarded.

When he met Suzaku he lost him again almost immediately because the idiot refused an order for his sake.

A complete stranger sacrificed her life to save his own, and he didn't even know how to feel about that.

"What's going on, cat got your tongue? That's fine I guess." The captain aimed again his gun at the raven-haired youth.

Failure after failure after failure. Everything happened because of him, because he was too weak to do something.

And now he was going to commit his last and most ignominious failure. He was going to die there, without being able to do anything.

Leaving his sister alone, blind and crippled in a world without respect for the weak and her heart broken because she has only him to rely on.

'It's all my fault.' He thought in despair. 'My fault, because I am weak!'

"Any last words boy?"

"How about 'look behind you'?"

The sound of tearing flesh, and Lelouch felt the crushing despair and self-loathing that plagued his mind take a backseat at the utterly bizarre sight of a pair of giant fangs popping out of the scarred captain's chest.

"Surprise! Go get them boys!"

The soldiers didn't even have the time to react to the gruesome death of their commander before strange forms shimmered into existence like holograms and attacked them with such speed and ferocity all they could do was scream in agony.

Lelouch watched in horror, and a little bit of awe, as the forms turned out to be giant spiders the size of a grown man, their bodies covered in silver and green fur and their limbs more akin to swords than something supposedly made of chitin. They savagely stabbed the soldiers before biting their throats and ripping them off, chewing a few times before swallowing. Then they lowered their heads and sucked the spewing blood.

It was honestly too much. "Bluaarh!" He fell on all fours and emptied his stomach.

"That's enough boys." A strong, rugged and authoritative voice barked. The spiders stopped their carnage and parted away, allowing the owner to slowly move towards Lelouch: it was another giant spider, maybe a bit bigger than the rest, its fur colored green and black with some patches of white near the head that, somehow, brought to mind the image of an aged veteran. Seven pupiless red eyes stared right at the youth, the eighth one white from a scar, a cold and calculating intelligence emanating from them. Around its abdomen it wore a belt covered with various pockets.

Lelouch didn't even try to move, too entranced by the strangeness of everything to even contemplate doing something that it wasn't kneeling in a puddle of hi own vomit. The monstrous being came a few feet from him and stopped, allowing the boy's nose to pick up a faint smell of cinnamon and...tobacco?

The spider used its front limbs, each with a three-digited claw at the end, to take out from one pocket a lighter and a cigar, putting the latter in its mouth before lighting it up. It took a mouth full of smoke and blew it in the air before looking back at him. "Sup, lil' wuss. Done wasting perfectly good food?"

His brain kind of short-circuited. "WHAT?!"

"I mean this." It grabbed a piece of half-digested hamburger Lelouch had for lunch before tossing it behind, where one of the spider caught with its mouth and swallowed. The sight was enough to set off the boy's stomach again, but he was interrupted by the spider slapping him. "Stop it. You're too skinny to think you can diet."

That was the last straw for Lelouch: he pushed himself back on his feet and tried to kick the monster, but it dodged effortlessly. "Who do you think you are?! What are you?"

The spider chuckled. Seeing a spider doing something so human-like was totally wrong. "Name's Seyrun kid. And for what I am..." It took another long drag from the cigar before gesturing to the other spiders, who were watching in silence. "I am the boss of those good boys here." They cheered at the praise as it exhaled the smoke. "I'm also someone with an offer for you."

"An offer?" Lelouch replied, now cautious.

"You don't think I saved your ass out of the goodness of my heart, do you?" Seyrun chuckled again before its voice takes on a more serious tone, like it was rehearsing a speech repeated a thousand times. "On behalf of my masters I am here to offer you the power to right your failures and reclaim what is rightfully yours."

'Too good to be true.' "What's the price?"

"Not your free will if that's your fear." It stoped to smoke again. "Simply put, you will work for my masters. You'll be given orders and you'll be expected to follow them. You'll be held accountable for failures. Beside that you can do anything you want. I scratch your back, you scratch mine: that sorta thing." It tilted its head. "Savy?"

His eyebrow twitched. The spider was really starting to get on his nerves. "Who are your masters?"

"They created the world."

"Are they Gods?"

"No. They made the Gods. But I don't think you'll recognize something even if I start listing all the details." It sighed with a hint of...sorrow? "Creation has changed so much. So, so very much."

"Creation?"

"How the world was called in the past. Because it's the creation of my masters."

"Do they have a name?"

"The Yozi. They who once were the Primordials."

"Were? What happened to them?"

Seyrun shifted uncomfortably, mirrored by the other spiders. "They were betrayed. Those who were meant to serve them conspired with two traitors. Together they made things tailor made to defeat them. Things that make the impossible possible. There was a great war. Some died, the others were imprisoned. What I am offering you is one of those things."

Lelouch considered the offer. Seyrun's tale iswas outlandishly, yet he saw with his own eyes the strength of those creatures. Either teleportation or invisibility, it was a power Britannia would have no countermeasures against. To be able to wield it himself... "What is the overall nature of my contract? There is no way they are offering away something so powerful just to get a new soldier."

"A smart one. I like that." It smirked before taking a long drag from the already half-burn through cigar. "To free and restore them to their rightful place. That's the end goal, but we're all doing our parts already. We call it the Reclamation."

Cigar held in a claw Seyrun released a cloud of smoke. "And what exactly is your part...Well, I was told you have a certain bone to pick up with the place those suckers are from." One of its rear limbs stabbed straight a soldier's severed hand. "Isn't that right, Lelouch vi Britannia?"

The youth recoiled as if slapped from the surprise. "How do you know that?"

"The one who send me and my boys here told me." It frowned. At least Lelouch thought it was a frown. "Said you would need help. He was right."

"Who is he?"

"One of my masters. Don't ask me his name!" It suddenly shouted. "I don't want to jinx myself."

He frowned. "What else he said?"

"He knows you wants to take vengeance against Britannia." The cigar was almost completely consumed. "He is okay with that. Britannia is our enemy too. You will be given power, information and all the resources needed. How you deal with it is up to you...but whatever is left will then serve the Reclamation's goals. You will become a general. He said you have the brains for the role." The way Seyrun was looking at Lelouch, it was almost like the spider was raising a non-existent eyebrow. "Do you?"

He scowled. "Of course." He paused to think again. "What happen if I say no?"

It shruged. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. We just pack up and leave you here."

"Which happens to be a warzone." He glared at the spider. "It doesn't look like a great choice."

"At least you have a chance to survive, albeit small. Unlike me."

"What do you mean?"

Seyrun pointed at itself. "That thing I said? It's inside me. It's killing me. Setting up our meeting took a lot of time. If you refuse I will not have enough time to find another candidate before blowing up. And believe me, I am completely replaceable so no safety measures."

Lelouch swallowed, unnerved by how calm the spider was while talking about its death. "...It's not fair."

Seyrun shruged again. "Life is not fair kid. Never was, probably never will be."

He looked at the other spiders. "What will happen to them?"

"If you accept they will serve you. I asked and was granted this boon." It smirked. "They're good boys. Hunters and killers, the best of the best." The spiders cheered again. "Also good at sewing, in the case you need it."

"Sewing?"

"Spiders."

"Oh."

And then silence. Lelouch let it drag out for a full minute before posing a final question. "Why me?"

"Because you have potential kid." Seyrun replied. "And the Yozi want it."

That, more than anything, settled the whole matter for the ex-prince. "Very well!" He shouted, his open palm pointed forward. "I hereby accept the terms of your contract!"

"Good to hear." Seyrun looked at its fully consumed cigar, sighed and tossed it away. "I'm going to miss it."

Then it jumped at Lelouch, turned outside out and wrapped around his body in a wave of flesh.

The remaining spiders gathered around and stared at the quickly forming cocoon. "Is this going to take long? We aren't exactly in a safe zone." One of them asked aloud.

"Don't worry. I heard it once took five days, but now things are better and it only takes fifty minutes." Another replied.

"Look at this!" A spider was holding a machine gun in its front claws. "This is the biggest firewand I have ever seen!"

"You dumbass! That's a gun, not a firewand."

"What's the difference?"

A shrug. "No idea."

In that moment a Knightmare Frame bursted into the hangar. "What happened he-Oh my God what are those things?!"

All the spiders turned to face it.

{●}

You dream of darkness. A great oily abyss, the shadow of some great foul dragon slithering at the edges of your perception. It whispers of dark secrets and corruption, of worthless virtues and the power of lies over a cold, harsh and uncaring reality. A part of you resonates with those words, frightened by the dragon's presence and yet drinking deeply from its wisdom.

Yet the rest is not.

You feel another presence approach, the dragon slithering away. If in fear or something else, you cannot tell. You fall out of the darkness, the part of yourself that didn't resonate with the dragon reacting to the new presence.

And then-

"Big Brother! Mother! Hurry up!" Nunnally calls you, hands behind her as she walks backward to look in your direction, an infectious happy smile on her face as the wind make the petals from the flower field dancing around her.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" You huff in mock irritation. True you're exhausted, but there is no way you could stay mad with Nunnally in such a good mood.

"Already out of breath Lelouch? Maybe I should start making you exercise with Suzaku." You wince at your mother's far-too-cheerful remark. More than anything you can't believe she is able to outrun you in a gown so voluminous.

"T-That's not it!" You protest, trying to salvage part of your pride. "It's...It's the shoes! They are too tight, it's killing my feet!"

"Didn't you buy them two months ago?" Suzaku calls you out on your, admittedly, poor excuse.

"Traitor!" You try to punch him but he just dodges before running ahead to reach Nunnally, laughing all the while.

"Come on, don't fight." Nunnally giggles before her eyes widen and she points to something behind you. "Big Brother! Could you get my wheelchair? I forgot it."

"Nunnally, what are you talking about?" You decide to humor her and turn around. "You don't have a whe-"

Blood.

Blood. Blood. Blood.

There is blood everywhere.

Halfway the stairs is the bullet-ridden body of your mother, her lightless eyes like those of a dead fish. Under her is Nunnally, eyes widen in absolute terror as she tries to breath despite the incredible pain from her mangled legs.

You fall back on your rear, the scene too much for your fragile ten years old self. You turn around to ask for help, to ask Suzaku-

Just in time to see a Britannian soldier press a gun to his nape and shoot, execution style. Around them other Britannians are firing on fleeing Elevens, while in the background planes are raining bombs on a city.

"...How could I forget?" Feeling wetness on your cheek you scrub it, and aren't too surprised to see it's not blood, like the one staining your student uniform, but tears. "Mother and Suzaku are dead. And Nunnally...Nunnally will never run or see the sun rising ever again. This is reality, not the world where we are all happy together."

You sob, the pain and sadness you always conceal finally spilling out. "I'm a fool. Such a world...such a world is impossible."

WHO SAY THAT?

You lurch backward by a sudden recoil, like what happen when driving a car and stopping abruptly, and fall on your back. You're not in a warzone anymore, but a great cathedral made of brass and multicolored glass, every surface twisted and warped into alien shapes that seem to constantly shift while remaining the same, your head hurting at the impossibility just be looking at it. The ceiling opens into seven great towers, viridian light seeping from some opening too far to see.

And then the floor vanishes and reappears under your feet in an instant, gravity and the surroundings following behind after a second as if caught off guard. Miraculously you don't lose balance.

Suddenly in front of you is...you don't know how to describe it. It looks like a gout of blazing, shimmering rainbows shaped in the silhouette of a person. The only inconsistency is a pair of human lips stretched into a wry, knowing smile and even then the smile is too wide, the teeth too sharp to be human.

"Who are you?" You demand.

"Who are you?" The thing parrots back in your voice, its lips unmoving.

"I asked it first!"

"Liar."

"I'm n-"

"Liar Liar. Liar." The thing is suddenly in your face, your bodies almost touching. Just the thought makes the hair on your back stand up. "You're a liar. Lelouch vi Britannia is dead: little Euphy cried at his funeral."

It disappears, the voice now coming from behind you. "Lelouch Lamperouge never really existed. It's a falsity created by Ruben Ashford out of money."

It reappears in front of you upside-down, both of you standing on the floor because where did the walls and ceiling go? and there is only the floor floor floor floor floor floor floor repeat everything seven times. "You're a contradiction Lelouch. Something that should have ended and yet still live." Its voice is tearing apart, becoming less like yours with every letter uttered. "Something that has no past and yet still exist. This make you...interesting."

The head tilts to the side, the entire reality spinning in the opposite direction. "But this doesn't make you a liar. Do you know why you are a liar Lelouch?"

Your mental faculties having abandoned you a while ago, all you can do is shake your head.

"You're a liar because you said the world you want is impossible. I/We/You/Them/Nobody/Everyone/Someone decide what is possible and what is impossible. So Speak the Lord of Not."

At the thing's words rage is rekindled in your heart, pain and hate purging your confused mind and leaving behind clarity. "What do you know?! They killed my mother! Crippled my sister! Stripped me of my title! Destroyed my home! Murdered my only friend!" Your hands are clenched so hard the bones could be heard groaning. "My whole life until now has been a prison I couldn't escape, every day living in fear of what would happen were someone to learn my sister and I are still alive!"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF PRISONS?!" The thing suddenly bellows in fury, the sound akin to the roar of a great dragon. The world around you fractures and shatters, leaving you and it floating in a vortex of kaleidoscopical light. "YOU, WHO CAN STILL MOVE? YOU, WHOSE BODY IS WHOLE? YOU, WHO CAN STILL EXPERIENCE THE WORLD?"

The thing's body explodes, expanding into a large seven pointed star. "THEY CAST ME DOWN! HELD DOWN MY LIMBS AND BROKE THEM!"

The seven arms of the star break into many fragments that still retain their overall shape. At the same time you fell your own limbs explode in agony.

"THEN THEY WRAPPED AND FUSED THEM AROUND ME, CAGING MYSELF INTO MY OWN BODY! IMPRISONED FOR SEVEN TIMES SEVEN THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED SEVENTY SEVEN YEARS!"

The star wraps around itself, forming an egg-like mountain. As it does you are assaulted by a panicked feeling of unbearable confinement and claustrophobia, your mind conjuring horrible images of being sealed inside a coffin.

"I, WHO IS THE FIRSTBORN! I, WHO DECIDED WHAT IT IS OF CREATION AND WHAT IS NOT! I, WHO WAS MORE UNIQUE AND MORE FREE THAN ANYONE ELSE!"

Then everything ceases and you're on your knees, the thing back in human-like form crouching in front of you, the smile inverted into a frown.

Your body is breaking into seven pieces, your mind pulling in seven different directions.

It's a miracle you're not yet a drooling wreck.

"ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM LAUGH?"

"...Who?"

"THE ONES WHO BETRAYED YOU. WHO STRIPPED YOU OF WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT. ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM ENJOY THE HAPPINESS CREATED OUT OF YOUR MISERY?"

...Oh. That's right...

I hereby accept the terms of your contract!

You accepted.

You grind your teeth. "No."

"YOU SAID THE WORLD YOU DESIRE IS IMPOSSIBLE. WHY?"

Your pupils contract. "Britannia. As long as Britannia exists my world will never be possible."

"THEN WHAT WOULD YOU DO?"

"The only thing to do!" You shout and push yourself back on your feet, the other mirroring your actions. "I will destroy Britannia!"

"THEY SAY ONLY A MADMAN CAN THINK OF DEFEATING BRITANNIA."

"Then so be it!" You spread your arms. "If madness is what it takes to do the impossible and create a peaceful world, then I will be more mad than anyone else!"

Silence. Neither you nor the other speak for seven seconds.

And then the smile is back, larger than the whole head.

"A LAST QUESTION. WHO I AM?"

You speak with absolute certainty. "You're a Yozi."

"CORRECT."

The next instant the other's hands are on both side of your head, its touch like vitriol on your skin.

The lips part, seven eyes of seven different colors staring through you.

I AM ORAMUS, THE DRAGON BEYOND THE WORLD. YOU HAVE MY BLESSING

GO FORTH AND IN MY NAME DEFY THE NATURAL ORDER

{●}

The chrysalis burst open in a shower of brass, quicksilver and unearthly kaleidoscopic light. The spiders retreated in awe and reverence as Lelouch stepped outside of it with the confidence and posture of a king, green fire covering his body without marring flesh.

A passing breeze caused him to shudder. Looking down he frowned. "Why I am naked?"

"Yeah, clothes are not supposed to survive that."

He felt more than hear the voice in his head. His frown deepened. 'Why are you in my head?'

It said a lot about what he had to go through in the last few hours than a voice talking in his head didn't freak him out. Even if said voice was the one of the giant spider that apparently fused with his body.

"That's part of the package. They stuck knowledge in my head, then stuck me in your head so I can tell you what do you need to know, offer advices and all that stuff."

'Can you mess with my mind?'

"Absolutely not. I'm just a witness, whatever happen inside your brain is your doing only."

'For your sake, I hope you're not lying.' Lelouch told it, no him imperiously. 'So, Seyrun was it?'

"Yep. Nice to meet you Boss."

'Boss? You changed attitude pretty quickly.'

"You accepted the deal. This make you a Green Sun Prince, a Peer of the City."

'Later you will explain what those titles mean, and everything else you skipped over. Now...'

Lelouch looked at the assembled spiders before his eyes caught the sight of a Sutherland he was totally sure wasn't there when he blanked out. 'How do I command them?'

"Just give them orders. Be harsh and firm: they're good boys, but nothing makes an Anuhle work better than the thread of violence."

Curious. But if that was what work, who was he to disappoint them?

"You all!" He pointed to the group of spider, apparently called Anuhles, and spoke with a commanding tone. "From now on you will follow my, Lelouch vi Britannia, orders! Understood?"

"YES BOSS!" They all shouted in unison and obvious excitement.

"Good. Now tell me why there is a Knightmare Frame here and what it is doing." He pointed to the Sutherland, now noticing the cockpit was open with the pilot nowhere to be seen..

The spiders looked at him in confusion. "Knightmare Frame? You mean that shoddy Warstrider?"

"A Knightmare is a big suit of armor with machinery inside and a place for a guy to pilot it, correct? A Warstrider is the same, but bigger and stronger."

Lelouch nodded. "Yes, I mean that. What is it doing here?"

"It was me! Me!" A spider stepped closer. "I was waiting dematerialized just in case. When that tin can showed up I noticed there wasn't any protection so I slip inside and ZACK!" He mimesd piercing something with his claw.

'No teleportation or invisibility, but intangibility?' "Where is the pilot?"

He looked at Lelouch.

"There was a human inside. Where it is?"

"Ah!" He skittered away for a dozen of seconds before returning and handing to him a long lock of blueish teal colored hair.

"...That's all that remains of it, isn't it?"

The spider nodded energetically.

Lelouch's eyebrow twitched. "We will talk about when it is acceptable to eat corpses and when it isn't later. Now gather everything that could be useful!"

With a chorus of "Yes!" they went to do their work. 'The Activation Key should still be there and the system active. I can use it. Now-' He looked down and, yes, he was still naked. 'I need clothes.'

"Easy. Now it's the time to tell you about some of the benefits you got out of the deal. One moment...ah, here it is. A trick to look however you like: step into the sun, channel Essence into your shadow and pull it over yourself while thinking of how you want to appear to others."

'Essence?'

"The juice that let people use magical powers. Guys like you have both an internal and external source. Remember that green fire? It's your Anima: it comes out when you draw a lot of Essence from the external source. The internal source is smaller, but it doesn't flare your Anima."

'I see.' Seyrun's words made something clicks inside Lelouch's brain, like a half-forgotten memory, and suddenly he knew.

He stepped into the light created by a shattered window, visualized an image in his head, his own shadow under it, and finally commanded it into reality.

Lelouch's shadow retracted under his feet and swirled up around his body like wetless water for a moment before depositing itself back into its normal position. Leaving the youth dressed in a Britannian foot-soldier suit complete with headgear under his arm. Reflected into the latter's visor was not Lelouch's face but that of an absolutely average brown-haired Britannian.

"Good job Boss! Now, even if very convincing your clothes are still not real, so they can't offer much protection."

"They'll do for now." Lelouch noted something on the ground: it was the radio he stole when inside the terrorist's camion. On a whim he picked up and turned it on.

*BZZZ* "Ohgi! Oghi! Guys are you still alive?"

"Kallen! Thank God you're okay! Where were you? What happened?"

"The battery pack of the Glasgow ran out and I was forced to leave it. What's the situation there?"

"Not good. It's a massacre here! Men and the others are hiding in an hangar with a bunch of civilians."

He kept listening until the two, Ohgi and Kallen (who he was almost sure was the pilot of the red Glasgow) agreed on a meeting point. At that point he turned the radio off.

They were going to die. That was the pure and simple truth. There was no way a bunch of terrorists can win against the Britannian Army...unless he helped them. They would provide a fine tool to reach Clovis and have a...talk with him.

'Seyrun, how does this intangibility ability work?' He asked his advisor?

"When we are in Creation being dematerialized is our natural state. We can materialize and become tangible only by spending a lot of Essence. Switching back to dematerialized state is quick and free however."

'Alright. And how do one regain Essence?'

"It will replenish itself over time, but there are ways to speed up the process. For Anuhles we can either eat other spirits, but there is none here - I checked, not even a God of Carnage - or we can eat fresh meat and drink blood."

'Oh joy, more cannibalism. Might as well check.' "Do any of you have enough Essence to materialize again if you go incorporeal?" A chorus of 'No' was the answer. He shook his head in irritation. "Alright, let's move on." It was time to fill some footsoldiers for the Anuhles to...consume.

{●}

A platoon of Britannian soldiers was returning to the G-1 Base after cleaning their assigned base when a Sutherland bearing the Pureblood's insignia approached them. "Who's in command here?" The pilot asked from the speakers.

"Sir!" The official saluted, quickly followed by all the other soldiers. "Second Lieutenant Steve Harper at your orders sir!"

The Knightmare gestured to a building to its right. "A bunch of Elevens hid there. Go inside and take care of them."

"Yes My Lord." The Lieutenant and the soldiers obeyed the order with the zeal of true patriots.

The screams began after the last soldier walked into the building.

"What do you know? It doesn't feel nearly as bad as I thought it would be." Lelouch commented.

"It's better this way Boss. No corpse, no chances of Hungry Ghosts happening." Seyrun spit. "Accursed creatures of Death."

That gave him pause. '...Ghosts are real?'

"Sure. Look there to the right." He did as he was told, the Factsphere revealing some strange symbols draw with chalk on a wall. "That's a ward against ghosts. I don't know what possessed humans to live in a place that's halfway to being a Shadowland, but wards like those are the sole reason Hungry Ghosts don't eat them during the night."

Lelouch didn't doubt Seyrun's words, but that raised the question of why nobody knew about stuff like this. Unless, of course, there was a masquerade enforced like in that book Rivalz gave him as a gift for his sixteen birthday?

"There is."

'...Seriously?'

"Yes. It's a bit more complicated than that however. I'll explain later."

Lelouch had the feeling that, by the end of the day, a lot of his old plans to take down Britannia will be revised. Or just scrapped.

Once all the spiders confirmed that they have enough Essence he send two groups of seven each of them to begin seizing Knightmares from their Britannian pilots, a gift to the terrorists so they may fight. Luck evidently shined on him, because not only the spiders encountered groups of Knightmares almost immediately and killed the pilots without problems, but all the Sutherlands were fully armed and the cartridges full. They must have been owned by high-ranked nobles.

Once that was done, and all 14 frames hidden safely, he sent one group to observe the enemy command center, in order to gather information and to report back to him anything they may find.

"This is a strictly reconnaissance." Lelouch told the seven, feeling a vague sense of approval for choosing that number "Stay dematerialized all the time and don't engage for any reason. If you think someone has spotted you, retreat. If you see or hear something you deem important the one who did must immediately come to report to me. After an hour passed you retreat, no matter what happened."

"Will do Master!" They cheered before vanishing.

'I suppose there is a way to see dematerialized spirits?'

"Yes, a considerable number at that. Good thinking with those orders. It's what I would have done."

Lelouch supposed it counts as a compliment.

With the spiders that made up his personal guard, already incorporeal, riding atop the Sutherland he speeded up to where the terrorists were gathering, hoping it was not too late to recruit some more minions.

{●}

Luck was on Lelouch's side again, because he arrived just in time. The terrorists were blocked in a stalemate with some footsoldiers, the warehouse providing excellent cover, but the three Sutherlands coming from the other directions were going to change that.

Or better, they would have changed the battle that were Lelouch not there himself.

"We have you now, Elevens!" The pilot of the first Sutherland shouted, his and his companions' guns leveling themselves on the helpless terrorists.

From the shadows Lelouch's Knightmare gestureed for his minions to attack. Immediately screams could be heard from the Britannian pilots as demons slain and devoured them. Coming out of his hiding place Lelouch aimed his rifle at the footsoldiers and fired, gunning them down with a spray of bullets meant to tear apart tanks.

After confirming all enemies were dead he contacted through the radio the shocked terrorists. "It looks like I arrived just in time. I hope you don't have many casualties. Are you the leader?"

A man with brown hair answered with his own radio, the others watching Lelouch's Frame warily. Except for the redhead, who was looking in awe at his handiwork. "N-No, everyone is fine. Yes I am, but wh-"

"I will keep this brief because we don't have much time." Lelouch interrupted him. "As you can guess I am not a Britannian pilot. I stole this Sutherland. Those three-" He gestured to the freshly liberated Frames. "And fourteen others are for you and your comrades. The tools for your victory...if you follow my commands, that is."

"Don't! What if it is a trap?!" A guy with red hair and a bandanna protested.

"Oh, sure." Lelouch replied in a mocking tone before gesturing to the dead soldiers. "I'm a Britannian, and I just killed my compatriots that were about to kill you so that I could bait you into a trap."

That shut him up. The redhead - the girl, not the man - was the first to get over her shock, taking a Sutherland. "Alright, I'm in. What's next?"

"Turn off the IFF. I need mine to predict where the enemy will be, but you need to be invisible to their radars. After that I will lead you to where I hid the other Sutherlands."

"Did you hear that?" The man with brown hair shouted to the others. "I'll get one. Sugiyama, take the other one." Then he contacted you again. "Listen, I am grateful for you help, but could you tell us who you are? At least your name...?"

Giving them his true name was out of the question for Lelouch, but at least a code name was necessary, if only to avoid confusion.

"If it can help, one of the sobriquets of your caste is Vitriol Falcon."

'...Nope. The matter of what a Caste is aside, that is not something I want to call myself with.' Still, Lelouch felt this was an important decision that will greatly shape the future.

"You can call me...Zero."

Zero. Empty, yet it holds within itself infinite possibilities. What a paradox. And it was exactly what best define Lelouch Vi Britannia: someone who once was nothing, just another powerless fool in a cruel world, and yet now he felt - no, he knew without a shadow of doubt there was nothing he couldn't do!

Name: Lelouch Vi Britannia

Aliases: Lelouch Lamperouge, Zero

Caste: Fiend (Infernal)

Patron: Oramus, The Dragon Beyond the World

Motivation: To create a peaceful world from the ashes of Britannia

Urge: Forge a new empire greater than Britannia ever was (Oramaic)

Anima Banner: Two eastern dragons, one with scales each a subtly different color and the other with scales of the purest black, moving and coiling around one another like a strand of DNA while supported by seven great wings made of unearthly kaleidoscopic light