In this time of absolute darkness, we must unite to bring forth the light of hope.

The time has come!

Yes, this is the dawn of a new age!

And with that, the Milites Empire, led by their Imperial Marshal Cid Aulstyne, launched a surprise attack on their neighbouring nation, the Dominion of Rubrum.

Ten thousands of soldiers marched bravely, accompanied by thousands of military airships and magitek armours, towards what seemed like a certain victory.

…

'Come on!' a young brunette exclaimed as she ran ahead of her companions along a dimly lit corridor. 'Everybody's already setting out!'

'Wait up, Cater!' her comrade, a brunette boy with shouted after her. 'There's no need to rush!'

'Heh!' a scarred blonde by the name of Nine scoffed, 'you gotta understand her excitement man! This is our first real mission after all.'

There was a reason they were late; these twelve were special after all. Operation Finis was the name they went by. An elite group of soldiers bred, groomed and trained to handle the nation's masterpiece – mecha armours – which could very well be the key to a united Orience.

Mecha armours had been in development for years by the special technological division of the Milites army. And due to their immense capabilities, the government strictly regulated their operation. Only a select few were given personal mecha armours – the twelve youths of Operation Finis.

Their existence had been one of Milites's most heavily guarded secrets. There would be no better way of announcing to the world their capabilities than by taking over Rubrum.

The twelve entered the mecha barrage, and the sight of the mecha armours - standing gallantly at roughly two and a half times the height of a regular man – never ceased to take their breaths away. Maybe it was the significance of this battle taking its toll, but even though they had operated the mecha armours regularly, the machines' beauty still rendered them awestruck.

They each mounted their own special mecha armours. And when everyone was safely inside his or her respective control pods, all of them turned towards their leader for the decisive command.

The blonde youth inside magnificent white mecha armour clutched his control gears with determination. This was it. 'Everyone,' Ace announced, 'let's go!'

…

The scenery was that of a bloodbath.

Blood of Rubrum soldiers and Milites soldiers alike covered the whole ground. Buildings lie in ruins with smoke fuming from various spots.

Such was the scenery when they reached Arkham – the town right ahead of where the Suzaku Peristylium was – the centre of the Rubrum government.

'Ugh!' Sice, a silver haired young woman in a black and red mecha armour gasped at the sight. 'There's no one here! Could we be too late?'

'No way!' replied Queen, her comrade, 'we were supposed to come after the initial attack.'

'That doesn't make sense!' Nine exclaimed, 'what's the use of arriving late? We are supposed to be the trump cards here!'

'Apparently the special technological department would prefer not having to repair these mecha armours if the ordinary soldiers could take care of everything…' another comrade of theirs, Trey explained with a hint of disapproval in his voice. 'These are special after all you know? Not that they're impossible to repair, but they're rather complex and you cannot rely on ordinary mechanics to do that.'

His comrades groaned at his explanation.

'Anyway,' Ace commanded, 'let's split up. King, Seven, Jack, Deuce, go and check out the West side of town. Trey, Cinque, Eight, Cater, check out the East. Assist any Milites soldier and kill any enemy. The rest, follow me to the Peristylium.'

'Roger that!'

'Got it!'

'Alrighty~'

With that, the two groups soon disappeared to their respective areas. Ace motioned for the rest to follow him down the road ahead, which led to the Peristylium.

They trailed the road in silence, carefully observing for any signs of ambush. The town, however, was deserted except for dead bodies.

As they reached the gates to the Peristylium, however, a surprise awaited them…

Crash

Ace had deftly dodged whatever it was that exploded right where he had stood a split second earlier. As the smoke cleared up, a man came into view.

No. It was no ordinary man. Ace gritted his teeth. That was a l'Cie – extremely powerful beings created to serve their respective Crystal's will.

The l'Cie stood expressionless. His abnormal red eyes stared menacingly at the group. 'Leave this place!' he bellowed. 'I have no wish to fight at this moment.'

'As if!' Nine shouted as he recklessly charged forward.

'NINE!'

The l'Cie took up his gigantic axe, covered in flames, and charged forward, clashing mid-air with Nine's dark red mecha armour.

But no matter how special their mecha armour were, they were no match for an infuriated l'Cie. Nine was quickly thrown back by the impact with a deep gash across the frontal of his mecha armour.

'Damn it!' Nine cursed as the silver haired l'Cie quickly started charging towards him for a second time. This time, a giant sword from Queen's mecha armour and a giant scythe from Sice's blocked his charge. The impact staggered the two but otherwise created no visible damage.

Just then, a transmission entered Ace's radio.

'Hey can you hear me!?'

It was Qator Bashtar, the Brigadier General of the Milites Army.

'Yeah!' Ace replied as steered his mecha armour out of the way of another explosion. 'What's going on here!?'

'A l'Cie.' Qator explained, 'he put all our plans in jeopardy, wiped out most of the squad entering the Peristylium, and apparently massacred quite a number of his own civilians in the process. We had no choice but to retreat. You should abandon the mission and refrain from getting near the Peristylium too.'

'And you're telling me this, now!?' Ace seethed as he blocked another attack aimed at Nine.

'It was pretty chaotic and we had to ensure the safe retreat of the troops.' Qator replied flatly before being struck by a thunder of realisation. 'Wait! You don't say…'

'What I'm saying, Qator Bashtar…' Ace said loudly, 'is that we are in the middle of a battle against that very l'Cie!'

'Retreat at once!' Qator commanded, 'I'll send backup to you right away!'

'As if it would be that easy…' Ace muttered as Qator hung up the call.

Boom

Nine had taken the hit of another explosion.

'Ace…zzz…can you…zzz…hear me?' Nine called out through his faulty radio. 'My mecha armour…zzz…seemed…zzz…to be in a real bad condition…zzz…man!'

'Sice! Queen!' Ace commanded, 'Get Nine out of here!'

'But…'

'GO!' Ace shouted as he blocked another charge from the l'Cie aimed at finishing Nine off. 'Meet up with the others and the rest of the army! I'll be right there!

Sice and Queen reluctantly grabbed Nine's damaged mecha armour and left the scene.

Ace swung the claw-like arms of this mecha armour at the l'Cie, buying time for his comrades to escape. With his attention turned towards his escaping preys, the sharp claws successfully wounded the l'Cie's shoulder. He turned slowly at the provocation, seemingly oblivious to the wound it has caused.

'Die! You insolent White Tiger!' he exclaimed angrily, swinging his axe towards Ace. This time, the axe found its target; it latched itself onto the mecha armour's left arm, which it had instinctively used to protect the main body. Sparks flew as the axe cut deeper and deeper onto the metal arm.

With a final push, the axe had cut off part of the mecha armour's arm. Had Ace not utilised the turbo to escape at the last second, the blade would have surely found its way onto the main body – and with that – his life.

Urgh! I can't keep this up much longer! Ace thought as he gripped the control gears with his sweaty palms. Just then, a bright flash of green light appeared on the gates ahead of them.

A man with a tiger-shaped mask and white uniform appeared where the light originated. Ace breathed a sigh of relief. He recognised that man – Milites's very own l'Cie, Nimbus.

As the two l'Cie's clash, Ace seized the chance to escape, leaving the two god-like beings to their cataclysmic battle.

Okay I was a little too heavily influenced by Code Geass here. But still I thought it would be interesting to see the roles Class 0 play in Milites.

And FYI the characters are slightly older here than in the original story. About 20 - 21 years old.