Chapter 7

Black Knight Base

The Kozuki cell sat in their seats shocked to their very cores, Zero had just told them that every supernatural thing they had ever heard of was real. Zero explained everything from the Great Four way War, to the heroes of the Norse faction and sacred gears. They frankly took it better than most, others would have dropped to their knees screaming or worse. In fact just outside the door was a medical team armed with tranquilizers just in case the Kozuki group tried something rash. It pays to be prepared.

"So it's all real," said Ohgi.

"Indeed it is," replied Zero leaning back in his chair.

"So does that mean even the Shintos are real?" asked Tamaki. Zero's head fell and he sighed sadly and said, "they did."

"What do you mean," asked Kallen.

"Up until seven years ago the Shinto Pantheon ruled," explained Zero. "But when Britannia invaded another force came with them." This got the group's attention and they leaned closer as Zero continued. "Remnants of the Hero faction, which I tried to destroy 10 years prior, came along with a cadre of captured monsters and stray devils attacked the Shinto and Youkai holdings."

"Wait! So cat girls are real to," interrupted Tamaki, who then received a punch in the mouth from Kallen and Naomi.

"Any way," said Zero. "The Heroes and their pets under the leadership of the Hero Siegfried launched a campaign of terror and conquest, using Japanese and Britannian military movements to hide them. They attacked Shinto shrines, Youkai settlements and even drew the Shinto gods into battle, which turns out was their plan all along. It was a trap, by the end of the day the Pantheon was dead."

"Wait," said Kallen. "If they were gods, and the Heroes were, mostly, human, how did the gods die?"

"She's right," agreed Ohgi. "How can beings that powerful be killed by mortal humans?"

Smiling under his mask Zero said, "your observant, that's good. To be frank if it had just been the Heroes going tow to tow with the gods it would have ended in defeat for the Heroes. However the Heroes had trump cards. They had these." Zero then reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled an arrow.

"An arrow?" said Ohgi.

"Not just any arrow," replied Zero. "This arrow is made from the teeth of Fenrir. A Norse monster whose bite has the ability to kill gods, it was with these arrows that the Heroes killed the Shinto faction. And before you ask yes the people who made the arrows were found and executed. Though I suspect that the person who actually got them the teeth is still loose."

"Why's that," asked Sugiyama.

"Because the Norse had no solid proof to convict Loki," replied Zero.

"The Norse god of tricks?"

"Yes," confirmed Zero. "And the only one who can control Fenrir, but after notifying the Norse about the arrows all they could do was deal with some of the couriers of Loki.

"Couldn't you have done something to save the Shintos?" asked Kallen.

Shaking his head Zero said, "no by the time I arrived it was too late, even my power wouldn't have been able to save them."

Hanging their heads the group took all the information in until Kallen raised her head and asked, "what exactly are you Zero?"

Snickering Zero said, "I was wondering when you were going to ask that, simply put I'm a dragon."

"I thought dragons were giant fire breathing lizards," said Tamaki, still holding his aching jaw. Zero then released his two large scaly wings, shocking the group.

"Are these proof enough?" said Zero, grinning at their shocked stares.

"Good enough for me," replied Tamaki numbly.

"To believe," muttered Minami. "A dragon fighting to defeat Britannia."

"Indeed," replied Zero. "I take that you wish to join with us?"

Ohgi turned and looked over his group, who in turn looked at him and nodded. "We'll join you, but only if you reveal your face. We need a reason to trust you," said Ohgi adding the last part himself.

"Hehe, I understand, my face is general knowledge among the Black Knights," said Zero. "So in reality I always intended to show you my face, a betrayal down the line would be an annoyance I do not need. But I first needed to know if you would commit to us." With this his mask glowed purple before vanishing to reveal the pale features of Lelouch.

"You really are Lelouch," said Kallen.

"Wait another Britannian, and you know him Kallen?" said Tamaki angrily.

"Yeah, he's from school," replied Kallen.

"A student," said Ohgi. Zero then began laughing and said, "a Britannian I may be, partly, but my soul is that of a dragon. And for the record the student part of my life is cover so as to blend in better and avoid attention from the other factions."

Tamaki opened his mouth to speak but Ohgi put up his silencing him, then turning to Zero asked, "are really for defeating Britannia, your homeland?"

Zero's eyes grew cold and he said, "Britannia maybe were this form was born, but it was never my home, and when the Emperor banished me and my sister to Japan as hostages, he sealed his and his countries fate."

"The emperor himself banished you?" said Ohgi. "Just what were you?"

"A prince," said Lelouch flatly, earning yet another shocked silence.

Raising his finure like he had an idea Tamaki said, "wait you name's Lelouch and you were once a prince and was banished here. That means your Lelouch vi Britannia." Every occupant turned and looked at Tamaki dumbfounded at how he figured it out.

"What?" asked Tamaki.

"How did you figure that out?" asked Naomi.

"Hey I may be stupid but I have my moments," said Tamaki, then realization of what he just said crossed his face.

Turning back to Zero Ohgi said, "a dragon, a prince, and the leader of a supernatural faction. Heh, your life sounds like a sick cosmic joke."

"Mmm, some would probably say it's more of a miracle," replied Zero.

"Riight, so Zero you've told us about the supernatural," said Ohgi. "But you haven't told us about the Black Knights."

Snickering Zero said, "well I guess you do have the right to know our origins. I came from a place far off at the end of creation, quite different than from where my mate was born. As one of the first dragons in existence I became part of the Dragon Pantheon, and aided the spread of dragon kind. Eventually I and some others took pity on the human race, so the dragons and humans formed a bond between our species. Each of us would protect the other, we would share our wisdom with each other and share in each's troubles."

"That's quite noble," said Kallen.

"Indeed," said Zero. "Dragons are not all evil, and are in fact very loyal and noble beings. It's what happened next that cast such a dark shadow on our kind. Everything that happened has mostly been relegated to legend, having been overshadowed by the Great War between the three factions.

"What happened," asked Minami.

"To put it bluntly," said Zero. "Civil war. Like what tends to happen, some dragons took too much pride in their power and began to see dragon kind as superior to all other life. Ultimately the dragon Falnar, took the lead of these dragons and led them on a campaign to conquer and subjugate all the other races. Those that would not bow to them were exterminated. "Zero hung his head as he said this.

"I take it this is where the Black Knights come into play?" said Ohgi starring at the down trodden Zero.

Lifting his head Zero said, "Yes, many dragons sided with Falnar, but many sided with me and together we created the Black Knights. Humans who would protect humanity and fight alongside us, Knights of the common man whose power would be beacons of hope. And to supplement the ranks I created the Dragon Knights, an example could be Jeremiah, Dragon Knights are what you could say are reincarnated dragons. They have increased strength, speed, and stamina, as well as the magic reserves of a dragon."

The Kozuki group took all this in, human dragons, then Kallen spoke up asking, "is everyone in the Black Knights a reincarnated dragon?"

Shaking his head Zero said, "no. The process of reincarnating someone into a dragon is not so simple. A person already has to have a good amount of physical strength and power, if not a strong will to live. Without either of these things the person might end up dying instead of becoming a Dragon Knight." The group's heads fell at this revelation, this means it was unlikely that all of them could be turned.

"But," spoke up Zero. "This is why we created the Heavy Shock troops and the Knightmare gears, you no doubt saw some on the way in. With this equipment an un-reincarnated person can still have a massive amount of power and not have the threat of death hanging over his head." This perked everyone up and Ohgi asked, "so what happened after you formed the Black Knights?"

"I led them against Falnar," explained Zero. "The war lasted for years, and all the while the dragon population fell. Both sides were devastated, which is why it's taken us till now to rebuild our strength. Eventually I managed to finally confront Falnar, and I slew him sending his soul to the afterlife forever." Zero's eyes hardened as he continued, "but the bastard had one last trick he managed keep his dark power on this side of life."

"What do you mean," asked Kallen.

"What I mean is that Falnar's power became something akin to a sacred gear, though spread about in pieces. When a human gains Falnar's power he starts to crave more power, and slowly becomes corrupted from the soul to the body. Eventually the corruption will morph the person's morals and body into something not even a shadow of what they were. It will erase everything they were and in its place will be a monster pure desire and power." The resistance group shuddered at the thought of facing such a creature, Zero turned to them once more and added. "To answer the unspoken question, yes much of Falnar's power is still around, I've yet to destroy it all."

"Do you know were any of it is?"

Zero then said, "I sensed a great amount of it emanating from Pendragon."

"The Britannian capital!" said Tamaki. "Do you know who it is that has the power?"

"I have my suspicions," said Zero. "And it is also theorized that the Falnar's power was an influence in gaining Fenrir's teeth from Loki." Zero noticed the group confused looks and continued, "no mere human hero would be able to convince Loki to give them his son's teeth. Therefore someone or something was behind them, and that's not all, we have word of dissidents in the supernatural factions are gathering into one body."

"And you believe that the person with Falnar's power is behind it?" asked Ohgi.

Zero nodded his head and said, "which is why me, the Youkai faction under Yasaka, and the remnants of the Shinto faction have joined into one faction. We intend to break back onto the world stage before our enemy does, from there we will draw him out and destroy him."

"WELL I'm double with a Zero," said Tamaki.

"Thank you," said Zero. Then Kallen spoke up, "you said you had a mate, who was she?"

A fond smile spread over Zero's face and he said, "her name was Ophis, the Infinite Oroborous Dragon god."

"Where is she?"

Now Zero frowned, "do you remember how I said that I had previously tried to eliminate the Hero Faction?" Heads shook up and down in confirmation. Zero continued, "what they did to earn my ire is that they kidnapped my mate and daughter. They intended to manipulate us into giving them our power, they trapped my mate in a specially designed prison. Suppressed my daughter's memories and replaced her husband with a fake and have been manipulating her family's money, and at the same time entrusting him with my mate's prison."

"You seem to be a little young to have a wife and daughter," cut in Ohgi. Zero then recounted how his current form came to be, from being born in to Britannian royalty to reawakening his power during the Second Pacific War.

"You know I think miracle does described your life," said Ohgi, getting a snicker out of Zero. "So what was your daughter's name?"

Another smile appeared on Zero's face, and he said, "her name was -," a magic circle appeared next to his ear before he could finish. "My lord we are ready," said the voice from the other side. Lifting his head he said, "Jeremiah," said knight who had been sitting quietly in the corner perked up. "Go double check all our preparations." The knight stood and quickly walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" asked Kallen.

"We are preparing to announce to the world what happened in Shinjuku and send a message to the criminal element in Japan," explained Zero. "Sorry but any more explanations will need to wait, right now I would like you to reaffirm if you intend to join me." Assurances came from every member of the group causing Zero to smile and say, "good, then come with me."

A little later

T.V.s all over suddenly became fussy and the pictures became distorted before clearing and revealing a figure clad in black and wearing a dragon like mask.

"I am Zero," said the figure. "For too long I have watched as the strong have oppressed the weak. For too long have the weak been conquered, slaughtered, and enslaved, while others have spewed forth claims of righteousness; and done nothing!" Zeros hands moved as he spoke making dramatic gestures with every word.

Britannian T.V. Center

"Why can't we cut the feed," sputtered a technician. While another answered, "all broadcast waves are being intercepted, and none of our codes our working. It's all going live!" Meanwhile a blond, long haired man watched the screen ignoring the chaos around him. Taking note of Zero's movements and words Diethard thought, 'this all a show for you isn't Zero?"

T.V.

"Clovis and Britannia spoke their righteousness," said Zero. "But he sought not but to kill murder the residence of Shinjuku, because of own actions. That is why I intervened and defeated him and it was by my will that he perished."

Middle East

The first princess, Cornelia, watched the screen and clenched her fist and muttered under breath, "Zero." Guilford turned and looked at his liege, understanding that they would likely be heading for Area 11 soon.

T.V.

"And therefore like Clovis, this man," said Zero as a light turned on and he gestured to a bound and gagged Kewel. "Kewell Soresi has conspired to spread the drug Refrain in an attempt to lower the Japanese people further. He and his group have committed crimes against the innocent, and have yet to receive punishment. But today he shall receive punishment for those he has killed and harmed."

With this Zero gestured for another man to step forward, he wore black robes and a cloth mask. No feature not even his eyes could be seen, in his hand he held a large silver colored blade with a black handle. The man then grasped the sword with two hands and brought it back with the tip pointed at Kewell's back. Zero then nodded and the executioner shoved the sword forward impaling Kewell through the heart. The tip of the sword burst from his chest covered in blood, Kewell's eyes bulged and he screamed into the gag. His cries of agony continued to be muffled for nearly five agonizing seconds, then his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell forward. The sword slid from Kewell's corpse as he fell forward, the blade colored red with blood. The executioner then bent down and took Kewell by the collar and dragged him off screen.

Zero then spread his arms dramatically and lights came on all around him and the camera zoomed out to reveal men and women dressed in black clothes with visors or wore armor. The Kozuki group was dressed similarly and stood right behind Zero. "Those of you without power fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit. For we who have been hidden for so long have returned, we are the Black Knights, and no Devil or Angel shall stand in our way. Justificatum Vindicta!"

The call was echoed by the soldiers behind Zero. "Justificatum Vindicta! All Hail Zero! Justificatum Vindicta!"

Pendragon

A being sat in the shadows of Pendragon, his eyes glowed a sickly yellow-orange that emanated hatred, malus, and power. Staring at the image of Zero on the television screen, he then spoke in a growling distorted voice, "I am not going to fall as easily as my predecessors Zero. Once you are gone nothing shall stand between me and the rest of creation."

A.N. Bet you all thought I was going to tell who Zero's family was didn't you. Well that would've to big a spoiler. Quick bit of info here though Ophis is mature in this story, mostly because Zero and her are mated and she has a daughter, so motherly instincts and all.