Giulio had his triumphant return into Pendragon, parading with his troops on a white horse on St. Darwin Ave. at the sound of British Grenadiers and bringing the captured Chinese flags as war trophy in front of Emperor Charles. His triumph was Crowned by the concession of the Knighthood of Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, one of the Chivalric Orders of the Britannian Empire.

In decreasing order of Importance the Orders conceded by Britannia were: Imperial Order of the Round, Most Noble Order of the Garter, Most Ancient and Noble Order of the Thistle, Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George , Most Honourable Order of the Britannian Empire and the Order of the Imperial Service. The latter was given to every officer of the Armed Forces at the moment of his graduation at the Military School and had some ramifications into minor Orders, such as the Glinda Knights, the Glaston Knights, the Valkyries etc. Moreover, there were the four Euro Britannian Orders, that however depended on the Viceroy of Euro Britannia and were autonomous from the Emperor. Each order, other than to political and social privileges, also granted greater military authority and access to special units and weapons.

Back in Pendragon, Giulio was assigned to the Russian Office of the Pentagon, being his task that of monitoring the conduction of the war in Russia and of monitoring the political and military affairs in Euro Britannia. Recently, thanks to a Viceroyal Decree, many exiled noble families had moved there, receiving titles and military ranks. This was however object of concern for Charles (and hope for Giulio) as many of them would have gladly taken arms against Pendragon. In this way, trusting him, Charles would send very often Giulio to Vladivostok (new Euro Britannian Capital), together with the Rounds, to monitor the situation.

"If I may, Sir Galahad, why you still use a European decoration?" Gino on the plane to Vladivostok for one of their inspections, pointing at the Legion d'Honneur that Giulio still insisted in carrying.

"It was my first decoration and means a lot for me."

"And how did you gained it?" Asked Anya Alstreim, pointing her recorder to him.

"Do you really need to record it?" Asked Giulio, who was trying to find the presence of that cold and stoic girl with her recorder increasingly annoying and irritating.

Anya hesitated for a moment. "I just wished to have it in my memories, I won't disclose it to anyone. But I can turn it off, if it disturbs you."

"No, not at all, feel free to record it. I gained it during a military operation in Mongolia. I was attached to the 101st Mechanised Infantry Division 'Trieste', under the command of General Vaccari, an incompetent recommended by a minister and a cocaine-addicted. This man had managed to get us in the middle of a desert and after camping into a valley, we were completely surrounded by the Chinese. He wanted to wait for the reinforcements to come, and we remained besieged for a week, under artillery fire and running low on supplies. One night then, I gathered a few soldiers and we reached, without using the frames, the Chinese artillery. We slaughtered the soldiers while they were sleeping and then we started firing at the Chinese camp. In an instant of lucidity, the General understood what was going on and ordered the rest of the division to attack, leading to our victory."

"Truly impressive. Reminds me Der Edle Ritter in Belgrad, you have a good reason to keep it." Said Gino.

"Recorded." Said then Anya with her usual tone, finishing the registration. "And congratulations."

"Thank you. I actually used the Battle of Belgrad as model for my action, in that case."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving in Vladivostok in fifteen minutes." Announced the pilot through the speaker.

In Vladivostok, they were received by Julius Kingsley, Kururugi and Velaines at the Vladivostok Fortress, a 19th-Century fortress that was now serving as Joint Operations Centre for the Russian Front. October was beginning and the temperatures were already around 5°C.

Kingsley was dressed in a dark grey uniform with the ensign of the Order of the Garter, Velaines, instead, used a white ceremonial outfit for Viceroys with the same ensign, while Kururugi, whose uniform was also white, had the symbols of the Knight of Round. They sat in a war room, in front of a map, where Kingsley started updating them about the situation.

"After the war with China we have reached the Baikal. Then, the Order of St. Michael, commanded by Lord Manfredi and Lord Hyuga have managed to penetrate in Siberia from the north and are now stopped in Arkhangelsk, where they have been besieged. The Orders of St. Raphael and St. Gabriel, in the South, have reached Omsk, city that they are besieging, while the Order of St. Uriel and the Euro Britannian Army is pushing the EU forces towards the Urals in the central sector."

"We need to make sure that we reach Manfredi in Arkhangelsk before the winter, then, or it will be a problem." Observed Giulio.

"We are working on that, you can report this back to Pendragon." Kingsley seemed, while talking, to become less and less stable.

"Meeting adjourned. I beg your pardon but Lord Kingsley need to rest." Announced Suzaku.

Intrigued, Giulio wanted however to challenge Kingsley to a chess game that he, despite the opposition of Suzaku, accepted.

Giulio was a reasonable player, but Kingsley was clearly superior to him and after a half an hour, despite looking more and more unstable, had placed Giulio in difficulty.

"You are an excellent player, Milord, truly impressive." Observed Giulio.

"Just practice… may I have some water, Suzaku?" Asked Kingsley.

"Are you feeling well, Sir?" Asked Giulio, noticing a certain state of confusion.

"Yes… I do. You have an interesting tactic, Galahad. Yet you made a single fatal mistake, ten minutes ago."

"Indeed" Agreed Giulio.

"You know, I've heard that Zero was also an excellent player." Provoked Giulio, who wanted to see what would have been the response of his opponent.

"Zero… Lelouch… Ehm, I mean yes, I have heard the same." Kingsley seemed to enter in a deeper state of confusion and started sweating."

"Lord Kingsley needs to rest now, Sir Galahad."

"Please Sir Kururugi, let us finish this game, we are having fun, after all."

"Yes, we can finish." Echoed Kingsley making his move.

"Tell me, Lord Kingsley, you don't live in Pendragon, right? I've never seen you there, neither have I heard of you at Court."

"These are personal questions, Sir." Intervened Kururugi.

"I am just trying to get acquainted with my colleague, Kururugi."

Kingsley hit the chessboard with his hand and then fell on the ground.

"Go away Julius Kingsley! Where is Nunnally? Where is she? Suzaku, give me water! Please!"

Suzaku ran to help him.

"This game finishes here." He said to Giulio with irritation.

Giulio made his usual malicious half smile.

"Je vous remercie, it has been a pleasant conversation." Said Giulio while standing up and taking his mantle. He then turned his back to the two nobles and left, going to join Gino and Anya in a lounge.


Upon his return to Pendragon, however, Giulio was to be awaited by an unpleasant surprise.

During one evening, while he was sitting in his library reading an old copy of The Quest for the Holy Grail and tasting his usual drink of Porto, his butler came to call him.

"Milord, if I may, there is a visit for you."

"At this time? Tell him I am not receiving after 9 p.m."

"I apologise, Milord, but it does not seem to be a visit of courtesy, it is Lord Suzaku Kururugi, who carries the order to take you to the Imperial Palace."

"What the Hell?" Asked Giulio raising from his armchair. "Tell him I am coming."

"Yes sir."

Giulio went to his room and put a dark green tweed, given the time and the way he was being called, he assumed it would not be necessary to be too formal.

"Here I am." He announced going downstairs.

"Good evening, Sir Galahad. I have orders to take you at the Palace." Said Suzaku with a very serious expression.

"May I inquire about the reason?"

"It has to do with Lord Kingsley, Sir. I cannot say more."

Giulio entered the black Rolls Royce with Suzaku and they headed towards the Palace. The Knight of Seven did not opened his mouth during the whole trip.

Once at the Palace, he escorted Giulio throughout the monumental corridors of the place, until Charles' private office.

Giulio had been in that place other times and could immediately recognise the place decorated in Victorian style, with a view over the immense gardens. Charles was sitting at his desk, at his right, standing up, was a little kid with long hairs, both were serious and apparently nervous.

"Your Majesty, Lord V.V., here is Sir Galahad." Informed Suzaku.

"Your Majesty? Is there a specific reason for which I have been called here now?" Asked Giulio.

"Sir Galahad, a genius like you is not able to guess such an obvious reason?" Asked sarcastically V.V..

"And who is this kid?" Asked the young noble, already getting nervous.

"My brother, Prince Victor zi Britannia and you, Galahad, are in troubles."

"Your brother? Do you mind explaining me what does this mean? Why should I be in troubles?"

"Because you know the real identity of Julius Kingsley." Answered V.V..

"And this makes of you a potential threat to our plans." Completed Charles.

"I was trying to investigate who caused the death of Euphemia, but now I have already taken my conclusions."

"You Majesty, should I take his life before he can do any harm?" Asked Suzaku.

"No, Lord Kururugi. He will still be useful to us, I just need to do a small thing, I will implant in him a false memory."

The symbol of the Geass appeared in both eyes of Charles. Giulio tried to escape but Suzaku held him. Charles came close and closer and established eye contact, then Giulio felt a serie of false memories entering his mind. Memories of a life he never had, actual memories seeming to be cancelled, confusion. This seemed to last an eternity, despite lasting only a few seconds. He then felt a very strong headache, his heartbits increasing to absurd levels, his respiration becoming more and more difficult, he was sweating. He finally he heard a scream and he closed his eyes. Then silence for a few instants. He felt like those false memories were in some way rejected. He opened his eyes.

Charles was resting on his desk, massaging his eyes.

"What was that?" Asked Suzaku astonished.

"Probably a sort of Geass Canceler." Observed V.V.: "Which makes our friend way too dangerous to stay alive."

Suzaku took off his sword and pointed at Giulio's throat.

"Yes, kill me, miserable bastard, show how good you are at selling yourself to the strongest. You betrayed your people, have no sense of honour, I loathe you, Head Executioner of Britannia, unworthy of the Knighthood, I'll see you in Hell, dog!"

Giulio felt the sword pressing on his throat, he was sure that would have been the end.

"Wait!" Interrupted Charles, his eyes were red, as if he had some irritation. "This gentleman has a very unusual form of Geass, on which however he cannot rely very often, looking at his state now. He is still a useful asset, therefore I won't kill him now. However, I want you, Sir Galahad, to remain silent about this meeting and anything you might have come to know or might come to know about my son Lelouch, his actions and the Geass. Otherwise, you can be sure that we will know that you are betraying us and we will kill you."

Giulio waited a few seconds before replying.

"Be it then, I guess I have not choice than to cede to the blackmail.


The return to Euro Britannia was to take place only few days after that traumatic evening, in the end of the month. The situation was becoming more complicated: Kingsley seemed to have some serious health problem and was prevented from exercising his functions. As a result, Velaines ad Kururugi seemed incapable of putting in place his same strategy, which brought Euro Britannia, after a last success in Omsk, to remain stuck in the Urals, while most of the Order of Saint Michael was blocked in Arkhangelsk and the snow was already starting to fall on the cold Russia.

The high commanders, including Giulio, gathered then in the Headquarters in Omsk, to discuss which strategy should be adopted. This time, instead of Kingsley, they were confronted by Manfredi's Second-in-Command, a certain Hyuga Shaing. During the discussion, Giulio grew more and more suspicious of Hyuga, whom seemed to him to be also plotting something sinister.

"My sweet cousin, why you wanted to meet me here?" Asked Guinevere.

Indeed, Giulio had chosen a rather unusual place to meet: an abandoned Orthodox Church outside the city. Despite having been abandoned for very long, the place was still almost perfectly intact, only thing out of place was a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia, abandoned in a corner of the place by who knows who. They were sitting right in front of the altar.

"Tu vois Ginny, I was at a meeting with the High Commanders yesterday, and there was the Chancellor of the Order of St. Michael, Hyuga Shaing"

"Oh yes, the Eleven, something wrong with him?"

"Yes, he is strange, I can sense it. For some reason my Geass allows me to sense who else have one, if near, it has started some time ago but I could sense he had one and something else."

"What?"

"Some sort of energy coming from him, a will to destroy, to kill, I don't know, I just suspect he has something in mind."

"I see."

"You think I'm crazy, right?"

"No, not at all Giulio. Amedeo told me about your Geass, I just don't understand why you don't use it more often."

"Because I don't want to expose myself, also because I'm still learning to use it and it's still changing."

"Makes sense, anyway, what do you plan to do now?"

"Take the control of a Division. I will ask the permission to Charles to join the Order of Saint Michael, then I will investigate Hyuga."

"But don't you think that Hyuga might be an ally? If he is also against Charles…"

"No. Not always the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Ginny. This time he is likely to be an enemy as well. I still want to understand his relation with Lelouch, we might exploit it."

"Sure, why not? But tell me, is there something that I might do for you?"

"Yes Ginny, since you are in the Order of St. Michael, you should obtain the permission to form a special Division, with the finest soldiers you can gather and have me invited to take its command, I will contact Charles and ask him the permission to join the Order to monitor Shin, then I'll explain you the rest."

Both them left after making the sign of the Cross.


'Arkhangelsk, 31st of October 2017,

To all the Commanders of the Holy Imperial Order of Saint Michael Archangel,

In virtue of the powers of which I have been invested by the Rt. Hon. Viceroy Grand Duke Henry Augustus Velaines de Verance as Grand Master of the Order, I, Lord Michele Goffredo Paolo Maria Manfredi, 10th Count Manfredi of Chattanooga and 1st of Cheremkhovo declare that:

It remains established, from this day onwards, the 45th Brigade, named 'Fasces Lictoriae'.

The banner of the 'Fasces Lictoriae' will be a black flag with a golden Fasces Lictoriae in its centre.

The soldiers and officers of the Brigade are authorised to use the special uniforms designed for them.

Sir Giulio Cesare Umberto Maria Galahad-Canossa, 1st Baronet Galahad-Canossa and Major General, will assume the position of commander of the Brigade.

The present document enters into force in the current date.

Grand Master Michele Manfredi'