Chapter 21: A Hero's Return

(A/N:

Natsu: Hey Ebi.

E.E.: Yes?

Natsu: I want to do the notes this time.

E.E.: Oh? Are you tired of playing comic-relief?

Natsu: *stares at me for a while* Just let me do it.

E.E.: By all means.

Natsu: *cheerful again* Hey guys! How's it going? Man, I can't believe how strong Zero got in four years. *In denial that Zero's a monster* How about the rest of you? Anyway, this chapter is going to need a bit of music to go with a certain scene. Try Two Steps From Hell's "A Hero's Return", and maybe a bit of the Batman: Arkham City soundtrack. If you've read the bio page down at the bottom, you'll spoil it for yourself as to why you should play the first song, so don't read it!

Unless, of course, you already did…

But who cares! Let's get started!)

I do not own Code Geass, Fairy Tail, or any of the original design for the expies. I will release a chapter every Thursday starting from now until I say there's another hiatus. Don't worry; that won't happen for a while.

Tsumibito was laughing.

Even though he just saw fifty of his men get beaten to a bloody pulp by a one-man army of a wizard, he was laughing. His intruder (who he now confirmed is Zero) didn't even use magic against these men. He purposefully disabled his own magic and theirs, but still came out on top.

And he didn't get hit once.

Tsumibito ceased his laughing, finally calming down. But he was still smiling. "So then, Zero… After four years of hiding from the world, you came out of your rabbit hole." He laughed again.

After he stopped, he continued to talk to himself. "I must say, I'm glad you're this strong…" He got up from his throne and headed for the door. "…because maybe you will prove a challenge for-"

Suddenly, the large doors shattered into microscopic pieces; stopping Tsumibito in his tracks as he looked at what happened. His face was full of surprise, but he hid it as quickly as he could manage.

What was that? Tsumibito wondered.

Standing where the door used to be was a mysterious figure. It was wearing a black buttoned t-shirt with a hood attached to the collar (which at this point was concealing the face). It wore baggy grey pants and black joggers. The figure's wrists were covered up by two black bands.

The figure's hands were in its pockets. Its face was not visible, as the hood covered the top half of its head completely. All that could be seen (apart from the small display of the chest, which was because of the opened button) was the bottom half of the face. And it had no visible emotion.

Tsumibito was curious. He couldn't recognise who this figure was, and he wasn't sure if this person had magic or not. If it did, then it was hiding its power very well. He decided the person was also an intruder, and figured he might as well kill it.

He said to the person on the other side of the room, "I don't know who you are, but you appear to be in my way. I'm afraid since you came here uninvited, I will have to kill you myself." He charged a white 'knife' in his left hand and leapt at blinding speed towards the person-

Who raised its right hand and caught Tsumibito's wrist with almost no effort.

"!" Tsumibito was in shock as he hung in the air. What the-?

The wind Tsumibito generated with his speed caught up with him. The wind was so strong that it blew the figure's hood back. His raven black hair momentarily flowed with the wind and settled down just as quickly, and he didn't bother look up to see Tsumibito's face. He was wearing an eye-patch over his left eye, to conceal the mark of the curse on his very being from the rest of the world.

"!" Tsumibito's mouth gaped open as his eyes dilated. "You…!"

"It's been a while…" Great Wizard Commander Lelouch Lamperouge looked up to his counterpart with the calmest yet most confident look on his face. "…Tsumibito." Charging a 'sphere' for a split second, he fired a large black beam of his magic that tore through the ceiling; leaving a giant hole in it. Tsumibito was completely engulfed by the attack as Lelouch stood there without moving a muscle.

When he finished his attack, Lelouch looked out in front of him, as he quickly figured out he wasn't holding a wrist anymore. But he knew where Tsumibito was. He was looking in his general direction.

Tsumibito was hunched over; a complete wreck. Forty percent of his armour was obliterated from his left arm to his other arm and down to his belly button. His cape was literally reduced to nothing. His helmet was also non-existent. He was breathing heavily due to the speed he had to generate to get out of the blast radius. He was bleeding from the forehead and multiple scratches on his skin. Strangely, he does not have any scars from his past fights. Lelouch couldn't do that.

As the Wizard Commander, Lelouch had his white fleur de lis on the back of his shirt. Underneath the shirt was his gold necklace he got from Kishi. It was a recurring theme for him, and he didn't really care to think why.

Tsumibito was shaking at the knees. "H-How… How are you…so strong…?"

Lelouch put his hands back in his pockets and answered calmly, "It's quite simple, really. I went into hiding and trained."

That made Tsumibito angry. "You're lying…! There's no way you could get this strong in four years!"

"Why?" Lelouch asked.

Tsumibito flinched.

Lelouch started to walk very slowly, his footsteps echoing in the room. "There is one more thing I did over the years apart from training."

"And what's that?"

"I hid most of Fiore's guilds away."

"!" Tsumibito's back straightened up. "So it was you!"

"Not only that, but I travelled all over the continent and gained the support of every single government that I could find. With my leadership, they allowed me to give out orders to their country's army and to form the Earth Land Alliance."

Tsumibito fell to his knees; unable to take the news and stay standing at the same time. "So then…"

"That's right. As we speak, half of my Generals are leading all of those armies into Fiore, along with all of the magic guilds that I requested to hide from your patrols. In short, my manpower is nearly ten times larger than yours. I also have Generals Jellal and Andreas on this island right now to finish off your remaining forces."

Tsumibito couldn't express the right emotion on his face that would encapsulate all of the emotion he was feeling inside of him. Anger, horror, even envy… He simply could not register onto his face the realisation that his hard work will be for naught in one day. Lelouch stopped in front of Tsumibito and said one simple word to him.

"Checkmate."

Tsumibito registered the word as anger swelled up inside of him. "No… Not like this… It can't end like this…" He got up slowly as if he was drunk, his head hung low. His fists shook with anger as he growled his next words. "I. Won't. LET IT!" He looked up with the most rage-filled eyes Lelouch has ever seen. It was obvious Tsumibito snapped and was about to attack.

So as to not let Tsumibito smash the entire castle into pieces, Lelouch quickly gathered enough magic in his body and said softly, "Secret Black Angel Art: Limbo." Suddenly releasing his magic outwards, the entire room was engulfed in pure darkness. Tsumibito couldn't see anything else except for the black world Lelouch created (who couldn't be seen anywhere).

Scowling, Tsumibito frantically looked around for Lelouch. "Where are you?!"

"Behind you," said an echoing voice.

Tsumibito turned around and paused. What he was looking at was not Lelouch, but a beast; a gryphon. Its red eyes pierced the darkness as Lelouch's voice spoke again from the winged creature. "Let's play a little game, Tsumibito."

Tsumibito's eyes narrowed. "And what is the point of playing a game?"

"It will determine whether you get out of this world, or if you will die in it," the gryphon answered.

Tsumibito didn't really have a choice in the matter. If he wanted to kill Lelouch, then he would need to get out of this world. He yielded. "What are the rules?" he said bitterly.

"If you can strike my beast in a vital spot, then the world will collapse and you will be free. However, if you take too long to hit it, then it will devour you, and you will fall with the Baram Alliance by the end of the day."

"How much time do I have before that happens?"

"Thirty minutes," was the last thing Lelouch said before the gryphon charged at Tsumibito.

Jellal and Andreas arrived at the entrance to Tsumibito's fortress.

Andreas was wearing a white hakama with ornate red markings with gold trimmings. He wore a sleeveless white gi with black linings, and a black band on his right arm with a red fleur de lis; meaning he was the 1st General, which was underneath Great Wizard General Jellal. Both men looked at the door.

It was a large steel door that stretched about ten metres in height, and six metres in width. The walls were made of stone. It was a two minute walk from the beach where the Generals were right now.

Andreas looked at Jellal and said, "So Lelouch wants us to take down everyone inside."

Jellal answered, "It shouldn't be too hard. Not unless we run into Shokan or Zeref."

"About that…" Andreas muttered. "How are we going to deal with him?"

"Lelouch said he would've taken care of Zeref before he went to Tsumibito."

The two Generals both tried searching for Zeref's presence. But strangely, it wasn't anywhere to be found. It was clear to Jellal and Andreas what actually happened at this point.

Earlier…

Zeref was now waiting at the place Tsumibito ordered him to stay in. He didn't know who the intruder was, but he didn't really care. He was looking out the window in the room, waiting for the intruder to arrive as the clouds came closer and closer to the Isle of Sin. No-one else was in the room except for him.

Or at least, until someone's hand reached around and took the contact lenses out of his eyes faster than Zeref could react.

The presence 'stepped' back twenty metres as Zeref turned around and was about to prepare an attack. But Lelouch took off his eye-patch and said as he activated his Geass, "Never follow Tsumibito's orders again!"

Zeref was too late. He couldn't cover his eyes quick enough to not be affected by Lelouch's Geass. It reworked Zeref's brain almost back to how it was before he met Tsumibito.

After the command had worked, Zeref put his arm down and looked at Lelouch in confusion. "Where…am I?" His memories of the past four years were a little vague, but that would be temporary.

"Not where you should be," Lelouch answered as he put his eye-patch back on and let the contact lenses hit the floor. "You need to get out of here. I assume you were leaving Heaven Wolf Island before Acnologia attacked."

Zeref looked at Lelouch blankly for a second, before he realised he was right. He bowed his head to Lelouch. "I'm grateful to you. Thank you for helping me." He didn't bother question how Lelouch knew everything he just said. His magic started to lose a little control as he started to feel compassionate.

Lelouch put his hood back on and went to the staircase. "Go…" he whispered.

And that was when Zeref began to leave. He walked down the stairs to the previous floor. His days of working under Tsumibito were over.

Jellal and Andreas sensed another presence as it came up behind them. They turned around and saw Shokan holding his neck and standing there. They put their guard up quickly.

Shokan looked at the both of them and said, "So it seems you all came out of hiding."

The Generals didn't say anything.

Shokan continued. "My guess is that Zeref had Geass used on him to leave the island, and that Lelouch is fighting Tsumibito as we speak."

"So, you know about Geass too?" Jellal asked. He and the other Generals were told by Lelouch about it when he couldn't turn it off at will. None of them minded Lelouch having Geass (especially Jellal, since he was under its influence first, and it helped him regain his memories), as long as Lelouch didn't try using it on them without consent.

Shokan cracked his neck on both sides before saying, "Well then… I guess I might as well join the battle as well. Tsumibito wouldn't be very happy if I just stood here talking." He looked at Jellal. "I have a bone to pick with you. Since you were the one who dealt the final blow to me four years ago, I want to fight you alone."

Andreas dropped his guard slowly and said to Jellal, "How about it? I can probably deal with the guys inside by myself."

Jellal agreed. Andreas wasn't as strong as he was, but he was pretty close. "Alright…" He stood up straight and said to Shokan, "Let's take this somewhere else on the island."

"Agreed." He and Jellal dashed to the other end of the island.

Andreas stood alone as he turned back around to the door. He kicked it open with ease, nearly breaking the doors by the hinges. He smiled a little. "Try not to get yourself killed, Jellal. Rumour has it you're waiting for a girl to come back." He dashed inside as he chuckled a little to himself. Lelouch was pretty funny when he was tricked into drinking alcohol.

Jellal and Shokan arrived on the shore on the other end of the Isle of Sin as soon as the clouds rolled over completely in the sky. They stared at each other for a moment in silence before Shokan spoke.

"You seem to have gotten stronger. Perhaps this will be interesting."

"Don't get too full of yourself." Jellal's body began to glow the same colour as his Heavenly Body Magic. "If I were you, I'd recommend going full-power immediately."

"And why's tha-?"

Shokan's face was grabbed by Jellal and was dragged into the sand. Jellal spun around in a full circle and threw Shokan into the air and fired several spear-like beams of his magic from his position. "That's why," he said plainly as the attack hit its mark.

When the explosion settled, Shokan elevated back down to the ground and made a huge shockwave under his feet. His eyes were now red instead of blue, signifying that he was going to fight at one-hundred percent. He took off his haori and let it float away in the air. "You're going to pay for that."

Jellal chuckled as he took a left-lead stance. "Bring it then." He charged through the air, and the battle began.

Zero was getting a little sick and tired of what he was doing.

He was on the twelfth floor right now, after dealing with at least a hundred or so guards in this large fortress. It was becoming more and more difficult to not use his magic. But regardless, he swore that he would use it as little as possible so he had enough power to kill Tsumibito. After all, why else would he have created a device that nullifies magic?

Of course, that didn't mean it was going to be easy without it.

After killing the last man in the room, he said to himself, "This is ridiculous. Tsumibito was wasting his time with these men. He should've checked whether or not any of them could actually fight without using magic." He walked off, expecting more men to wait for him on the fourteenth floor.

Meanwhile, in Fiore…

Reiji was floating above Magnolia with his hands in his pockets. He watched the streets as everyone from Fairy Tail and a lot of other people from different armies absolutely smashed the Baram Alliance. He knew Ryuko was in Oshibana at the moment, so he was alone right now. While it was good to know that the Earth Land Alliance was going to win, it was a little boring waiting it out.

Reiji dodged one of the projectiles that went too high into the air. "Man, I wish I could talk to someone. This is way too boring." Sadly, he won't get his wish for a while.

Ryuko, on the other hand, was having the time of her life over at Oshibana (her crazy side, anyway).

She was on top of the train station with her guard-less black katana in her left hand as she looked down with a wicked smile on her face.

Her clothing was very old-fashioned. She wore a red hakama with white toe-socks and straw sandals, and a white gi with a black armband that had a yellow fleur de lis that signified her rank as 2nd General. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail, but she kept the fringe on her forehead.

She withdrew her sword when she realised the Baram Alliance was defeated where she was. All of the other battalions in the country were led by the other countries' best commanders, which made it easier for the Earth Land Alliance to crush the wavering remnants of the Baram Alliance.

She made her way down to the ground through the station and planned on catching a train to Magnolia.

Tsumibito was livid, to put bluntly.

Because he wasn't thinking clearly, he was getting annihilated by Lelouch's gryphon. His armour was only covering the bottom half of his body. He had three deep gashes in his back and one on his chest. He was losing blood fairly quickly, and the regeneration process was incredibly slow. And that just added to his frustration.

Then again, he was only getting so mad because Lelouch's gryphon was ungodly annoying to him.

He missed the beast again as he tried to stab it through the neck. Turning around, he dodged a slash from the gryphon's claw and fired a 'sphere' at it. But that missed as well, and the beast disappeared back into the darkness.

"Damn it!" Tsumibito threw a small fit as he stopped and breathed heavily.

"You have fifteen minutes left," said Lelouch.

Tsumibito growled, realising his predicament. But instead of randomly throwing his magic around, he stood still and began to think clearly. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out slowly, calming himself. He focused on trying to find the slightest sound. When that didn't work, he focused instead for any sign of magic moving around.

The beast charged in front of Tsumibito, who dodged underneath and went for the heart. But the gryphon 'stepped' away and got behind Tsumibito. He raised his 'shield', charged a 'sphere' in his right hand, and fired it right into the gryphon's face. It reeled back as Tsumibito took a 'knife' and slashed its throat.

The darkness ceased, and Tsumibito turned his head around and saw Lelouch clapping his hands.

"Impressive," Lelouch remarked. "At the rate you were going, you may have been killed a lot earlier than I expected."

Tsumibito just stared at his Earth Land counterpart as he stopped clapping.

"Not interested in talking anymore?" Lelouch asked. He then took a left-lead stance and raised his arms. His right arm was held higher than his left, and was pulled back so the hand was close to his face. He kept his left arm down in front of him. His palms were open and his fingers were relaxed. "Alright then; I still have eighty-five percent of magic left if you want to fight this way."

Tsumibito turned his whole body towards Lelouch. Eighty-five percent? He can't be serious. I only have less than fifty percent left. "Who said I was done talking?"

Lelouch responded, "Then talk away."

Tsumibito scowled. "What else have you done before you got to me?"

"Why don't you sense around and figure it out?"

Tsumibito did, and then realised what was wrong. "You bastard… Where is Zeref?"

"At the moment? Certainly not here if that's what you were wondering."

Tsumibito was a little worried about the possibility that Zeref could now be working with Lelouch. He wouldn't stand a chance if that was the case. But wait… If he did order Zeref to follow him, then he would've made Zeref kill me already. I guess I'm lucky in that regard.

Lelouch said, "Try not to demolish the place. I got these clothes just a little while ago."

Tsumibito was reminded of C.C. because of the similar manner Lelouch was talking in. He couldn't help but smirk as he threw his hands to his right side close together, and then drew them apart, simultaneously summoning a cylindrical burst of white wind. He clapped his hands together before saying, "Where did you learn how to talk like that?"

Lelouch smiled and replied, "You have your former double-crosser Reiji to thank for the lessons."

"Remind me to give him a trophy for managing to teach you of all people how to talk like an arse."

"Noted." Lelouch sprinted towards Tsumibito, who chucked the Arch-Demon Hurricane at him. Lelouch dodged to the right as the hurricane tore through to the outside of the building and used the exact same move Tsumibito used (but with a small gesture of his right hand instead of the big one Tsumibito used); the Arch-Angel Hurricane, and it was black.

The hurricane was smaller than Tsumibito's but it was fast enough to make Tsumibito dodge to the left and meet Lelouch's line of sight. Lelouch went for a straight left-handed punch to Tsumibito's head as the hurricane hit the wall. Tsumibito blocked the strike, and charged a 'sphere' in his free hand and fired.

But Lelouch 'stepped' behind Tsumibito, grabbed his chin with his right hand, and twisted him around and to the ground. Tsumibito stopped himself from hitting the floor with his face by holding his hands out, and rolled forward. Getting up, he went for a roundhouse kick to Lelouch's head, who ducked down and tried to sweep Tsumibito's other leg.

Tsumibito summoned his white wings and jumped into the air, dodging the leg sweep. He 'stepped' with two charged 'knives'; performing White Judgement. Lelouch saw this and blocked frantically but precisely; too fast for the naked eye to see. When Tsumibito reappeared behind Lelouch, nothing happened. He now realised that Lelouch just blocked every single invisible slash he threw at him.

Lelouch stood back up straight and turned around to face Tsumibito, whose back was still toward him. "What do you think? Not a bad trick, is it? I just had to use my Angel Step and keep myself in the one spot." By this, he meant Angel Step made his movements fast enough to block Tsumibito's attacks.

Tsumibito scowled as he turned around and met Lelouch's gaze. "That move should be impossible to block. There is no way you blocked every single strike I carried out."

"But I did, and I can do it again if I need to." He closed his right eye for a second, and opened it saying, "Shall we get serious? Or are we going to fool around a bit more?" He got back into his fighting stance. He would have to thank Andreas later for this.

"Don't underestimate me!" Tsumibito 'stepped' behind Lelouch with two charged 'spheres' in his hands and fired them. But he only hit the ground, as Lelouch appeared above him with a hand ready to do a karate chop. He came down with a 'knife' and chopped downwards as he landed on the ground.

Tsumibito barely dodged as Lelouch's attack made a large vertical beam that smashed the wall on the other end of the room with his hand. It was a new trick Andreas taught him during training, and Lelouch decided to call it 'Arch-Angel Claw'. Tsumibito was where the door was as a drizzle of rain slowly fell through the hole in the ceiling Lelouch made earlier.

Lelouch pounced at Tsumibito with a kick Tsumibito remembered all too well. Memories of Suzaku flashed in his head as Lelouch followed the exact same movement his old friend did. Tsumibito tried blocking, but was pushed by the kick's force so hard that he flew all the way to the left and crashed through the glass-stained window.

Lelouch landed softly on his feet. He chuckled to himself. "He can't be serious, can he? If my magic and his are similar, then shouldn't he be able to use the Secret Arts like I can?"

Seeing as how he said this intentionally to tempt fate, Lelouch got what he wanted. Tsumibito smashed through to the top floor from the roof, which created another hole in the ceiling. The dust settled as Lelouch looked at the centre of the room, and what stood in the centre of all the debris.

Tsumibito's armour looked like it vanished completely. Instead, his entire body, even his head, was encased in a white skin (save for his purple eyes). There was a black line going down from the top of the head to his belly button (or where it was assumed to be). He had no mouth and his nostrils were closed up. His purple eyes stood out the most of Tsumibito.

Lelouch was impressed, at the very least. Tsumibito's Secret Art felt powerful, and he seemed to have gotten faster. But one question was stuck in front of his mind.

Would it be enough to take on Lelouch?

Lelouch smiled as he walked back in line with the centre of the room, and readied his stance once again when he reached it. There was no need for words. But feeling pretty confident with himself, he made a small gesture with his left hand that said: come and get me.

Tsumibito obliged as he used one hand to summon his Arch-Demon Hurricane, and chucked it at Lelouch with triple the speed. Lelouch 'stepped' to the right, and threw a few 'spheres' ahead of him as he dashed. Tsumibito took the projectiles without moving. Lelouch got up to him and tried to do a flying elbow, but Tsumibito emerged from the dust, simultaneously regenerating the blast wounds on his chest, and grabbed Lelouch's forearm.

Lelouch smirked as he flipped backward and kicked Tsumibito in the chin, causing him to let go as Lelouch landed on his feet. Thinking to himself, So that's why you have no scars, he 'stepped' behind Tsumibito and struck his elbow into the white-clad man's back, sending him flying forward for a split second before gaining air control. Tsumibito decided to attack again, charging not two 'spheres' from his hands, but ten from his fingers. He turned back around to face Lelouch as he held his fingers out in front of him.

Lelouch looked surprised. This was news to him. Even he didn't know how to do that. Regardless, he dashed forward for another spin-kick. Tsumibito fired all ten beams at once, and Lelouch barely dodged them by 'stepping' higher into the air. He charged a 'knife' in his hand and performed the Arch-Angel Claw again. As it headed for Tsumibito, he waved his right hand in front of the Claw, sending that attack too far to the left as it flew outside. Lelouch landed back down on the ground.

Tsumibito walked slowly as he said with his now double-toned voice, "Are you done playing around? I'm getting quite bored of you testing out my Vanguard form." 'Vanguard' was the name of Tsumibito's Secret White Demon Art and was also the reason he could regenerate in the first place.

Lelouch admitted Tsumibito got him there. He was trying to test out Tsumibito's new form to see what it was capable of. But seeing that Tsumibito could deflect many of his basic attacks and regenerate the ones that hit him, he decided to go for some more drastic measures.

He prepared to propel himself as he charged two 'knives' with his hands, and when Tsumibito got close enough (because of walking), he performed Black Judgement. But the difference is when Lelouch went through Tsumibito, he reappeared with his hands in his pockets. He turned around and smiled.

Tsumibito should've blocked the attack, because about six slashes appeared on his chest. Slowly, they began to regenerate. He looked down and muttered, "Oh? Perhaps I've misjudged you." He turned his head to face Lelouch, who was back at the door. "I guess it's my turn now."

He 'stepped' high into the air, and Lelouch followed with his own 'step'. They were outside in the light rain and could feel magic fluctuating on the other side of the island. Both of them recognised their own ally. They stared at each other briefly, before Tsumibito and Lelouch performed Black Judgement and its white counterpart repeatedly. The untrained eye could not see the two men as they kept 'stepping' all over the skies and trying to cut each other to pieces; creating shockwaves where they collided.

The onslaught stopped with Lelouch grabbing Tsumibito's neck. Lelouch was miraculously unharmed, and showed that he was too fast and too powerful for Tsumibito to catch up with. He was starting to wonder how much stronger he was than Tsumibito, because said man got at least twenty more cuts on his white skin; some of which were spilling a lot of blood. He even slowed down the regeneration process by cutting deeper than usual.

Lelouch summoned his wings to keep himself in the air as he threw Tsumibito straight back down onto the twentieth floor, creating another hole in the roof. He shot himself higher up into the sky, and then bolted down to the castle after calling off his wings. As soon as he hit the ground (landing on Tsumibito as a result), he instantly summoned his wings and created a gigantic black shockwave so strong that the entire floor and its walls collapsed beneath and around them. The two men fell straight to the nineteenth floor.

The rain stopped momentarily.

The room Lelouch and Tsumibito were now in was the same room Lelouch used his Geass on Zeref in. The room was quite well-lit because of the new hole above them. But it was empty, which made Lelouch assume when he was last in this exact room that Tsumibito didn't really have a lot of things to put on an island, let alone a castle. To him, that was pretty amusing.

Lelouch got up from on top of Tsumibito and walked to his right side. Tsumibito's white skin was cracked open completely from his head and down to his six-pack. His arms were still covered up by the skin, however. He had twenty deep cuts across his body and blood soaked his white hair.

It was official: Tsumibito had lost the fight.

He looked up to Lelouch with a serious glare and asked, "How is it you have so much power left over? I'm completely drained."

"Have you heard of Second Origin, Tsumibito?" Lelouch questioned without looking at him.

"Second Origin?" Tsumibito never heard of it before until now.

"It's a fairly recent discovery actually. Your old friend Ultear and I figured it out by ourselves as soon as the discovery was made public. That was about a month ago."

Tsumibito made a note to himself to keep up-to-date with the happenings of Fiore from now on. He didn't bother ask about Ultear and what she was doing with Lelouch. He honestly didn't care.

Lelouch kept speaking. "Put simply: Second Origin helps wizards draw out a second 'container' of magic from within themselves. Using that, they are able to increase the power of their magic exponentially. That is why I was able to defeat you so easily; that and I trained thoroughly in martial arts for four whole years." He looked down, with a serious look on his face, at Tsumibito lying on the ground. His lone purple eye stared at Tsumibito as he said, "I said it once, and I'll say it again: Checkmate."

Tsumibito glanced away and scoffed. It still annoyed him being defeated like this. But he couldn't do anything about it now. He didn't have the strength to retaliate anymore. But he could still talk. "So what are you going to do to me now? Are you going to kill me?"

"No," Lelouch stated bluntly.

"!" That was strange to Tsumibito. He thought Lelouch would've wanted to kill him; he made sure that was the case.

"At least not yet," he justified. "I still need answers from you and Zero when I find him. When I lock you up back in Fiore, you will answer every single question I have for you. When I say you have outlived your usefulness, I will personally execute you myself." He raised his left hand over Tsumibito. "So in the meantime…"

Lelouch used Restrict on Tsumibito, preventing him from moving at all. "…I will keep you here until I'm done with this place."

Tsumibito chuckled as he sensed someone approaching the floor. So he doesn't know yet? Interesting…

Lelouch asked, "What's so funny?"

"It looks like an old friend of ours has just arrived."

As he said that, Zero appeared from the staircase and saw the scene in front of him. He stood still as his magic finally came back to him. "You…" He growled his next words. "You bastard…!"

Lelouch looked up and blinked in surprise. "Zero… What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that!" Zero sprinted at Lelouch, who stepped to the side as Zero stopped and pivoted on his foot and went to punch Lelouch in the head.

Lelouch caught the fist with his left hand (but noted that it stung his palm). "I get it now. You came all the way here to kill Tsumibito yourself. Am I wrong?" His tone was serious as he glared at the mask in front of him.

Zero growled as he retreated and stared at Tsumibito on the ground.

Tsumibito looked at him with his eyes, because his head was held in place. "Yes, I'm still alive. But I wouldn't try to kill me just yet if I were you. Lelouch told me he was going to lock me up and make me answer questions, as well as you. So I recommend restraining yourself."

Zero glanced at Lelouch. "You're going to let him live?"

"Once he's outlived his usefulness; yes."

"Are you an idiot?! You know he won't cooperate with you!"

"I'll force him to," Lelouch stated sternly as he began to walk to the stairs to the eighteenth floor. "Now if you don't mind, I need to check up on my Generals-"

Zero used his magic to launch his mechanical fingers and wrapped them around Lelouch.

"!" Lelouch glanced back at Zero.

Zero swung Lelouch around the room twice and threw him through the window Zeref was looking at earlier; the direction where the Isle of the Dragons would be. "You're a fool, Lelouch! How can you be so naïve?! He is you as much as you are him!" He summoned his Float System and flew at blinding speed out the outside.

Tsumibito was alone. Exhausted, he closed his eyes and thought to himself. That's right. I am Lelouch, and so is Zero. But… Zero and I used to be…

End of Chapter 21

(A/N: Natsu and I agreed to do different parts of the author's notes. He'll do the beginning, and I'll do the end. Now to what I wanted to say…

The poll on my bio page is still up as you read this. It will stay there until this arc finishes, which might be up until possibly before thirty chapters of this story. So please vote after you read this if you haven't already.

If you're wondering about what Tsumibito was talking about before the chapter ended, then don't worry. That will be the next chapter, where I'll explain almost everything that I've hidden from you for most of this story so far. I still have one thing I'm not telling you about until the story reaches that point. I know what to do, but it's not written down yet. And if you have trouble picturing what his Vanguard form looks like, then look up Bleach's Aizen and his Hogyoku form during his fight with Kisuke, Yoruichi and Isshin. Just remove the ball in his chest, and you have Vanguard. And also, if you were wondering what Lelouch looks like when he readies his battle pose, then look up Yasha from Asura's Wrath on Google.

Thanks for reading the latest chapter. Please leave a review if you want to say anything, and stick around for when the next chapter comes out.

Have a nice day.)