11th of February, 2019, 18:00h
Pacific Ocean, International Waters
The Fourth and Fifth Squadrons of the Roman Pacific Fleet were on their way to the Atoll of Midway, when they were intercepted by a much larger Britannian detachment of the 7th Fleet. The two squadrons, commanded by Admiral Bergamini, despite their inferiority, engaged the Britannian forces anyway and fought fiercely with them for most of the day. Unfortunately, the Britannian superiority was evident, leading to the total destruction of both the squadron. In this way, by the late afternoon, while the flagship, the S.M.S. Trieste was still sinking, taking with her the Admiral, there was only one unit left fighting the submarine D. Sebastiao, commanded by Captain Marquis Francisco de Avila.
Although still fighting, this was clearly a desperate fight. The D. Sebastiao was now completely surrounded by enemy ships and being targeted from many sides, while the enemy Admiral was calling upon them to surrender. However, the captain was decided to resist: he was carrying the nuclear weapons and was determined not to let the Britannians seize them.
"Captain, we have no hopes, we are surrounded, we must surrender." Observed the First Officer.
That was the end and the Marquis knew it well. He hoped not to have to take such a decision, but given the circumstances he was left without choices. He thought once again of his family back at home that would have been left waiting for him forever, then touched their photo, then he looked at the icon of Jesus Christ that he had and he made the sign of the cross and said: "May God forgive me for my sins and make me victorious in this last battle."
After that, he ordered the emersion. His subordinate immediately seemed perplexed, but they obeyed. The submarine started going upwards, towards the surface.
'If we won't keep these bombs, then the enemy certain won't have them.' He thought, while the submarine was emerging under the enemy fire.
He then took the control for the bombs, he was ready.
"Ladies, gentlemen, it has been a honour to fight alongside with you." He said preparing for the fatal decision. The tripulation seemed to have understood and accepted its destiny.
Once again the voice of the Britannian Admiral:
"Last call, Marquis de Avila. Please surrender to our forces."
The Prince was resolute and prepared to press the red button.
"Long live to His Majesty the Emperor! Long live to the Roman Empire!"
The botton was pressed. Transforming the submarine and its tripulation into ashes and destroying all the attacking Britannian ships.
Japanese Airspace, 17:30h
With Tohdoh out of combat and completely surrounded by the Britannian forces, the remnant of the Black Knights were fighting a desperate resistance in the hope that either the Imperial Guard or the other Black Knight force, with Anya, Gino and Kallen, would come in their help.
In command was now Prince Philippe d'Orleans, heir to the Duchy of Orleans and under him were Li Xingke, Guderian, Ayano and Amedeo. The latter was left very unstable by the death of his father and was now dangerously exposing himself in revengeful actions against the enemy.
"Amedeo, stop, acting in this wait or you will end up reaching your father!" Said Philippe in the radio to Amedeo.
"My father, my sister, yes, I want to reach them!" Exclaimed Amedeo launching himself in another attack.
"Please darling, stop this!" Exclaimed Ayano worried, following with some troops to cover him.
"General Xingke." Called Philippe. "If the reinforcement don't show up soon, then we are lost."
"I know." Replied Xingke. "At least we fought with bravery."
"Yes... that's a big irony, you know: I fought for very long against the Japanese, whom I was taught to loathe and now I will die side by side with them."
"Say fight, not die, Monsieur d'Orleans. Hope is the last to die."
"Hope was the last disgrace to come out from Pandora's Box, General Xingke."
In that moment a sergeant of the Iron Guard interrupted their conversation.
"Look there! Our men! It's the Imperial Guard! The Guard is coming!"
In that moment the Imperial Guard, led by the Emperor himself, reached the battlefield, with their frames shining at the setting Sun and charged with fury the Britannian formation.
Suprised by this abrupt attack, the Britannians could not organise a proper defence and had their formation broken by the Imperial Guard, while their soldiers were slaughtered by the combined Noble Guard, Pretorian Guard and Swiss Guard.
"Here we go, bloody bastards! I will send you to wait for your master Lelouch in the Tartarus!" Exclaimed Giulio while massacring the enemy with his Augustus. He was taken by a macabre euphoria.
"Your Majesty, you came!" Exclaimed Xingke. "We were already losing our hopes."
"General Xingke." Answered Giulio. "You can accuse me of anything, but not of being a traitor. We are bound to fight this war together, so we will fight it together until the end, whatever it will be."
The Imperial Guard combined with the already deployed deployed forces were able to inflict a very serious damage to the Britannian troops, killing many of them and forcing the others to retreat to the Damocles.
"Hooray to our Emperor!" Exclaimed Ayano. "Let's now go after them and crush them at once!... I mean, I suggest that we go."
"Lady Kosaka is right." Stated Giulio. "Xingke, follow us with your forces we must protect the Damocles at any cost."
The combined UFN-Roman force followed the enemy and reached the Damocles, where the situation was more and more desperate.
"Thank God you came!" Exclaimed Leonhardt Steiner when he saw the reinforcements arriving.
"Lord Steiner, what's the situation, where are the Glinda Knights?" Asked Giulio, seeing that he was the only one left of that force.
"They have all been shot down, Your Majesty. Luckily Lady Zevon and Marika are alive, but all the others..."
"And the Black Knights?"
"Before your arrival they were fifteen, without counting the Knights of Round and Kallen Kozuki."
Having reached the battlefield, the reinforcements led by Giulio had immediately engaged the Britannian Forces, however, what caught Giulio's attention was the view of Gino and Kallen fighting against Suzaku near the Damocles.
"Anya, where are you?" Called Giulio on the radio.
"Busy... I'm under attack by Jeremiah Gottwald."
"Why nobody is going to help Gino and Kallen?"
"Because they are inside the shields. It' impossible to get there."
In that moment Giulio noticed few blows in the Damocles.
'What in Heaven is going on there?'
"Giulio, I am afraid that Schneizel might have started the procedure for the self-destruction of the Damocles." Said Anya through the radio.
"The self destruction? This means that I have won." Answered Giulio.
"Yes but... Nunnally! Wait, I need to rescue her."
From his position, Giulio could see Anya trying to head to the Damocles, but being stopped by Jeremiah Gottwald.
"I'm coming to cover you, leave Gottwald to me." Said Giulio in the radio.
Unfortunately, in that moment a missile reached the Augustus, damaging one of the engines, reducing considerably its speed.
"Damnation!" Exclaimed Giulio, then he called Anya. "Sorry, but I cannot come. With the speed reduced by 50% i will never be able to face the Siegfried. I will nonethless try to cover you."
"Thank you, do what you can and don't worry." Answered Anya keeping fighting.
Giulio opened fire with one of his small cannons against the Sutherland Sieg. However, this was quick in firing with the Hyper-Velocity cannon at the Augustus, which was saved only thanks to its shielding system, losing nonetheless the cannon and its right arm.
"Amedeo, I need your intervention! Go help Anya."
"Yes, Sir!" Replied the cousin, attacking Gottwald from behind.
Unfortunately, even the Totenkopf was defeated, after successfully firing few missile at the enemy, through another cannon that the Sutherland Sieg had available, that managed to blow it.
"Amedeo! Are you alright?" Asked Giulio.
"Yes, yes, I am unfortunately, out of combat."
Anya fired the Hadron Cannons, destroying seveal of the Britannian troops.
In response, the Siegfried fired a serie of missiles against Anya's frame, the Modred. The pilot was however able to protect herself using the shield incorporated in the frame.
"You, power without a master!" Provoked Gottwald.
"You who have something to depend on. A weak man." Replied Anya firing again with the Hadron cannon. Gottwald tried to respond with his hyper-velocity cannon but the Hadron was faster and his frame was successfully destroyed, causing the rejoicing of several soldiers.
"Good job Anya!" Exclaimed Giulio.
"Memorised, recording complete." She said with the maximum coldness.
Unfortunately, in that moment Jeremiah reappeared piloting the core unit and attacking directly the Mordred.
"Noble Guard, to me! Attack!" Ordered Giulio trying to lead a small force of guards to reinforce his fiancée. Unfortunately they were stopped even before they could begin the attack by a charge of the Black Watch Guards, who were now aiming at taking the Roman Emperor's life. Thanks to their numerical advantage and to the reduced capacities of the Augustus, they would even have managed to, wasn't for a prompt intervention of the Lutzows Jaeger and of the Swiss Guard.
Protected now by his forces Giulio could however watch at a scene that in his mind, in that moment, was sufficient to represent his total defeat: the Core Unit piloted by Gottwald had self destroyed itself, disabling the Modred, whose front was now partly opened. On its top, he could see the former Magrave standing triumphantly and pointing a sword at Anya.
"No... Soldiers, spearhead formation, we charge." Ordered Giulio.
"Impossible, Your Majesty." Objected the Captain of the Swiss Guard. "We are being surrounded and we are in disadvantage."
"I am the Emperor, I decide what is possible or not." Replied Giulio infuriated.
However, much to his terror, he could see the remaining Roman and Black Knights troops scattered and some of them even fleeing in disorder, while on the Damocles, all the frames appeared to be destroyed. He decided to call all the allied commander.
"To whoever is still listening, here is the Roman Emperor. We are reorganising the forces and preparing to fight back."
"Giulio, brother." Called Gino. "You were of great help today, but you should fall back. We are all out of combat."
"Lord Weinberg is right, Emperor Julius." Added the Empress Tianzi answering to the call. "Rome is our last hope against Lelouch."
"I don't betray my allies!" Replied Giulio with anger. "Troops, regroup. Form square. We won't cede a single mile if death shall not pass!"
The troops obediently followed the insane orders of their Emperor, despite the hopeless situation. Yet, the image of Gottwald standing on Anya's frame was simply unbearable to Giulio.
"Giulio, big-brother, please! Do you want to make me and mom suffer more?" Asked Lucrezia in the radio.
The young Emperor, felt at her words a tear falling through his face, yet, he was resolute.
"Giulio, please, you and your forces gave prove of bravery and loyalty today. But if you fall here nobody will be able to resist Lelouch any further." This time to speak was Kallen.
Right after, he received a call from Admiral Borghese: "Your Majesty, the navy was overrun everywhere, I am regrouping the remaining ships in Vladivostok for coastal defence."
The information struck him further: the defeat of the Roman navy was something he was not expecting at all.
"Giulio, I have served under you with the EU uniform in Africa, fought against you in Germany, then served you against with the Iron Guard, in the German Federation and in the Roman Empire, we shared many adventures, victories and defeats." This was Ayano talking. "But this time you must recognise that you cannot win. Let's retreat. We will be back in force one day, I am sure of that."
Giulio's hand started shaking. His impulse to cry became stronger. Several memories started floating his mind: his father, his family, the friends and relatives he had made and lost, his ambitions, his desire to revenge, all this against the background of the several messages reching him via radio asking him to retreat. He closed his eyes, took a long breath and emptied his mind. He had to say two words. Very simple ones, although very heavy. He did not wanted to, but he had to.
"Troops, retreat."
What was left of the Far East Expeditionary Force started retreating. The Augustus was now being pushed by Ayano and by another Swiss soldier, as inside, Giulio did not seemed to even have the forces for that. Left on the battlefield was now only the 'Folgore' Regiment. An Italian elite force under the comman of Baron von Richthofen, who decided to sacrifice himself with his troops to cover the retreat of his comrades.
Raising his sword to the sky, Jeremiah Gottwald shouted: "All Hail Lelouch!"
"All Hail Lelouch!" Replied the soldiers. The battle was won.
The Roman army and the few Black Knights who had survived were already away, flying in the direction of Russia, when the image of Lelouch appeared in the screens and a communicated was sent to the Damocles to the World:
"Attention entire world, hear my Proclamation:
I am Lelouch vi Britannia, Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire and Your Only Ruler!
Schneizel has surrendered to me. As a result of this I am now in control of both the Damocles and the FLEJA weapons and even the Black Knights no longer possess the strength to oppose me now.
If anyone dares to resist my Supreme authority, they shall now the devastating power of the FLEJAs.
Those who could challenge my military rule no longer exist.
Yes, from this day, from this moment forward, the world belongs to me.
Lelouch vi Britannia commands you: Obey me subjects! Obey me World! All Hail Lelouch!"
The Britannian victory at the mount Fuji seemed to make Lelouch's world rule just a matter of time. Most of the UFN members surrendered individually, as the leaders were now all taken prisoners, while the few that resisted, were soon dissuaded by the usage of the FLEJAs on their capitals or strategically important cities. In this way, Rome was soon left alone against the whole world.
To worsen the situation, the morale of the Romans was further shaken by Lelouch usage of the FLEJAs on Vladivostok, destroying what was left of the Pacific Fleet, on Bordeaux and on Amsterdam. After that, with the defeat of the Mediterranean Fleet, the Britannians managed to invade Greece, where despite the fierce resistance of the Roman Army, they managed to win and advance northwards, through the Balcans, cutting the Empire in two. Another offensive, from the East and the South East, saw the Britannians invading Siberia and the Transamur. Despite everything, the Romans were still able to obtain few victories: in the Caucasus, where the Britannian Army was soundly by Grand Duke Mikhail of Muscovy, in Anatolia, where the troops under Prince Anselm Komnenos-Focas were able to hold the Britannian advance after a bloody battle in Capadocia and finally in Northern Africa, where the Afrika Korps, commanded by the brilliant Rommel, were setting a guerrilla war against the Britannians, commanded by Princess Marrybell mel Britannia.
Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck, Archduchy of Austria
If the Roman Empire, in a timespan of two months since the Battle of Mount Fuji, was on the brink of the disaster, this was largely due to the Emperor's behaviour in the aftermath.
Indeed, right after the battle, Giulio had still tried to resist Lelouch, however as everything that he tried resulted only in more defeat and his hated enemy started invading his Empire, his situation worsened, to the point that his physicians forced him to retreat to private life for some time. In the meantime, the Empress Mother, Charlotte d'Orleans, had taken the Regency.
While the Empire was falling apart, under the advancing forces of Lelouch vi Britannia, Giulio had retreated into the Schloss Ambras, a property in the Austrian Alps that he had purchased from the House of Habsburg.
Hopeless, away from the court and convinced of the unavoidability of his defeat, there he would spend his days alone, walking in the mountains or in the town and waiting for the moment in which his enemy would have come to take him to his destiny.
20th of April, 2019
The night of the 20th of April was a difficult one for Giulio. He was struggling to sleep. A sense of anxiety and angst seemed to have taken the control of himself and he could simply not sleep, no matter how much alcohol he would drink, or how many medicines he could take. Suddenly, in the dark of his bedroom, he could notice someone moving and sitting on a chair, right in front of his bed. His first reaction was to wait until this presence would leave, but as it did not seemed to happen, he decided to turn on the light. The view left him astonished.
Dressed in a light blue dress, Guinevere was sitting in front of the bed and looking at him with anger and disappointment.
"Guin- Ginny?" Asked Giulio shocked by the view.
"So this is how you face your enemy? By isolating yourself in this place, filling youself with alcohol and drugs and waiting for your death?"
"Guinevere... I don't know what to do..."
"Have you looked at yourself over the past few days? I can hardly believe I am talking to the same Giulio that I had loved and at whose side I have faced many enemies and my own death."
As she was saying these harsh words, tears were falling through her face and at the height of her belly blood had started appearing and falling on the floor.
"Ginny... I am sorry... but what can I do?"
"What you can do? Shame on you! Go back to Rome and lead your Empire! This was our project, don't fail it!"
"My daughter is right." Said another voice, this time a male one.
In that moment, Giulio turned at his right, from where the voice came and he realised that Andrea Farnese was there.
"A-Andrea?"
"We have all believed in the Renovatio Imperii, our ancestors believed in that before us and we waited for three hundred years. It's not up to you to ruin this mission by locking yourself in this place."
In that moment, Giulio could see around him appearing his father, his grandparents, Marquis Federigo Galahad-Canossa, the man that for years kept the genius Napoleon in check, Cecilia Colloredo-Mansfeld, Euphemia li Britannia, Philip Owens, his Rhodesian friend, Clovis la Britannia, a childhood friend together with Euphie, Lord Michele Manfredi and last, to his surprise, a Medieval knight, that he recognised as probably being Sir Galahad in person. All them were looking at him.
"My son." Said his father. "When you start something you must also finish it. Especially if it's not something you have started on your own but was given to you with this mission. You can have the favour of all the Gods and the ancestors, but it's still up to you do decide whether you will succeed or not."
"We are all with you, Giulio and we only wish your success." Said Euphemia, coming towards him. "So don't ruin yourself in this place, this is not what the Giulio that I knew for so long would do. You should wake up now, there is some people waiting for you, then go back to Rome and finish what you have to do."
During all this time, Giulio was remaining silent, he did not knew what to say as each of them seemed to perfectly address his feelings. The last to talk was Sir Galahad in person.
"When I had my son expelled from Camelot I could never imagine that he would give to my lineage such a fine heir. You have covered with honour all of us by doing what you did, so listen to your friend now. Wake up, return to Rome and finish your mission. The Renovatio Imperii cannot be left uncompleted. Too many have already failed it."
Giulio looked at all of them. There was the story of his life: his ancestors, his parents, grandparents, lovers, friends, everyone that he could imagine. They were all looking at him, silent, their eyes now transmitted hope and expectative.
"You have all my word, I won't fail you. Not anymore."
Giulio woke up in his bed in the Schloss Ambra, in that exact bedroom that was the place of his dream. From the window, some sunlight was already entering. As he started becoming more aware, he realised to be holding someone in his arms. Leaving immediately this person, he jumped up on his knees on the bed.
'Not another ghost, please.'
Only then, he recognised the green hairs and the features of C.C..
"C.C.? What are you doing here?" He asked waking her up.
The girl yawned and stretched herself lazily, then looked at Giulio.
"Good morning. I hope I haven't woke you up when I came yesterday."
"No but..."
"I came from New York yesterday night."
"But why?"
"Well, because I am your slave and I must come every time you are in need."
"Oh... I see."
C.C. rose from the bed, sitting.
"Well, now that I came maybe we should get out of here and prepare your return. You don't plan to spend the rest of your days here, do you?"
"Oh... no, not anymore. I intend to go back."
"It's good, even because otherwise your life would be quite short."
"Sorry, what do you mean?"
C.C. took her laptop and opening it on Le Figaro, showed the main title of that day:
'Rebel Officers Seize Power in Rome. The European Democratic Republic is Proclaimed.'
"What?" Asked Giulio astonished.
"Well, you were here drinking and taking drugs, so someone else thought about seizing power. A certain Honecker, from the old European Socialist Party."
"That bastard!" Exclaimed Giulio standing up. "I will now get dressed and go teach these traitorous swines a lesson!"
"That's how I like you." Said C.C. while Giulio, without even considering her presence, first went to take a shower and than came back to the room to get dressed.
"You still have many scars over your body." Observed C.C. looking at him getting dressed.
"I know, thanks to Shin Hyuga. Now come here and help me, slave." Answered Giulio, adding a certain irony on the 'slave'. With the help of his slave-witch, Giulio was soon dressed in a dark-grey Prussian uniform and after C.C. also got ready, they left together the room, heading to the main hall.
In the hall, waiting for him were Lucrezia with Anubis, who had been staying with him during these two months, Princess Cornelia and Lord Gilbert Guilford who had managed to reach him there in some way and - much to Giulio's surprise - the former EU President under whom he had served, Carlo Andreotti.
"I see youhave decided to take an attitude." Said the old politician standing up, resting on his cane and looking at Giulio through his glasses. After him, all the other stood up and saluted Giulio doing the Roman Salute, raising the right arm.
Giulio saluted back and stood looking at them for some time. They were all waiting for him to say something. He did a half smile which contained all his malice, wish to revenge and readiness to destroy.
"Very well, let's make the Reconquista begin."
Author's Note
Dear Readers, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter on the battle of Japan and its aftermath. I won't hide to you that I was very tempted of making a separate chapter about the aftermath of the battle, but then I realised that only the battle alone would have made a rather short chapter and that a single chapter in which for a good part of the time Giulio would have been filling himself with Brandy and antidepressants could have been slightly unbearable. So I have decided to proceed in this way, although I realise that it's now a bit fast-paced, making Giulio go back already at the end of this chapter.
Again, I am welcoming comments or questions, if you have any and I hope you will keep following the next chapters.