Stage 01 - The Day a New Demon was Born (Part 3)
With the session unveiled, their suspicion is cleared. The explosion was indeed Nagata's deed, his last act of defiance shown as he gives one last look at the photo of his happy family before priming the detonation button…
"Long Live Japan..." And so, it happened, the combustion of the truck's fuel rocked the tunnels with tremors all the way through the subway system, throwing the soldiers, Lelouch, and the girl in his hands off their feet as smoke filled the entire room. The destruction was such that it was clearly detected and spotted by every soul up in the surface, including the Britannian land-cruiser that strolled through the ghetto under the orders of General Bartley. And as one would expect he was indeed enraged with this conclusion after finally managing to get a response from the ground team in what seemed to be minutes past...
"They got away!?" He shouted frantically over the radio, "And you call yourselves the royal guard!?"
"F-forgive me, my lord! The blast was mainly directed upwards but the bedrock just collap-"
"Enough excuses! Why the hell do you think I only trust you people with this!? Get it done!"
"Y-yes sir, we will continue the investigation..."
That said, the General was breathless through all this mess… It was taking too long, too long for them to recover one measly creature. This prompted him to wipe the sweat off his face while screaming orders around to make things work despite the futility of it all. The truth is, both his leadership and desperation was clear for all to see, and even then, he is but one cog in the chain of command itself trying his best to make this delicate operation flow.
Unfortunately for the General though, right behind him, a royal soul contemplated these circumstances and found them disappointing...
"The plan has moved to the next phase it seems..."
"...!"
Prince Clovis, present on his throne on the bridge, looked at his subordinate with a bored glance, having already judged his uselessness. Quite, he is starting to suspect that the enemy, those cursed terrorists, have found out about his secret by now, meaning he shouldn't compromise any longer on dealing with them.
"But your highness, I-"
"If knowledge of her gets out, I'll be disinherited." He warned the General, making it very clear what's the consequences that may come out from this, something the fat man knew well, "There's no time to be lost. Give word back home that we will be carrying out a planned urban renewal."
"..." Gulping down, Bartley then nodded, merely gesturing to a nearby crew to obey.
After this, the royal noble, now with a serious demeanor, stood up in grandeur stance to give his next order when ready, "I, Clovis, third prince of the Empire, order you! Destroy Shinjuku Ghetto! Leave no one alive!"
"Yes, my lord!"
With his sentence, this sparked a whole change in the britannian army's behavior from here and beyond. All of sudden, Knightmares were launched; the armed soldiers began to invade; the tanks began to fire discriminately; and every soul that was found in their path was just thoroughly purged from existence.
It was a massacre. Japanese families ran for their lives; men, woman and child were exterminated by cannon fire, helicopters strafted through the streets raining guns at everything and elderly souls were just shot in their own homes without a ounce of hesitation...
"Why are the Britannians doing this!?" Was the wonder of many right before soldiers just sweep through every building, every corridor and every place, gunning down anything that moved.
The answer? It was clear as day, "...The enemy is garbage that could never hope to become Honorary Britannians. Wipe out every last one of them!"
That was the order they were given, a sentiment shared by many Britannian with glee on their eyes, including those of the infamous Purist Faction, "Naturally..."
"Supervisor Jeremiah, General Bartley wants you to take command of area 2-"
"Bartley has his staff, right? Leave them to it. I've hadn't this much fun in ages!" Declared the Imperial Warrior himself, ignoring orders as to go wreak havoc across the battlefield in the way he wished... Truly, his attitude there even shocked Jury as they stare at the same man amongst them with disgust, receiving no reaction except for his closed eyes.
Yet, none of it mattered. Back then he just had his job much like the others did. The encirclement of the ghetto was to proceed with impunity, giving no room for any impediment found in the prince's path. This is what the the terrorist wrought to themselves, their destruction to be carried out immediately, with it's progress being carefully monitored on High Command's map screen inside the land-cruiser.
"Hmph..." With this, Prince Clovis appeared amused, relieved even, at his choice of action. Perhaps now his mistakes will be washed away with the blood of his enemies, as it should be for one fit of royalty...
"Wha- What a monster!" Kallen shouted, feeling incredulous with rage. She stared at the scene, at the Prince's order, and then at her fellow Britannians, "How can he do this!? How can you people do this!?" She demanded in a scream, making everyone wince in reaction, her eyes watering from the sheer amount of emotions coursing through. The red ace may have lived through this before, yet even then, the scar of seeing this murderous scene still tore her through, making her want to punch, and rise, and gear up for a fight all over again in retribution for her fallen brethren.
And honestly, how can anyone blame her for it?
"All those people, slaughtered… Why Clovis, just why!?" Nunnally herself couldn't comprehend it. The very frail image of her loved brother was shattered right in front of her eyes. Clovis betrayed her beliefs, he betrayed those of his own people, all because of whatever cursed secret C.C seems to bear in her body… This even makes her past bitterness of mourning his death fall apart in comparison to the infuriating feeling rising in Nunnally heart for this sacrilege. The brunette girl was disgusted. Shocked beyond reason, to the point that she didn't know what she would do if she was ever forced to judge her brother for his crimes. Truly, nothing could explain this inhumanity he had done, nothing at all.
"Such is the way of Britannia." Cornelia however tried, her desolate tone of defeat clear for all to hear, "It is what we do… We obey orders, like the good soldiers that we are, proudly serving the Empire that we wrought to create in our ideals..." She admitted, making her guilt to be shown in full while facing her little sister directly, all to hold on to whatever faith or mercy the young Empress could bear for her, "I'm sorry Nunnally… I'm not different than them. Not even him." She declared, shaking her own head. This clearly meant that even she, a appropriately named Witch of Britannia, has done certain things that none should proud of, things that were done with pure glee and sadism.
"..." As such, this alone seemed to crack down certain hopes that Nunnally had for her family's creeds. Given there wasn't already much to hope for in the first place, she really didn't know what to think now, all things considered.
Behind her, Zero seemed tense in his stance. Suzaku was after all fuming at what has just occurred, "(Prince Clovis, you… You deceived us! You deceived us all!)" He mentally judged, partially reprimanding himself for being a blind cog through it all. Now he knows why Lelouch did what he did, why he resorted to the final solution. It was an retaliation from his part to stop this madness from whence everything started. Suzaku may not agree with the decision completely (given the prince's importance) but he understood why Lelouch had done it. Now both he and Nunnally will have live with this cruel fact that yes, the pompous, kind, and generous Viceroy of Japan was naught but a mass murderer of innocent lives…
Beyond this, nothing more needs to be said really. The crowd has it's opinions, with most of them denouncing the presented crimes while few like Jeremiah or Schneizel merely lamented choices that were made on scene due to its pointlessness. Others like Tamaki and his crew were, ironically enough, rather quiet in their corner, sulking alone by themselves. And the remaining Japanese dignitaries? Their anger was shown in full display, tempered under the edge of tranquility as to not waste their breaths with what once happened. After all, the ugly reality that remains from this is that nothing can be done now, for dead had long fallen and the past was already cast into stone.
This is the horror they've wrought for themselves in acceptance of the invitation, so the Jury is left with one only option: Move forward.
After the given order, all eyes were brought outside the cruiser, where a transport, belonging to a certain duo of scientists, sat idle amidst the escalation of the one-sided skirmish that was carrying on. As expected, Lloyd and Cecile did join the army's formation in a sense, their presence being given the full authority at the pull that General Bartley had provided. However, since their most vital key element needed to collect their desired combat data was missing, there was little they could do to proceed with their project…
"...He's not there...?" Lloyd blinked, listening to his assistant.
"No. It looks like he's gone to the front line." Cecile affirmed with a nod, "I suppose he's busy with his new orders…"
"Even though we brought the Lancelot here? How can this be?"
News were not any good. They had at least expected to some update on what happened out there so they could move on but it seems that Bartley and the Third Prince have just forgotten their existence there, even taking their only pilot with them to the frontlines…
"What should we do now?" Asked the good assistant, glancing at the shrouded remains of their setup, ready to go.
Lloyd shrugged in sadness. He held the key in his hands but had no one that could to use it, "We steam rolled ourselves all the way here and they just had to take our Devicer away..." These were sad times indeed.
Yet, little did the eccentric duke know that a certain injured soldier was making his way back to the central encampment. It would take some time for him to realize it, but the Britannian Army would begin to suffer casualties very soon. In other words, they would have plenty of able men to use as guinea pigs once the word gets out.
And since they only need someone to roll on their simulation protocols, their future was already set...
Meanwhile, escaping through the ruins of disaster, Lelouch and C.C were shown running as fast as they could through the collapsed remains of some mall building. Their clothes were dirty and they had many bruises, which served to reveal how they had escaped death at hands of the royal guard in the last minutes of now, never stopping as much as to catch a breath. In fact, only it's when the rescued Witch suddenly tripped down from a piece of rubble that Lelouch could finally take the time to process the straining stress amounting in his mind…
"What the hell are you!?" He shouted in demand, leaning his back on a nearby the wall to hold in his breath of despair. In a way, he already knew the answer ti his own question at bottom but that still didn't alleviate his conscience, "This chaos is all your fault, isn't it!?"
"..."
"Not only that but Britannia has… T-they killed Sukazu!" He admitted to himself, forced to accept it, "(How? Why? Where does she fit into it? What could this one girl represent in this degree as to sparkle such ruination? It makes no sense!)" Indeed, the prince was overwhelmed. His intellect alone couldn't conceive what he got himself into. The few speculations he could drawn in his mind as for why everything happened sounded far too shallow to serve as a proper reason. It had to be something deeper, something with meaning. Suzaku's death must had a purpose in this madness.
"..." Safe to say, Lelouch wasn't quite stable right now and the girl herself didn't help by not sharing any opinion of her own. In fact, she only observed him with silence, mute to his pleas and emotions while he struggled, something that both angered and relieved prince even more in some sense. At very least, she wasn't asking anything of importance back to him since it was clear he wouldn't be willing to cooperate either.
Nevertheless, they didn't have time to stay there pondering amongst themselves… The battle outside neared in and they had to keep moving. So, taking her hand, the prince forced himself into a calm state once more and pushed on, locking down his hatred on the inside for a later time.
"Come on..." Their path was brief now. Their location was somewhere distant from all the noise. Lelouch had to drag this mute girl away from any presence, Britannian or Japanese alike, as to avoid any attention lest he invites danger to himself.
This eventually led them to a warehouse of sorts, somewhere near a river that could be seen in the distance. And there, crouching on top of stairs, the prince slowly but surely went out to poke his head on the exist to look for any presence.
"Okay, stay quiet now..." He whispered to the girl, going up first. As expected, his paranoia did the job again, for they were indeed not alone. The moment Lelouch managed to see something, machineguns instantly sprayed over the corpse of some new Japanese victim. "...!" It was the royal guard again, quite the portion of them, all gunning down the helpless locals that took refuge on these stores…
"Well?"
"There's only Elevens here, sir."
"Hmm..." This made the prince drop a sweat. He recognized the voice of the officer that killed his friend, "Are you sure of it? Does that exit comes out from here?"
"Yes, sir. It matches up with our map of the old city."
Fearing a possible sweep up, Lelouch was about to sign the girl to retreat when the sudden outcry of a crying sound made him flinch. A survivor remained, a survivor that was immediately shot down by the cursed Britannians without a blink.
The prince couldn't even look at it…
The Jury, on the other hand, couldn't even take their eyes out. Things just kept getting worse...
"Was- was that a child?" Sugiyama questioned, caught in disbelief.
Minami beside him only gulped in a nod, "Holy shit..."
"Oh goddamnit you sick bastards! Heartless scum! Cursed sons of a whore! If I were there, I would have killed you all up! Butched and pissed on your bloody corpses after I had torn them apart! Gah!" Tamaki swore bitterly. He shouted with vigor, not being able to contain himself after seeing what was a safehouse of actual civilians, man, woman, children and families, getting all slaughtered in complete injustice. At this point, the whole conundrum of C.C's manipulation before felt like an minor sting compared to the real executions done by the actual Britannians. You could say he secretly wished for the Demon to do something at this point.
And he wasn't the only one thinking the same.
"Just where Prince Clovis found these sycophants?" Kaguya inquired to no one in particular. The way they just do theses crimes against humanity seemed far too unreal to accept sometimes.
"Everywhere I suppose." Todoh spoke, his hawkish frown kept permanently fixed on his face, "Who wouldn't want to lick that princeling's boot? The power he gives is enough to make anyone go drunk with it..."
"Hmph! Even so, such lack of restrain! It's like they're really asking for karmic punishment now." She concluded, glancing at the still shocked expression of his lost beloved. Admitelly, Kaguya is increasingly annoyed at the lack of respect, if not common sense, that this immortal woman fails to demonstrate in regards to Lelouch's suffering. C.C could have just helped him recover or something! I mean, the prince truly needed it there, "(Give him, and us for that matter, some answers at very least!)" She figured… But no, C.C had the gall to stay quiet and let him suffer alone. Oh kami, the nerve of her!
"Kaguya."
"...yes?"
With her thoughts disrupted though, the young politician turned to face her young friend Jiang, who at this point had already broken into silent tears when all the horror of the extermination was revealed. The poor girl held tight to Xingke as if her life depended on it, "W-what would you do to them?" Tianzi asked her.
At this, Kaguya blinked, "What?"
"A-about the soldiers. You said they deserve punishment, right? What would you do?" The young Empress clarified her wonder.
Such question seemed to draw the attention of her two protectors, who were curious as to what she was into but The Chinese Empress didn't pay mind to them. This was a answer she really wanted to know directly from her japanese friend.
"W-well… I would like to have them apprehended and tried into a court." The young Chairwoman affirmed, but not with the bright tone she would have wanted. Then again, she was kinda caught off-guard there, "I would have punished them to the fullest extent of the law, just as we decreed in the U.F.N." However, for all her charismatic talent, this one sentence was far too much of a dismissal for the young girl to just accept. Tianzi figured this out by the sheer looks of disregard her peers seemed to gesture. The amount of 'pffs' didn't help either…
"Liar." The girl accused, quickly getting sullen, "You're only saying to that to make it easy for me..."
This in turn made Kaguya recoil, "Oh..."
"They are going to die, aren't they?" Tianzi announced next, actually making Xingke blink with his eyes wide there, "Lelouch is going to do it, right? This is what you want…"
"I-I..."
Her sheer boldness, combined with the loss of innocence was really scaring her peers off now, "What's wrong, Jiang?" Xingke intervened. He was getting worried now.
"Nothing… I just… I just wanted to know from her. There's so many japanese dying there that I… I wanted to know what I, as Empress, should have done if I was in her place." The girl concluded, silencing all with her choice of words.
Apparently, this thick shock of reality wrought by bloodshed seemed to partially traumatize the young thirteen year old head of China who tried to rationizale it all on her own. Sheltered by her loneself for so long, it's clear now how much cruelty there can be given all the history that she has been presented with. And now, following Lelouch's life in this King's Court, having to witness this brutality of Britannia, all of this made her want to know what should be expected from a leader in times like these. What to do with these bad guys? How to deal with them? What is the right thing to do?
There's morality at play here, and although there's many things Tianzi have been taught with, there's no denying that her peers, her guardians, her friends even, are acting in such different way than what she actually knows. Call it maturity or something, but even the young Empress could see and feel the raw hate expelled by the crowd around her. It looks so obvious on how they seem to be driven by it sometimes, making her wonder if it is something natural...
"Your Highness..." Realizing this, Xianglin and Xingke glanced at each other and frowned. Only look at the young girl and they could see the markings of someone who for the first time looked angry...
Truly, only now they understand how bad the revelation of the Lelouch's bloody history can be to young and gentle mind such as Tianzi's. This whole slaughter is not meant for children after all. Xingke made the mistake of not dissuading his protegee from accepting the Court's invitation and now that's biting him down here, forced with the reality of the Empress having to learn anger.
He has to deal with this quickly...
"Jiang, we will have a talk tomorrow morning…" The genius advisor proposed. He faced her with the most serious look she had ever seen for a expression, "It appears I'll have to teach you the real meaning of being a leader way sooner than I would have wanted. This means that I'll answer all the questions you wish to learn should you desire to know how to behave. Do you accept this?"
"Ah..." Such manners quickly brought the girl shyness back as she considered, "Y-yes…"
"Then I'll spare you no quarter. Be ready." And so, with air of proper authority, the General Commander of the Black Knights turned his gaze back to the crowd and spoke, "Please, let us just finish with this session quickly..." He pleaded in a more soft tone, the stress shown explicitly in his face.
The Jury in turn simply obliged, already feeling sick and dour at this long mayhem that was thrown in their faces. They figure that Lelouch must be close to act by now. He has to, if he is to survive, and C.C is right there with him to make it happen. So all eyes turned their attention to the scene again...
And what they see is Lelouch with his face looking agape, unsure on how to react when a phone ring spontaneously flared from his pockets. Desperate, he turned it off as quick as he could but it was far too late. The cursed thing had revealed his position in the worst moment possible, making grit his teeth as he went for a run.
As for the culprit that called him in this crucial time? It was no one that he or the Jury could guess or judge. The illusion didn't reveal it.
In either case, the royal guard eventually rushed to his position, locking him down on the corridor where there was no escape from their line of fire. One burst shot later and he was cornered, his hands forced upwards in surrender...
It was the end of the line again for the prince who was brought up, pushed into a wall and primed under a gun line, all while the girl he rescued could do nothing but stare worried while being thoroughly escorted.
"Hm, what an appropriate location for a terrorist to meet his end." The officer mocked him, indulging in the curses the boy threw at him, "You did well for a student, as is expected for an Britannian. Still, unfortunately for you my clever young friend, you have no future now. You've brought me quite the unwanted headache, so..." Without having to say it, he lined up his pistol and just shot, only to hit the very same girl he was supposed recover, splattering her branded forehead just as she jumped in the kid's defense…
"He mustn't die!" She last said before recoiling backwards.
"...!"
"...!" And so, gasping in awe, the deed was immediate, the girl fell on the ground, blood spilling into her cheeks in a rather crude conclusion. Indeed, this was something neither side had expected.
"Y-you, you shot her!" Lelouch accused, mortified at having another life lost due to his existence alone. Never he thought she would just save him like that, him, a complete stranger, a enemy of Britannia, and maybe, an possible ally of hers... That thought alone broke him.
"Hmph. Our orders were to bring her alive if possible..." The officer declared, not so content of the outcome, yet not so worried at same time, "Oh well, nothing can be done about that now. We'll tell our superiors that the royal guard found the terrorists' hideout and wiped them out. Regrettably however, the female hostage had been already tortured to death… What do your think of this, schoolboy?"
"..." Deaf to his words though, Lelouch was far too distressed by what happened to even consider a response. He was just too lost in his mind, "(How could this be happening? First Suzaku, and now this girl…)" The fallen prince only kept himself crouched down, arm stretched to reach the dead girl while trembling in fear of what is about to come, "(Is this the end for me? With me not having done a single thing in my life? Just like this, so easily in a blink?)" The barrel of the pistol was pointed on his face and the only thing Lelouch could think was his sister's gentle smile, her elegant form sleeping so peacefully in a garden of flowers. It is… his last thought.
"(Nunnally…!)"
But then, in his unconscious wish for a miracle, something happened, something inexplicable to describe… Yes, what came next was a defiance of all reality and logic that the prince would ever know from now on.
"...!" To start with, a hand grabbed his own, a hand, coming from the fallen girl who moments ago was shot dead. Her cold dead touch instantly warped his senses on grasp, distorting his perception and molding the world around him to such point that he was practically dragged to what could be only a metaphysical hallucination that just spontaneously came out of nowhere.
And it is in this surreal mind trip of an illusion that someone just called forth for him, "You don't want it to end here, do you?"
"What…?" Lelouch, carried by lightning into the void, through veins of some circuntry, could only stand stunned.
"You appear to have a reason for living..." It spoke again, addressing him from a world of reflected existence...
He recognized this voice, having heard only once in her recent death, "(That girl? Impossible...)" Yet what is with this madness he's perceiving?
"If I grant you power, could you go on?" She proposed, revealing herself in a similar fashion of reflection parallel to him, "I propose a deal. In exchange for this power you must agree to make my one wish come true. Accept this contract and you accept its conditions. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other, a different providence, a different time, a different life. The power of the king will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared?"
Such offer, so fanciful and purposeful, it carried a promise, one so deep that the prince could feel it's certainty, exposing things into his mind that he couldn't comprehend. He saw the gap of two planets facing each other balanced by a star; he saw a storm of feathers encompassing his reflected existence the floated in the void; he saw glimpses of an unknown reality, cracks carved in stone to form a symbol; he saw this same symbol branded in the flesh of entire crowds of people, their eyes closed in communion; He saw the eye of jupiter gazing upon him, ominous and imposing; all while the girl expressed her offering of power, saying words that carried might from voice alone.
Lelouch's reluctance was constant through the hearing, diminishing only until one more vision in line compelled him to answer: His father, surrounded by his cohorts, amidst some ruins of ancients times...
This alone had the prince's interest sparked.
"A convergence with the Ragnarok connection? So the myth is beginning once again?" The dreaded man spoke, with all that arrogance and ambition he's known for.
Truly, the future Demon Emperor may not know the context on this revelation, nor he could know the meaning of these visions, but if his father is involved, if his future is in line, if a opportunity is given to him on the moment where he almost believed all hope was gone… Then, he had to take it.
"Yes! I hereby accept the terms of your contract!" He declared, with all the anger on the voice, and all the vigor he long restrained, finally moving on take the reigns of his destiny once more. No more would he yield to the world any longer, not while he has to power to fight against it!
…
…
"...!"
And thus, it occurred… Or at least, Lelouch believed so, for next in second he blinked, the cogs of reality shifted and he found himself back in the warehouse, back into the world that was about to consume him, at the hands of a quaint royal guard officer and his petty gun...
"..."
Strangely enough though, Lelouch didn't feel keen to question what he just experienced. Rather, he felt relieved, renewed even, his calm and collected mind cleansed from both fear and despair, leaving his heart serene. If anything, he never felt more alive than now...
"Say…How should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?" He asked the officer directly, standing up to face his countrymen with pure indifference.
And noticing the clear change of behavior on the strange boy, the man didn't quite know how to react, "Hm? Are you some kind of radical?" Yet, upon noticing a certain glow behind the student's hand, a wave of uncertainty and anxiety eerily overtook him, even making freeze spot, "...!"
"What's wrong? Why not shoot? Your opponent is just a student..." The boy taunted him, unleashing this unknown weight of his shoulders. Whatever it is, something of a hold took grip of the officer's nerves. He felt scared, unusually scared, "Or have you finally realized it? The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!"
At his declaration, the boy then let his hand fall, allowing him, the officer, to finally see the source of this- nay, of his, overwhelming presence: A glowing glyph of an V, shaped like a bird, replacing the boy's left pupil...
"Wha- What's happening…?!" It shook the man to the core upon witnessing it.
The prince then, now feeling this immense power rising upon him, just let it flow, allowing whatever nature it has to take over, "[I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you…All of you…Die!]" He demanded forth, casting his voice by the sway of his imposing hand, full of authority and glamour.
Truly, the officer couldn't even blink as the wave of red light flashed right through his eyes, warping the very biology of his brain to accommodate a foreign will. From that point and beyond, the man now felt that he had a mission to do, an duty to accomplish, an obligation to merely… obey, "[Yes, Your Highness!]" He declared, with sudden eagerness and joy. And oh, how joyful this felt for him! How good this purpose was when it came to his ear! It was so much he could just laugh at it al, so easy, so quaint… Hell, he even had the weapon in his hand, meaning that he just had to point it on his neck and then, "Fire!" Shoot his own neck off.
"Gah!" , "Ugh!" , "Argh!"
Indeed, one by one, Lelouch saw every soldier before him obey his exact orders…
They all just took their own pistols and killed themselves, with no remorse and no hesitation. No, it was the opposite. They did this as if it was their duty, an irrefutable order that couldn't be remotely questioned, all with the visible effect of having their eyes glowing in red under his irrefutable influence.
"...!" It was almost unimaginable to see it. The incredulity of such scene only fell into his conscience when a splatter of blood smeared his cheek, proving that this, that all he had saw from the brink of his own death until now, was not a dream…
On the contrary really, it is his newfound reality.
"(I see… Now it makes sense.)" Lelouch reflected upon this, witnessing the blood of his enemies paint the floor upon his feet, "(Since that day, I've lived a lie, the lie of living. My name too was a lie, my personal history, a lie, nothing but lies… I was sick to death of a world that couldn't be changed. But, even in my lies, I refused to give up in despair, and now, with this incredible power… it's mine.)"
Yes, this had to be it. Lelouch now has the power to finally move on to fulfill his own dream, something that just puts this malicious smile on his face when thinking on it, "Well, then..."
This is how it happened, how it framed in the scene, the Demon, being born with his sadistic grin, perfectly pictured as the last imprint of the session as it ended, reverting the world around the Jury back to its ancient architecture of a stage…
And what's there to be said really? How to react to such manner of horror? The crowd was ecstatic.
"What in the hell!?" Tamaki for example was visibly shocked by what he saw. While he mentally cheered on the brits being killed, the way it happened still left in him in mix of awe and confusion.
"That eye..." Todoh uttered, closely inspecting the sigil imprinted on Lelouch's eye, already recognizing it with the many examples found everywhere on their studies. Yes, this had to be it, the power and nature of geass. It is as menacing as it is mysterious for sure.
"But… But what happened there? C.C just- she just..." Ohgi tried to speak but could find the words to form his question, not it was needed given what everyone had seen it. They all tried to comprehend it's creation, watching as the witch mind-screwed Lelouch with all manner of visions. Truly, it all too inexplicable.
"A contract with the devil through a witch." Xiaglin summarized, frowning deep, "How convenient that she waited for the last second to just corner him into this!"
"Not quite." Xingke disagreed, facing his subordinate in a thought glance, "By her choice of words, it seems like she preferred to avoid having to offer that power if at all possible. She only did this to save his life… as well as herself if you think at it." The advisor concluded, narrowing his eyes, "What is interesting however is what she did to convince him to accept the contract given all that she revealed." He suggested next.
"The Ragnarok Conversion… The myth..." Kaguya affirmed, deeply caught in the implications, "Is Charles talking about the end of the world here? I don't get it."
"No one does, Lady Sumeragi. We'll have to look on it."
"Right..."
Nodding along, Schneilzel also carried his own speculations close by, silently judging what was shown to fit the pieces left by his brother and father. Safe to say, the conclusions were mixed at best, "(So you knew of this place long before anyone did eh, Father? Unsurprising. I always found your taste for symbolic aesthetics so strange to bear. There's only so much tradition alone can do to cover the mystery behind those certain decisions of yours. Allegedly, you believed they carried power, which is not a far off assumption given this proof… In the end however, this girl was the key to it all, to the immortality and to Geass.)"
Through this, the fallen prince contemplated his next steps. If only he could get her somehow, then maybe he could put some minds into work… Not that he really needs to do it himself at principle.
In fact...
"Impressive. Just Impressive!" Lloyd and the other two scientists were already having some epiphanies, "Did you see that blue framework!?" The eccentric man asked of Cecile, with barebone recognition to his rival Rakshata.
"Y-yes… That pattern really appears like nerve endings." The bright assistant affirms, already drawing her conclusions, "So geass really affects the brain like we had suspected, but still…" There were things that didn't fit, things that their own research proved to the contrary, something Cecile had a hard time figuring why is that so.
"Hmph, how problematic. How does this relates to our situation?" Questioned the tanned Indian, poofing her pipe in reflection, "C.C managed to transfer information (if not power) through touch, presumably by the nerves endings of the arm... and yet, we tried to look on that already."
"Maybe its a hidden voltage? Some unknown neural frequency that she uses? It must be given how it can affect and change biology directly." Lloyd speculates, "If it is energy, then it has to be measurable."
"Well yes, but measured by what, Pudding? Care to give a guess?"
The trio went on in their little experiment, trying to figure what they know with what they discovered in a increasingly complex chatter, one very few could follow…
This then leaves the student council alone on their designs, shaken at the mess of it all, silently listening and seeing how their older peers react while they kept their own conclusions to this shitfess of a conundrum. Safe to say, it's beyond clear that their old friend Lelouch really lived to his title of Demon, as in, more literally than they had ever imagined.
"Okay…" Milly blinked in mix apprehension and awe, "That's a bit too dramatic..." She pointed out the minuscule thing of the scene, feeling so disturbed that she couldn't even find her cheerful nature to speak.
"Dramatic!? Lelouch just went nuts right there!" Rivalz bellows, arms flailing frantic, "I mean, I get that he was going to die and all but that's just insane! Is this what everyone is talking about? About geass and the Witch and whatever the fuck!?"
"He just ordered them to die, just like that…" Nina added, her eyes shaking in some disgust. Now, she saw for real the true cause and effect that brought him to do that crime. Truly, she can't help but to hold herself in shiver.
"Hmph, at least it was worth it." Kallen spat with poison, still mad at those dead bastards, "They and everyone else deserved it for all the deaths they've caused!"
"Are you sure about that Kallen?" Someone retorted, making her glare to the one solemn face of Gino who faced her, "What about the Japanese? Or the other innocent people he manipulated? Did they also deserved that?" He confronted her, genuinely curious while pointing at the mess the Old Man had just done.
Kallen however couldn't respond, "Well, that's… that's…" He knew well what he meant…
"We just don't know about that." Milly stepped up, arms crossed in seriousness as everyone faced her, "I know this looks really tragic and regrettable but surely there is an explanation for why Lulu did it." She affirmed, acting far more mature than she herself wanted, "I don't know if it is justifiable for sure but this is what all of this is about, us learning the truth in this crazy dream..."
"..."
And in truth they all had to agree with their graduated teammate there. It is not pretty, nor it feels right, but in some unbelievable way their friend Lelouch was correct in defending himself the way he did. How wouldn't after everything he had gone through? In the end, the fallen prince from beginning to end was forced to deal with the possible deaths of his friend, as well as all the mayhem that C.C existence wrought. And through it all, Lelouch still behaved in the way they all have known him for: Brave, innocence, cautious and perhaps, hopeful.
The fact that did return a changed man who would do what he did was but a shame…
"Big brother did this for me... To return back to my side." Nunnally spoke, reasoning this for herself, "He did return to us in some way, thanks to C.C..." She affirmed, mentally going back on her previous notions of suspicion. That much the brunette girl sought to believe now, desperately trying to latch into whatever good light her brother had.
Nunnally now understood that there was no way to fix her brother back to his innocence anymore. On the contrary, she had to once again believe in him herself, believe that he had been pushed into this from little to nothing of his own volition. This did made sense given his mentality, him being a man with the right intentions since his childhood.
Her only hope now is that Lelouch truly continues this way through the remaining sessions, making use of his power only when necessary...
"(I sure do hope too Nunnally… For our lone sake at very least.)" Suzaku reflected, silently basking in his friends newfound refuge.
So far he was feeling thoroughly conflicted from it all, gauging how the pieces the fit to create that massacre of an extermination… To that end, he figured that Clovis alone was indeed the cause for all of this, him in his forsaken ambition to learn what he couldn't. This in turn meantime that Lelouch and C.C we're partly innocent, an conclusion that felt slightly relieved to learn in his own way. Thus, it turns out that he was right after all, that Lelouch only acted because it was necessary, not out of pure malice as he once thought.
Suzaku still have his doubts about some things but he is willing to observe with a more clear mind, following what Nunnally is trying believe in the same road.
The Demon had to be a farce, a mask of lies much like the many others Lelouch had. If so, this will definitely change the perspective of many, for the better of the worse…
Until then.
To be Continued…
Author Notes: And so it ends my good readers. You have all caught up with my year long of writings. This unfortunately means that there will be not any consistent daily update as it once was since I literally have nothing else ready at moment (i don't even have the next chapter started). It is a shame yes but that's how life is: a complete disappointment.
Now, when to expect episode 2? Hell if I know. Maybe a week? A month? Something along those lines. I don't make promises anymore and my writing fever can occasionally die sometimes so for intents and purposes consider doing something else cause this might take a while. It's possible that for good measure I'll update supplemental dramas alongside the actual episodes just to that "filler" issue between my long updates, so don't worry.
If anything else, thank for reading and have a good day. We will see each other in some hopefully not-so-distant future.