Ch 30

Unknown location within the Goby Dessert.

The ground shook from the breacher charges that where detonated at the entrance to their underground base.

His followers began to panic.

"Calm down, initiate the evacuation plan to our facility in the E.U." V.V told them as he lead a squadron of Vincent prototypes against the attackers.

"What a damned fool Lellouch is. He may resemble Charles, but he was never this stupid." V.V thought as he pondered Lellouch's move, sending a Brittannian task force to attack them here in the middle of the Chinese Federation would destabilize any attempt at peace between Brittania and the Federation.

All he had to do now was face the knightmare commando squad that was sent against him and buy time for his followers to escape.

He reaches the surface with his squad and found that the commando squad was in fact a full battalion, no! A regiments worth of knightmares.

Realizing that they could not fight such a force, they turned around and saw that behind them was…it was a full brigade of Gun Ru's of the Chinese Federation lead by the Shen Hu itself.

"Master V.V…we…..we can't follow your orders, Rollo has sabotaged the train and has captured us."

Before V.V could reply a missile struck his and every other frames of Vincents, it was a claw like thing that made swarmed them with green light and electricity that disabled their system, making the machines slowly float down to the ground.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"The Gefyun missiles seems to be a success. Your system has performed most efficiently." Lloyd said to Laksharta begrudgingly, they were in the rear of this multinational task force and testing the new weapons system that they just jury rigged specifically for this mission in less than two days.

"And your hadron directional missiles are also impressive, I have never seen such speedy missiles before." Laksharta also begrudgingly complemented her eternal rival in the fields of science.

Neither were happy because they had to work with the other and create this bastard weapon, which was ironic since this new creation was many times more powerful than what they could have accomplished on their own.

But they no longer had enough time to ponder that, for as the Geass directive personal and users where gathered in a field, the two scientists deployed their prototype Geass canceller, that was also jury rigged from Rollo's intell and they also hated the fact that neither could claim it as their own creation.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You betrayed our country to the Chinese." V.V said to Lellouch, who was not standing before him with a glare in his eyes.

"Spare your rhetoric for those who care about you. But then again they are all gone, and the reason for that is the war that you helped Charles start isn't it? Before I decide your fate, answer me this. What is your objective? Why did you create this much chaos in the world?" Lellouch asked.

To which V.V gave a grin.

"Create the chaos? Me?" Lellouch-kun, you really are like Charles after all, such a child. Did you think that the mass uprisings before the Commonwealth and the unrest after it is my doing? I 'll tell you what happened, someone heard that you were and facing unrest in your faction and decided now is the time to strike, then the man next to him did the same, and the one after that, and again and again. Until they couldn't no more, then they rested and recovered and now when they thought you were too busy with China and Japan, the E.U tried again."

Lellouch was speechless for a moment, he shook his head as if he could not comprehend the language, let alone the meaning of the words he had just heard.

"No, no, everything that happened was to organized, to spontaneous, to directed against anything and everything. You cannot expect me to believe that this was not orchestrated by you or Schneizell!"

"Such a child. Think back boy, before the Commonwealth the chaos was mostly directed against Russia and the Federation, both where the top superpowers. Then after the Commonwealth it is mostly directed against you. Why? Cause now Britannia is poised to become the dominant power. Why? Because that's the world is." V.V said and looked at the ones behind Lellouch.

"Ambitious." V.V said as he looked at Suzaku.

"Vain." V.V gazed at Laksharta and Lloyd.

"They spout that all they want is to better the world. But when they get power they immediately plot on how to conquer others." V.V looked at Xingke.

"Human beings are evil creatures. We are driven by our hatred, it fuels us to accomplish things we thought impossible. And we lye, we lye to such a degree that we actually end up doing things that we say we hated to do all along. Don't you agree?" V.V now looked at Lellouch.

There and then Lellouch had an epiphany. He was now the leader of Old Britannia, by a combination direct and indirect means, within and beyond his control, he had recreated the old empire. No, not the old empire. For this new force had all of its strengths, yet none of it's weaknesses. It's people where untied instead of divided between citizens and numbers, the former Areas actually wanted this new Empire. Heck, Lellouch even had a stable foothold in Japan, Russia, India and Australia.

Lellouch had restored the Empire and made it stronger than ever.

The man who hated the Empire had brought it back and mightier than before.

"Then how can you expect me to believe that you're telling the truth?" Lellouch asked V.V

"And what do you consider the truth to be Lellouch?"

"Somewhere in between. The chaos did erupt as a result of human shellfish desire, but you also fanned the flames and took advantage of the chaos to make it bigger and make yourself more powerful. But all of it was to either distract us from your plans or gather resources using the chaos. Which is it?"

"Close enough." V.V said with a grin. "I suppose this is the part where you give the order to kill the Geass directorate personal and bury me in concrete and drop me at the bottom of the ocean or something like that." V.V said with a grin, much to the panic of his followers.

At that Lellouch stepped forward and said:

"Me? I am but a humble official, who is a servant of the people. And the people have all unanimously voted me as their leader, and my platform is to not repeat the past. As such you will not be killed, all your knowledge will be divided between myself and Xingke. Along with equal parts of the personal."

This made V.V eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"You would give Geass to China? You would give a power th-"

"That can destroy the world itself to them? Yes, do you know why? Because when the everyone has that power, no one thinks of using it. The power of mutual assured destruction is one where war is too costly and peace is always be better prospect. Transmit the data to Todoh and the E.U, tell them that we will await until they send their transports here to pick up their share of the Geass personal."

Lellouch told Jeremiah, this made Xingke's head snap and gaze at Lellouch is surprise.

"That was not part of our deal. The arrangement was for us to divide the Geass and Anti-Geass knowledge and personal between us." Xingke said to him.

"The deal was for everyone to get an equal share. You get a share, the EU gets a share, so does the Republic and Japan. Or are you saying that your word is worthless?" Lellouch challenged Xingke with a grin.

At that the Chinese leader looked at Lellouch in a new light.

"You really believe in it. Or at the very least you lied to yourself so much that your lye has become a truth. You really do see yourself as a servant of the people and you truly want 'peace, bread, brotherhood.' Noble, but even someone like you, who shouldn't exist has weaknesses. Your style, you turn an opponent's attack against them, then you make them argue amongst themselves until a balance is reached. One where you don't become dominant, but the first amongst equals. You pulled this off so many times before, than you just can't even imagine that at one point someone would catch on to the way you fight and be ready to counter you." Xingke said and then Lellouch's phone received a text.

"Geass info leaked by Chinese to the mass media."

"Magic exists."

"Republican government blueprints for magi-tech.

"Anti-magic equipment possible by Chinese companies."

"Stocks of Chinese companies soar."

"Summeragi conglomerate, supplier of wonder electronics that cancels magic."

"E.U announces new civilian grade weaponry for magicless personal."

"Xingke, the guardian of humanity."

"Mass buying of E.U, Chinese and Japanese stocks by Republican buyers."

Messages from spies, media outlets, allies and even rivals all came flooding to tell of him of what just happened.

It was the same kind of move Lellouch wanted to make, but Xingke had beaten him to the punch and made it bigger.

And like before the world responded with chaos, self-interest and the proof that those in charge of Japan and the E.U all were of the same mind as Xingke and had cooperated behind Lellouch's back.

"Hero of humanity? Does a hero spread chaos and fear? Does a hero create a problem and then profits of it by selling the solution to a panicked mob?" Lellouch challenged.

"Yes, he does." Xingke replied without a measure of doubt in his voice. This actually made Lellouch take a step back.

"A hero is a savior to his side and the bringer of doom for the other side. Even you who boasts that all he wants to do is good of the world, has restored a country whose shadow now looms over the rest of the world. You have saved one third of the world and planted the seeds of future suffering for the other two-thirds. Look at the EU, at Japan, at the Federation or even your own country. Heroes on one side and the same are villains for the other. That is the only truth."

"Now do you understand Lellouch-kun? That is what you were fighting. Not me, not Schneizell or Genbu, or Churchill or even Xingke. It was the nature of humanity it itself. War will come again. The only truth is the infinite desire of humanity to devour and destroy itself. From the day the second human appeared before the first, both have tried to subjugate or destroy the other, if not die trying. That is why Charles and I wanted to unite humanity into one super being. That would be the death of all conflicts or problems. Death solves everything, no man, no problem." V.V said smugly.

Lellouch closed his eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled and then opened his eyes and with disappointment looked at both.

"Both have you have done something today, that I do not think possible. Something that I think no one ever thought that I would ever accomplish during my lifetime. You have made me realize that Charles was not a monster. For in order for one man to be a monster, the rest of the world must not be composed of monster. But here and now I see that you may have different names, faces, words and means. But that is nothing but window dressing, for deep down inside you are the same as him. Become the strong ones and dominate the weaker foes."

Lellouch then took a step forward and with a low voice, that was so cold that it would make even death itself shiver said to them.

"All hail Britannia. For ALL are Britannia."

Lellouch then gestured for V.V to be put in chains, bound and gagged and taken away, before turning from Xingke and walking back to his camp.

His followers and troops gave the Chinese leader death glares, which Xingke took with joy and pride.

The greatest complement a leader could get was the hatred from his foes.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Presidential officer-Pendragon.

There was a sort of controlled chaos as staff officers, cabinet members key intelligence personal and liaisons for the industrialists all worked and worked out through the chaos and turn of situation brought about by Xingke actions.

The Chinese where now poised to become the new dominant power within the Commonwealth.

Dalton's phone rang there and then, it was a specific hotline that meant only one man could be on the other end.

But what made it peculiar was the fact that the was a request for the phone to be put on speaker before answering.

Dalton complied, with a single raise of his hand quieted down every single major power player within the Republic and then answered the phone and put it on speaker.

"Dalton, everyone. It's me. The Emperor." The voice of Lellouch was heard from the other line and upon hearing that last word a wave of shock washed the occupants in the room, one that was followed suit by almost childlike excitement from realizing what the word meant.

"Yes, my lord. Your humble servants are at the ready. The resources of the Republic and its allies are at your disposal, oh heir of Arthur Pendragon." Dalton said with his open palm in his chest in the fashion of the old noble salute, despite Lellouch not being able to see it through the phone.

"Up until now I have been the hero of the Republic. It is time for me to become the hero of the Commonwealth. For that much work needs be doing and at the end of it only Oblivion awaits. Will you all ride with me towards perdition, towards destruction, over the edge of the world and into hell itself?" Lellouch asked.

"Yes your majesty! For the Emperor!" Dalton shouted and did the old Imperial salute.

In that moment once nobles, commoners who rose to power, former numbers who were now part of the ruling class all joined Dalton in the salute and pledged to follow Lellouch to the bitter end.

This call was also asked of the personal that followed Lellouch to China and to his key supporters scattered all across various strategic points over the Commonwealth.

From his college friends that liked him, to the old guard that would die for him, to his rivals who would fight him to the bitter end. All where united behind him.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" They all shouted in unison.

As in other parts of the world, Xingke, Kaguya, the leaders of the E.U, Schneizell in hiding, V.V locked up, and the few remaining foes Lellouch had of the Old Guard all felt that their actions did not mean the ruin of Lellouch and their triumph.

Instead they felt that all they had done was 'awaken a sleeping demon, and fill it with a most terrible resolve.;

xxxxx

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