Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure belongs to Hirohiki Araki

====Lelouch====

A classic mystery story came to mind right now. The Purloined Letter, by Edgar Allan Poe. Within it, the mystery was not a matter of who had committed the crime or even how it had been accomplished, nor why. It came down to another matter entirely. While the generally smug tone of the writing style was a little grating and antiquated, the way it subverted expectations had always fascinated Lelouch. Here, the focus of the mystery was quite elsewhere and that subversion of expectations... that was something he could certainly appreciate.

As the title implies the culprit had stolen a letter. Within which were contents capable of ruining a man, and so the culprit held it over his head as a matter of blackmail: Well, in that much Lelouch had little sympathy for the victim. Sending incriminating information via public correspondence was begging for trouble, especially if it was written in plain English.

In any event: The police searched the culprit's residence and found nothing. They had a minute description of the letter, and searched the place from top to bottom. As it would transpire, it was right there from the very beginning. Sitting in a letter rack, hidden in plain view...

I'm distracting myself from what just happened. I know it's painful but...Focus on escape.

And so he was. This was no time for an internal literature review, not when he wasn't quite out of this ancient crumbling structure yet. Lelouch pressed himself up against a wall, hoping that it wasn't so old that even his light frame could make it topple. Was it safe to leave?

Floodlights hit the outside of the coliseum bringing every exit out of the shadow. That rather answered that. Using Painted Black to peer around the wall, Lelouch could see there were several of them out there. Armed officers by the looks of it. Local police or something a bit higher up? Higher up without a doubt. He could see there were officers outside the fence escorting civilians away. Escape. Yes, escape was vital. If he was captured again he couldn't do what he was setting out to do. Find JOJO. Kill JOJO. They'd keep him far, far away from the vampire and that simply wouldn't do.

"How disappointing," the prince muttered to himself. He let his hand rest over his right eye and then flicked back his hair. "Fight or run away? Maybe you were sincere, little sister... But it seems they're not willing to take the chance."

There were even guards with flashlights lurking by the fences, keeping everything nice and lit up just in case he somehow managed to slip on by. From the looks of things it wasn't going to be as simple a matter as walking out of the stadium.

A crossbow bolt flew out and smashed into the floodlight by the entrance, shattering the glass and killing the light. The officers immediately pulled out flashlights, aiming them at the entrance and at the location the bolt had been fired from: The top of the wall surrounding the colosseum.

"Nobody there!"

"Keep looking, he's got to be here somewhere."

Another bolt fires out. Another flood light goes dark. Their response time is clinical, clean, commendable. Almost mechanical in its precision leaving no room for escape even as they aimed their flashlights nowhere near where he was actually standing.

Ah, now he was feeling a little bit cheeky. Why not mimic the one who taught him this vital skill in the first place? Lelouch whispered to himself, so that only he could hear. "Your next line will be... He must be on the roof. Bring in the helicopter."

Lelouch tugged the string in his hand once again, and another bolt fired out from the top of the ruins. This time, the bolt struck dirt.

"He must be on the roof! Bring in the helicopter and get under cover!"

As could be expected they shifted their attention to the top of the walls and away from the ground below. It's quite one thing trying to pursue a Stand user when you know the specific weakness of his Stand. It's quite another having to contend with an armed Stand user. Even if that weapon was almost as old fashioned and useless as this amphitheater. It was quite careless of them to leave such dangerous weapons lying around the Colosseum. It was also a little careless of his sister to leave so much string waiting to be stolen.

To put it another way; It very much looked like Lelouch would not be able to simply walk out into the streets of Rome. Except that's exactly what he did. With the officials wrestling between holding back the interested crowd and preparing to move in to arrest him, they had unintentionally created a gap in their defenses. A vulnerable point he was now going to exploit quite ruthlessly. And he'd do it while purloining a letter.

One last tug of the string to let fly his last bolt, and then he was home free. They'd completely fallen for his trick and he was as good as out already...

"Hey! Wait! There he is, he's not on the roof!" someone shouted. Lelouch took a deep breath and then... "He's outside already!"

Sure enough, they had seen a shadowy figure lurking outside the surrounding fence. It turned and ran from them - then seemed to vanish into thin air. The officers on the outside put their flashlights in that direction and moved out to catch him...

Giving Lelouch ample opportunity to casually leave the colosseum while they literally chased shadows. No need for him to waste his strength running. If anything, running would make him seem more suspicious. Let the confusion caused by Painted Black leave them too disorganised to chase him properly and there would be no need to run.

Besides which. After that hit Nunnally gave him, he wasn't in much of a mind for doing anything especially strenuous for a while.

"He's over here!"

"No, he went this way!"

"Dammit, light up this street! We'll never find him like this!"

"I want an aerial sweep of the surrounding streets! He can't get far, we'll find him before long!"

Oh, will you now? That would make things a lot harder for him. Tsk! Although he was out on the streets of Rome now, slipping through their confused ranks Lelouch knew that he was not safe. He was too famous. Too well known. He'd have no choice but to hide in the shadows, creeping through the streets to stay hidden from local law enforcement who would be out to arrest him on sight. He'd need to come up with something devious, something dastardly clever to keep himself safe.

Or... Or he could turn the envelope inside out and seal it with his own wax seal then leave it lying in the letter rack for all to see.

Which is why Lelouch didn't even turn invisible to walk right past the police's larger cordone to keep the public away from the colosseum. All he had to do was steal some clothes and walk right by them. Fully visible, while they were searching for Painted Black elsewhere.

JOJO. Your time was running out. You had cast a spell of darkness over Nunnally, but in the darkness Lelouch was the devil himself. You seek to challenge him in this domain? So be it. But that dark spell would come to a blinding end, as the fury of Lelouch vi Britannia was as bright and as unstoppable as the...

Chapter 67: Chariot of the Sun

====Euphemia====

There was an unfair view of Euphemia by many of the Royal court. Flighty, idealistic, naive. It's easy to see how this could lead to a lack of self confidence. Even when people were showing her the utmost respect, she could not help but feel as though they were concerned. The question 'what goes through that pretty little head of hers?' almost certainly comes to mind.

Well, these days quite a lot was going through that pretty little head of hers.

"Hello, Schneizel. I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Not at all, Euphemia. Merely arranging the final transport of sakuradite from Area Eleven. I'm so pleased to see that you arrived safely."

That 'quite a lot' had led her here, to Schneizel's office. Well, strictly speaking almost any office Schneizel set foot in was (temporarily) his. Her brother's presence was a substantial force to be reckoned with. It didn't overpower exactly, it was more like it snuck around and filled the room while nobody else was looking directly at it.

Still. She couldn't afford to buckle under. Not when there were several issues that had to be addressed.

"If my safety was your concern, then why has my personal Knight been drafted into your military expedition?"

Schneizel sighed wearily, and in that sigh you could almost hear the hours of back and forth debates that he must have had on the issue. "It was not my idea. Please forgive me, but when his Majesty sets his mind to something it is almost impossible to move him. Especially of late."

"Our father requested this?" Euphemia asked. What? That didn't make any sense. Why would he care about something like this? "You don't think... he's trying to get Suzaku killed, so that I have no choice but to replace him?"

"The possibility did cross my mind," Schneizel admitted. "However, I think he will be surprised if that is his intention. Sir Kururugi is an exceptional pilot, and his Knightmare suits him well. Even though this is an extremely dangerous mission, I doubt he'll have much trouble coming out unscathed."

"That's hardly the point..." Euphemia protested. Though truthfully, it was mostly what she was concerned with.

"Please, do not be concerned with your own safety," Schneizel said. "Kanon has made arrangements to ensure your wellbeing while your Knight is otherwise disposed." He leaned forward over his desk. "Though I sense that this is not the entire reason you came to see me, is it Euphemia?"

No. It wasn't. The trouble was putting her worry into words. Taking a deep breath, Euphemia knew that only one word was really needed and that Schneizel would understand: "Cornelia."

Another weary sigh, this time rubbing his forehead as well. She'd never seen him like this before. Frustration? A puzzle he couldn't solve?

"Considering our opposition, it is quite likely that she is working for JOJO," Schneizel admitted. "Though I must admit, this is difficult to say aloud. Not least of which for the worry it will give you."

"Let me worry about how worried I am," Euphemia said. A moment later her own words caught up with her, and she felt briefly dizzied by them. "I would prefer to not be left out of the loop. Please, brother. Tell me what you really think."

"Of course," Schneizel said. "Based on the information we have already, it is highly likely that our sister is being manipulated by JOJO in some way. Either through extortion, flesh bud... Or the Stand user that attacked the Palace to kidnap Nunnally." He paused to give her the chance to take that in. "If he can remove a person's memory and transform them into a disc, then he might have removed Cornelia's and inserted –"

"Thank you, I get the idea," Euphemia interrupted. How terrible. Her sister... being controlled. Made to act against her will... Yes, that was the only thing that made sense. Cornelia had always been fully devoted to the Empire's ideals. No matter what Euphemia couldn't imagine anything in the world that could persuade Cornelia to turn against her own people like this.

The same way she couldn't imagine anything persuading her to slice someone in two.

Schneizel interrupted that thought before it went any further. "I'm sorry, normally I would be more delicate with this sort of matter but in this particular case it did not seem warranted. Anything less than the total, brutal truth would leave you worse off in the long run."

Tough love, was it? Euphemia couldn't even say anything, all she could do was nod uselessly. That and let Schneizel continue.

"Did you know that after you were freed from the sword, it possessed Cornelia?" Schneizel asked. No. Euphemia had not been told that part. "But she had expected that might happen. She gave instructions that if it did, she was to be killed by overwhelming force. No holding back because of who she was, no letting herself be taken as a hostage."

"H-How did she s-survive?" Euphemia asked. She understood full well what Schneizel was trying to get at, but... no, it didn't bear thinking about.

"That... is not important for the time being," Schneizel said. "What matters is that you are ready for an unpleasant truth. If you see the fall coming you can brace for impact. And if the fall doesn't happen the relief will taste much sweeter. Either way, you come out on top."

Of course. This is what Chancellor Dio was talking about before. A dominant strategy. Well, it didn't feel like she was coming out on top at this very moment thank you very much.

"This is a difficult time for everyone," Schneizel continued. "Euphemia, when a leader faces their people they must make sure to put on their brightest smiles, especially in the darkest time. If a leader seemed panicked or rushed, then the effect will magnify upon the masses. You must stay calm. You must stay collected. You must save your tears for another day."

"I do not want to be a leader," Euphemia sniffed. She wiped at her cheek.

"Quite often, the people most suited to be a leader say the same thing," Schneizel said. "Euphemia. I see great potential in your future. Though you seem to lack the confidence in yourself, your compassion will serve you well in the future. Despite what others may tell you it is a strength and not a weakness. Please, I would like you to stay for this briefing. You need to understand what we are doing for the sake of the war against Jonathan Joestar."

The briefing. Yes. Euphemia quietly followed after him as Schneizel accompanied her to the meeting room. i t was strange. Without delay, Schneizel had told her his honest assessment of the situation. At the same time it offered no real comfort to her. She hadn't even had the chance to ask about Lelouch or Nunnally - and now that she thought on the matter it felt best to not ask. Not yet. She needed time to digest what she'd heard.

They entered the room and there were quite a few Knights present. She recognised only a few: Suzaku, Sir Gottwald, Lady Nu... and in a rare sight the entire current roster of Knights of the Round all gathered in one place. As to the rest there must have been about twenty other pilots, all with various forms of decoration. They spanned all ages, with men and women alike among their ranks.

Suzaku saw her and softly smiled. At once she felt better.

"Welcome, Princess Euphemia!" Luciano Bradley bowed. "So you will be joining our meeting today. How gracious of you to descend to the levels of us lowly soldiers."

"Sir Bradley, you are aware of my nervous tic regarding cruel sarcasm?" asked Dorothea Ernst. "If I hear too much of it at once, then my fist begins to fly wildly in the direction of the person spewing it."

"How peculiar Dorothea!" Nonette Enneagram laughed. "I have a very similar nervous tic, but it's in my left foot."

"That's quite enough, the three of you!" Bismarck quietly, yet authoritatively exclaimed. He dropped to his knees, though technically he did not have to do so for them. He was one of the few people outside the family that could be said for. "Please forgive their playfulness. It is their way of expressing that they are excited for battle and - Knight of Six, please put your phone away."

"I am recording the nervous tics of my colleagues," Anya explained. "These medical conditions were not stored in my database. They could prove to be devastating in battle if discovered by the enemy –"

"They were being facetious," Gino interrupted, snatching Anya's phone out of her grip. Anya then began to jump up for the phone, like a cat trying to grab a treat out of its owner's hand. "Anya, Anya! I find this side of you adorable, but maybe now is not the time? We are here for a briefing, you know?"

Euphemia caught the expression on Jeremiah Gottwald's face just then. It seemed as though the two of them were thinking the same thing: These are the Knights of the Round? The most powerful warriors in the Empire? However! She suspected that Sir Gottwald was thinking this for a different reason than herself. In his case it was probably astonishment that they would behave so unprofessionally. In Euphemia's case, though? It showed her that these brave warriors were still human beings, and not merely cogs in some great machine.

"Thank you all for attending so promptly today," Schneizel said, and all the Knights smoothly went to attention to listen to what he had to say. "You have been selected for an extremely dangerous and risky mission as you are the most skilled Knightmare pilots in the Empire."

He stopped and looked across to Euphemia to give her a reassuring if apologetic smile. Then he continued.

"You are to be the first wave in a brand new series of attacks against Europia United," Schneizel said. "As they appear to have developed the means to quickly move into areas they should not be, we shall begin to do the same... with a series of strikes across the nations of Europe."

====Schneizel====

The reaction from everyone on the room fell completely in line with Schneizel's predictions as he laid out the plan. He could almost see the thoughts clearly forming on their faces as he told them exactly what they were to do. Nobody seemed happy with it on the face of it, albeit for wildly different reasons.

"You are to get in, make your presence known and then leave," Schneizel explained. "It will not be necessary to do much damage. So long as everyone knows you are there, that will be sufficient."

"Pardon me, but this seems like an awful lot of risk for next to no reward," Bradley remarked. Yes, of course. The Vampire of Britannia's only ideology on the battlefield was to enjoy himself. "We're not even trying to take these cities?"

"Hitting a soft target like this isn't much different from terrorism," Suzaku objected. He was, perhaps, the most morally outstanding in the room. It was quite interesting to see him and the Knight of Ten agree that something was an idea that made them feel uncomfortable for fundamentally opposite reasons.

"Bah! There's not even any point in hitting a soft target if you can't hear the screams!" Bradley continued, sneering at Suzaku with open contempt.

"I'm in agreement with the Eleven," Dorothea said, choosing to ignore her colleague for now. Though Schneizel suspected she'd be having harsh words with him later on. Dorothea cherished bravery and heroics over all other things. A bit of a romantic view, but a breath of fresh air when compared to the others. "This action is neither noble nor courageous. It smacks of desperation, flailing about wildly."

"Perhaps if his highness explained our objective?" Villetta offered. Ah, there's the ambition he'd known was in there. "I am sure he can clarify these matters for us."

This was the challenging part. Schneizel was keenly aware that one of the Paladins had the power to transform a person's memory into a disc that could be entered into another's mind. This was the ultimate interrogation tool - you could freely examine what an enemy knew as soon as you had your hands on them. Which meant that telling them the whole scope of his plan would likely lead to his plan failing.

On the other hand, if he misled them and made them misunderstand what he wanted them to do then they may take actions that acted against his plan without meaning to. A thorny issue, but...

"My aim is simple," Schneizel said. "Of late, European forces have shown a worrying ability to strike us in unexpected locations. Our spy network has revealed potential concealed military laboratories in these cities. Even if you do not locate them, your appearance at these cities will massively disrupt their work - and give our spy networks a chance to steal their secrets."

"This will encourage recruitment," Anya said. "Attacking these locations will enrage their public. Whatever the reason."

"She makes a good point," Gino added. "Joestar's bound to use these kind of attacks as a rallying cry. 'Protect your loved ones, join the military'."

"Schneizel - Prime Minister, are you sure about this course of action?" Euphemia asked. "It seems as though a lot of people are going to get hurt for no real reason."

Well, of course they would. This was war. People got hurt in war, and with the stakes being as they were drastic action would need to be taken. There were a few different potential actions that Europe could take in response to these attacks. And each one of them would play to his advantage.

"Euphemia, I appreciate your concern," Schneizel began. "However, Europe cannot be allowed to continue launching these attacks. At the very least we must determine how they are performed. Otherwise, a lot more people will wind up dying in the long run."

The next to speak up was the Knight of One himself. "This is all well and good your highness, but the point is moot. I am sure you must be aware of this, but the European navy patrols will make it impossible for us to approach these cities undetected. Unless you have your own means of sneaking us in...?"

As a matter of fact he did. Of course, Bismarck was already well aware of this. He was merely opening up the conversation so that Schneizel could introduce it in a natural way.

"We shall be using a new form of stealth submarine to make our approach," Prince Schneizel calmly explained, "They make use of Lamorak's cloaking technology, a device to confuse sonar that was inspired by Bors and also gefjun disturbers to confuse enemy detection equipment."

Not exactly new technology this time, though he had to wonder: For how long had they been able to produce gefjun disturber technology? It seemed as though that too had come through invisibly without any warning at all.

"You'll be split into three groups for this mission," Schneizel instructed. "Sir Bismark, Sir Weinberg, Lady Alstreim and Sir Kururugi will lead the attack on Edinburgh.

Gino and Anya worked well together. The Knight of One had expressed an interest in seeing Kururugi's piloting in person. From his analysis the four of them should compliment each other's skills well.

"Lady Enneagram, Lady Krushevsky, Sir Gottwald and Lady Nu will lead the attack on Athens.

The former pair had worked together for quite some time, so it was natural to keep them together for this mission as well. Schneizel had the impression they would enjoy working with these two Knights of the Round the most out of any potential combination.

"Lady Ernst and Sir Bradley will lead the attack on Barcelona."

Less leaders than the other groups - but the Valkyries would be subordinate to Sir Bradley in any event. Dorothea may not thank him for putting her in this group, but she should be more than capable of keeping him from going too wild with bloodlust.

Though even if she could not, it wasn't a terribly big problem for what was to come.

"You leave at once, and I sincerely pray that we can put a swift end to this war."

That was a sincere hope he had expressed at the end. He hoped that they could end it. Quickly. Sadly a speedy resolution seemed, at best, unlikely. Even with the drastic action he was taking. Even with the distraction these three teams were going to cause for him. Even with the real plan he had been setting up behind the scenes.

====Jeremiah====

A familiar rush of speed struck him as Bedivere launched out of the water, landing on land a moment later. He was the first to land, and for a moment there were people walking on the beach staring at him in disbelief. As though they couldn't believe he was there at all.

"What a beautiful beach," he remarked. "Yes, I can see why this is a popular tourist destination. The moonlight is making the sand sparkle like stardust."

Several Knightmares broke the surface of the water behind him. It was almost a shame that they would have to ruin this scenery with the combat. Ah, the civilians that had been lying on the beach staring at the stars or enjoying a moonlit walk were now frantically running for their lives. How appropriate, as well they should. Had they stayed any longer, he might have mistaken them for super power enemy combatants and acted appropriately.

Most of the Knightmares with him were Sutherlands, and they immediately broke out into a searching formation. At the head of which were, aside from himself, a smaller Knightmare that swiftly became invisible and two others that Jeremiah had never seen in action before, and had less of an idea of what they could do. That was... different for him, but fine. They were Knights of the Round. They would tell him what he needed to know. That was all that mattered.

The first new Knightmare, he knew was piloted by Monica Krushevsky, the Knight of Twelve. It was an odd looking Knightmare. Certainly not of Britannian design. A captured European unit, one of their new Alexander models that had been refitted with Britannian technology. It had the same white form as the Alexander, but a gold and black armour had been fitted to its head, shoulders and back. It looked almost like a cloak. The golden horn the head now adorned gleamed in the night. This was Florence!

Then there was another piloted by Nonette Enneagram, the Knight of Nine. Given Jeremiah's understanding of languages, that title seemed ludicrously appropriate for a woman whose name included the Latin and Greek prefixes for the number. As to her Knightmare, something in its design reminded Jeremiah of Lancelot. The same general shape, but with a blue hue where Lancelot had gold. Jeremiah had heard rumours that this was referred to as the 'Lancelot Club', but its official public name was given as Ector.

"Working with the Knights of the Round on a mission of this importance," Villetta said to him. "Sir Gottwald, this is the highlight of our career."

"Your career," Jeremiah corrected. "Mine was at the start, when I worked as security for Empress Marianne vi Britannia." He drew Bedivere's swords and rushed forward along the beach. "Forgive me Villetta, but this mission is something different to me than it is for you! For you it is a stepping stone to greater heights. To me, it is an obstacle to surpass so that I may find Marianne's children yet again."

"Whatever motivates you, Sir Gottwald!" Nonette said. Ah, had she been listening in as well? "Marianne... I never met her myself, but she must have been a good woman. Cornelia adored her as well - Stop there!"

Bedivere had been charging across the beach, kicking up sand when the Knight of Nine had yelled that command. Jeremiah brought his Knightmare to a halt much faster than other Knightmares would have been capable of under these conditions. No sooner had he stopped than Ector's slash harkens fired into the sand making an audible metallic thunk then a crunch as they struck something beneath the surface.

Curious about what that might have been, Jeremiah made Bedivere lean down and dig out the sand with its wrist mounted landsinner. What it found was... An underground Knightmare with its cockpit caved in. There was probably a hidden tunnel underneath this sand that allowed people to gain access. Not that it especially mattered in this case: The pilot had been killed by Nonette's precisely aimed slash harken. Incredible.

His sensors hadn't picked up anything at all. Was that her instincts as a pilot? No, too precise. Something else, then?

"That's not all of them, keep your guard up!" Nonette yelled, and sure enough several more Knightmares popped out of the sand. Now that he had a better look at them, Panzer-Hummels! The mass produced Knightmare of Europe! Designed for long range combat, with an assortment of weapons. In place of hands they had auto-cannons. So far as Jeremiah could see they had no short range combat abilities to speak of, but had an extremely capable defense.

"It looks like they were prepared for the possibility of an attack", Villetta observed. "This makes things more interesting."

"Everyone, cover your ears for ten seconds," Monica instructed. Florence was crawling on the rocks a little outside the beach. Not the most dignified manner for a Knightmare to move, but it must have its uses. "I know that sounds strange, but since we are outnumbered..."

Ask someone piloting a vehicle to take their hands off the controls while they are piloting so that they may cover their ears. They will almost certainly give you funny looks, no matter what vehicle it is. For an experienced Knightmare pilot in the middle of a combat situation, surrounded by enemies? It would have sounded less strange if she had ordered them all to sing the Britannian anthem in reverse!

Still... a Knight of the Round giving that kind of strange order wasn't something you could easily ignore. With a Panzer-Hummel taking aim squarely at him, Jeremiah Gottwald covered his ears as Monica instructed. For ten seconds. No more than that. Then he'd obliterate this enemy in seconds -

Except... All of a sudden, for no reason that he could discern, the Panzer-Hummel in front of him swung away and aimed his arm elsewhere. Turning his back completely on Jeremiah Gottwald, leaving himself wide open for no discernable reason. Was this a trick? Was it some kind of trap?

"To hell with it," he grunted and sliced clean through it with Bedivere's landsinners. One down. What about the rest...?

The rest? Why, they were all turned around. Facing the same general direction. Away from the bulk of their force, and instead looking at Florence. The Knight of Twelve's Knightmare was quickly crawling away, then pulled itself upright and rolled off on its landspinners.

"Hey, get back here!" one Panzer-Hummel yelled. It opened fire with a slash harken - and in the process tore through one of his colleagues who had been standing almost directly in front of him. "I don't know where you made your friends vanish, but you won't escape as well!"

Disappear...? Could it be? Was this the work of some kind of ability? If so, then it seemed that Monica had drawn the fire of every remaining enemy unit. Although, it was strange. For some reason they were bumping into one another. Hitting one another with their shots.

"Hahahaha! That's some cheek from her!" Nonette laughed. "Come on, might as well mop these guys up while they're confused. It won't last long, so hop to it! Serves 'em right for trying to ambush us."

It hardly seemed sporting... But under the conditions of the battlefield, the only thing that really mattered was surviving. No. Not even that. In his case it was more than that. If he wanted to be able to investigate the location of Marianne's children, he had to push through this mission and live on. He had failed them once when Area Eleven was invaded. He would not fail them again! Never again!

"This is promising," Villeta said. "If they have this kind of defense, there must be something very important hidden here."

"There is," Jeremiah agreed. "The civilian population of Athens. Even if there was no research facility present, they might decide to set up this kind of defensive measure."

"Don't tell me... you think that Prince Schneizel was mistaken?"

No. The thought hadn't crossed his mind. Until Villetta had put the possibility forward, Jeremiah Gottwald could never believe that the second Prince could be mistaken on such a tactical measure. He would not have them attack these cities unless he was certain it was in Britannia's best interests to do so.

"What I mean is... We must beware confirmation bias. It ambushes you more readily than these Panzer-Hummels tried to, and drags you down before you know it." Much the same way it - and other issues - dragged down the Purebloods.

"Nu, you're with me!" Monica called out. "Gottwald, I want you and Nonette to scout ahead."

So be it. They'd dallied enough as it was already. This almost certainly wasn't the last trick or trap set on the road towards the vaunted 'birthplace of democracy'. Yet more obstacles for him to climb over? Very well then. Throw whatever walls you like in his way! Jeremiah Gottwald's eternal loyalty will power through them all!

====Luciano====

"Do you think you're going to need a hand today?" Luciano Bradley asked his colleague, taking delight in once again teasing her for her Knightmare's ludicrous looking design. "Or do you think you already have it all in hand? You do seem to be sufficiently armed from where I'm sitting."

"Must you make a mockery of every battlefield you come across?" Dorothea asked.

"Really now Dorothea?" Bradley smirked. "You know full well that we stand head and shoulders above everyone else. Don't make me go out on a limb for you."

Palomides lifted one of its extra pair of arms, then aimed its fingers squarely at Percival's cockpit. Oh yes, it was a ridiculous looking thing. Two massive extra arms attached to the Knightmare's shoulders. Each finger being a seperate hadron cannon. He'd say that it packed a punch, but Dorothea obviously wasn't in the mood for any more puns. Such a shame. He never could figure out her limits.

"Our mission is not to kill civilians today," Dorothea warned. "Don't waste any time killing unnecessarily."

"You heard her, girls!" Bradley called out to his Valkyries. "We're all business today."

"Understood, Sir Bradley!" the Valkyries replied. Damn right they did. They understood all too well how much of a hypocrite Dorothea was being in her admiration for heroics. Better than she ever would.

They launched - and almost immediately found themselves under enemy fire. Well! That was a warm welcome. Since Barcelona was situated within the Mediterranean, that only makes sense: Of course they'd have ships near a major city in case fighting broke out.

"Not a bad response time," Bradley chuckled. "Not a shade on our coastline patrols back home, but better than I was expecting. They would have shot us out of the air by now."

The Knightmares scrambled through the air. It didn't seem as though they had any Knightmares of their own, just ships armed with anti-air weapons. For example, a heat seeking rocket streaked towards Percival and was neatly knocked out of the air by a slash harken. As for the ship that fired it...

"Dorothea, be a dear won't you?" Bradley asked. Knowing her she was already moving in that direction. "I have more pressing business investigating the city."

"It's not like you to let someone else steal your kill," Dorothea observed.

"Oh? You complain even though I'm taking this seriously?" Bradley tsked. That seemed to shut her up. For long enough for the big damn hero to turn her big damn Knightmare around, raise its hands and fire out those big damn fingers out in multiple directions at once. And then -

Ooh, that was a satisfying explosion! An orchestra of violence, a true symphony of devastation! The one good thing about that bulky design. It packed even more raw destructive power than Mordred - if measuring in quantity rather than quality. Each of the fingers on the extra, larger hands attached to Palomides was a slash harken with a hadron cannon built into it. Some might call it overkill, but to Luciano Bradley such a notion was a paradox!

Almost as much a paradox as the one who calls herself a heroic type senselessly slaughtering those who were so obviously far beneath her that they could truly be called ants. That was meant to be his role as the murderous psychopath!

"Sir Bradley," Marika warned. "It appears they are launching planes."

"How about it Dorothea," Bradley asked. "Do I have permission to eliminate them?"

"Make sure you don't play with your food," Dorothea warned.

"Play?" Bradley chuckled. "Killing isn't play. Killing is a science!"

Sending out jets to fight Knights of the Round? Whatever had these poor pilots done to warrant such a fate? Not that it mattered. Crossing him was sufficient to ensure their demise was met head on. Time to take what they valued most like a thief in the night. Or a hero on the battlefield.

Oh, but it was so boring that he barely had to pay any mind at all. Compared to a flight enabled Knightmare their movements were fast, but predictable. Their weapons either too weak to be a concern or too easy to see where they were aiming.

"Sir Bradley, they seem to be focusing on Palomides," Lilliana told him. As if he couldn't see and hear that for himself. They were probably thinking that it was big and slow, but powerful .So their speed should be able to overwhelm it quickly. "Should we try to help?"

"Not at all," Bradley said. "Dorothea asked us to take this matter seriously. Therefore, we should leave such insects to her."

Of course, he still watched with relish as it happened. Palomides was a bit too slow to keep up with those jets due to its bulky additions, and Dorothea was reluctant to use her finger cannons when there was a chance she might hit civilians. Why, it almost seemed as though those pilots had the right strategy in mind.

"Give up, Britannian" the pilot warned Dorothea. "If your friends try to help you right now they'll risk hitting you instead."

"I respect your bravery in confronting me after seeing what I did to your ships," Dorothea said. "However, your speed doesn't matter much if I already know where you're going to be. Ascending to my left."

"... Huh? Wait was that - It can't be!"

The cheek of her. Hah! How delicious! So this was how she was going to use her power? How imaginative, he actually had to praise her creativity. That cocky pilot who had warned her wobbled and quickly changed his flight path - but to no avail as a giant finger was shot clean through him mid-flight. The finger didn't even fire its cannon, it simply struck him out of the air.

As for the remaining jets pestering her they all met the same fate. They all wobbled at about the same time, and then -

"Banking left," Dorothea said, and then shot a finger through another jet. "Descending behind me." Palomides turned around and shot another out of the air. It really was like swatting a fly. For each jet in quick succession, she would state what its pilot was about to do. They would let out a yelp of surprise - and then they'd die. Exactly as she'd said. It didn't matter in the slightest that they were faster than her if she already knew where they were going to be.

How lame. How ridiculously lame. So lame it was kind of cool. He had always respected Dorothea's skills on the battlefield, it was her philosophy that he had issues with. In any event. He'd let her have her fun. Now it was time to have his.

"Valkyries lead the search," Bradley instructed. A manic grin took ahold of his face. "Since Dorothea has so thoughtfully taken care of our opposition, we can get on with tearing this fine city apart while searching for our goal."

"Yes, Sir Bradley!"

Atta-girls! The four Vincent models spread out and scattered in all four directions to cause as much mayhem and madness as possible. Speaking of, this building was an eyesore. Luciano Bradley wished it to be gone. And so, he used his MVS Claw to cut it down like an overgrown weed.

Oh, but what's this? Why, there was an elderly woman down there on the pavement below! Out walking her dog at this time of night? Ah, now Sir Bradley moved quickly, firing all four of his Knightmare's slash harkens to form a square around the poor old dear and her canine companion. The cables formed a protective barrier around the doddering dearie, ensuring that the rubble from that building he'd just now destroyed didn't hurt her in the slightest.

"I do beg your pardon Miss," Bradley said, bringing Percival down to street level. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know anything about a top secret research facility, would you?" The old woman shook her head slightly while her dog yapped angrily. "Oh well. It was worth a try. At the very least, I get to hold your life in my hands for a few scant seconds."

He opened up his cockpit and activated his power, making ready to stare right at the old woman. It was only right. She had to be thinking of death as it was constantly anyway. It seemed only fair to make sure she was properly frightened, too...

Alas,a certain feeling came over him as his cockpit fully opened wide. Huh? He shook his head. What was that? Hadn't he already - No, this was her power at work. Dorothea!

He looked out and found Palomides floated right in front of him, blocking his view of the old woman with its leg. "What do you think you are doing?" she asked.

"Interrogating the locals," Bradley smoothly replied. "Or would you prefer that we actually tear the city apart to find something that might not even be here?"

"I'd prefer that you didn't torture civilians with that power of yours," Dorothea insisted. "You truly are disgustingly predictable. Can't you behave in a more Knightly fashion?"

"What's more Knightly than a soldier killing the enemy on a battlefield?" Bradley shrugged. "Well, have it your way. Miss Hero Worship. We'll go about this the longer, crueler way. With the bravery you worship so much nipping at our heels."

"We should focus on finding the research facility. Nothing else matters tonight."

Right. Of course, of course! Finding the research facility - that almost certainly doesn't exist here. Ahahaha, this really was an amusing game of cat and mouse that Prince Schneizel had set up for them. Because based on the Chancellor's own information there were no such reports to indicate there was ever any kind of research facility here. It was all invented. All made up. By someone at least, but almost certainly the White Prince.

For what reason? Bradley didn't care. He practically had carte blanche to practise his art in a European city. If it helped the war effort, well that didn't really matter much to him. He couldn't help but find it amusing though. Dorothea thought he was twisted... But Luciano Bradley could tell.

Compared to Prince Schneizel, even the Vampire of Britannia was a rank amateur.

=====Suzaku====

The war in Europe had seemed like it was happening in a whole other reality. It was talked about. It was discussed. But it never quite felt real to him the same way that contending with terrorists and rogue supernatural elements had back in Area Eleven. Part of the problem was that Suzaku had never visited the continent before, and all that he had heard about it was through the Britannian filter. Even he wasn't naive enough to believe everything they were saying about a current enemy.

That had changed of late. With Nunnally's kidnapping, he'd seen firsthand the effectiveness of the mysterious transportation method being used by Europe. When he'd read the reports he had assumed it was yet another supernatural ability at work. An ability they could work out and counter.

Then he had read the more detailed reports about the war in Europe. This made it clear that the problem was a lot more widespread and nuanced than he had first believed. Eliminating it was an obvious top priority: If they could land so easily at a Viceroy's palace and take away anyone they pleased then what other damage might they do?

He'd seen firsthand that a vampire does not care one whit about human lives. He'd seen that they could use flesh buds to control people. He knew - he knew that Nunnally would never have used her Geass like that unless she'd been forced against her own will. She'd never willingly enslave others. So. Permitting the ability to launch attacks anywhere on Earth with impunity... It made sense. Morally, stopping this was the best thing to do. A being with that power, that mind, the ability to strike anywhere on the planet at a whim...

For the sake of humanity. For the sake of the human race! They had to find it. They had to find out these secrets! Find a counter! Find a way to stop Jonathan Joestar!

But still. There had to be limits to what they would do. They could hardly do anything worth saving the human race if they went about it in the wrong way. Ends can never justify the means.

"Is something wrong, Suzaku?" Miss Cecile asked. "You don't seem to be moving much at the moment."

"Is this city... really where they're hiding a research station?"

In the here and now, in the air above Edinburgh Suzaku looked down at the city in confusion. He'd expected a stronger resistance than this. It was a little basic for his liking.

"Something wrong?" a Gloucester pilot said. "Can't stomach a little fun?"

Suzaku turned, and saw a Gloucester firing its slash harken clear through a building, bringing the whole thing down. He flew over towards the unit, making sure he was right in front of it. No way to ignore him like this.

"Cut that out," he yelled. "We're not terrorists. We have an important mission to take on."

"Hah! I was only kidding before, but you really don't have any stomach for this kind of work!" The pilot laughed a cruel laugh. "Why Princess Euphemia selected you to be her Knight, I'll never figure out."

Why that - There was a time when Suzaku would have not been able to do much about that. He would complain. Loudly. He would protest the illegal order and refuse to take part. But that would have been the end of it. No other action would have been available to him. Now? He was a Princess's Knight. A Knight who had witnessed murder right before his eyes.

"If you can talk, you can investigate!" Suzaku yelled, eager to get this mission over with. "Cut the chatter. Focus on what we're here for."

"Easy now, relax a little," the pilot said, moving away around Lancelot. "You are so tightly wound up. It's not healthy, you know."

"You there, take this more seriously," the Knight of One instructed, Galahad flying in behind the Gloucester. The Knightmare was a hugely imposing sight, twice the size of a normal Knightmare. Though the colour scheme was much lighter, you could plainly see the inspiration from the Gawain model. This Knightmare... it gave off the same kind of feeling Suzaku had faced when confronting Guren S.E.I.T.E.N.. Not nearly as intense, but the power radiated from it to the point it had an almost tangible presence. "You are working on an important mission. This is no time to be playing games."

"Of course, Sir!" the pilot said with a much more respectful tone. "We're working on a time limit, and so we are taking a more direct approach. Either they give up their researchers - or they'll die alongside them. Their choice! That is what their vaunted democracy is about, isn't it? The choice of the masses!"

That kind of reason...? That was the kind of reasoning a terrorist might use. Suzaku's knuckles were turning white from his grip on the controls. There was a limit to what he'd do if he was ordered

"How strange then," Bismarck said, pulling closer to the Gloucester. "Maybe my ears are starting to go a little, but there's something I didn't hear from you earlier on."

Galahad put its hand on the Gloucester's shoulder. The hand was so large the grip easily went down to the smaller Knightmare's elbow joint. The sight made Suzaku think of a bear picking up a newborn kitten. In any other situation he would have felt quite bad for the pilot.

"I didn't hear you offering them that choice! Almost as though you didn't want them to know they had it in the first place! But that can't be the case since you put forward such a well thought plan that would minimise our time! When not telling them in the first place would waste our valuable time! So it must be my hearing that is going, because the alternative would make me very upset. Are we clear?"

"O-Of course, sir! I'll - I'll make sure that we tell them about this choice right away - In case their hearing was also impaired b-by the explosions."

The Gloucester drifted off like a scolded child, leaving Suzaku alone with the Knight of One up here in the air.

"Well, I'll give him this. Old Bizzy sure does know how to bring his men to heel."

"Lloyd, please don't talk about the Knight of One like that. Suzaku. It might be best if we investigated quickly."

Miss Cecile was right. He could hardly contain his own outrage, but under these conditions it might be best if this once he bottled up a bit of his frustration for later on. He could discuss the matter with Sir Waldstein at a later date. Casual slaughter had been stopped - but only because the delays it would cause were not acceptable. The ends don't justify the means.

Just the same way that attacking a civilian city couldn't be justified by saying you were trying to save humanity.

"You as well, Sir Kururugi," Bismarck said. "We can ill afford any delays."

"Sir, my apologies," Suzaku smartly replied. "Do you believe that Sir Weinberg or Lady Alstreim will need assistance protecting our escape route?"

"The Knight of Three and the Knight of Six are entirely sufficient for this," Bismarck said. "Besides, I cannot imagine that Asplund would be thrilled if you missed the chance to study advanced foreign technology."

"People of Edinburgh, here are our demands!" the Gloucester yelled out at the city. There had to be another way. Another way they could locate this facility - if it existed in the first place - that wouldn't involve holding a whole city to ransom.

And then the Gloucester was tackled to the ground by a lion.

At least, that was what it felt like. It had been so quick, so powerful and so large that it left that distinct impression on Suzaku's mind. It was a man. A mountain of a man. It might have been the impression he was giving off, but it felt like his leg had more muscle in it than Suzaku's entire body.

Next to him, Bismarck Waldstein bristled. The presence Suzaku had felt before was now being directed completely and totally towards the man at ground level, who was also looking up at them.

"Suzaku! Sir Waldstein!" Cecile called out. "No heat signature!" We have undead!"

"Not just undead," Bismarck added. "This fight should be a little more interesting than I had anticipated."

"Oh?" Lloyd asked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you almost sound like you know who that is."

"Not just him," Bismarck said. "Him, and his friend. I take it that history wasn't your favourite topic at school, Earl Asplund?"

"Wait..." Cecile muttered. "Aren't they...?"

"To those who bear Elizabeth's will!" A thinner zombie than the first with wild untamed hair yelled out. Measured against anyone else he'd be a bodybuilder. Compared to his friend, he was an upright broomstick. "You will find no mercy in our city. That is your only warning."

The remaining Gloucesters immediately began to circle high in the air around the pair. High enough that they shouldn't have any problem, but... That big one had jumped an incredible height quiet as a breeze, strong as a hurricane. These pilots had not experienced fights against the supernatural before! That cocky attitude would get them all killed!

Suzaku tried to move Lancelot in, but found his Knightmare held back by Galahad. "Hold back for now Sir Kururugi," the Knight of One instructed. "There's no need to go in half cocked against a pair of zombies."

He saw what was meant by that quickly enough. The Gloucesters took aim with their rifles, and Suzaku had to look away from the bright light shining out of them. "Ultraviolet weapons?" he asked. "So you can eliminate undead."

"Our enemy is a vampire," one of the Gloucester pilots scoffed. The others joined him in laughter at Suzaku's naivete. "It's only natural we'd have the means to combat them."

"Lesson one of fighting the supernatural," Suzaku warned. "Nothing is ever as simple as it seems! Look!"

In the middle of the lights being shone down upon the zombie pair, a giant pillar of plants had appeared. It grew, it writhed, it gave off this unmistakable impression of something completely unnatural.

"Stop shining your lights on it!" Bismarck yelled. "And move away before –"

Thin black strands shot out of the writhing green thorny mass. They wrapped around the rifles being held by the Knightmares, and easily pulled them out of their grip, tossing them to the ground. Then the top of the pillar opened up, revealing the pair standing back to back at a level equal to the Gloucesters.

Suzaku and Sir Waldstein were talented pilots. Their Knightmares were fast. Ludicrously so. In the time it took for Suzaku to take aim with the VARIS rifle and let loose a single shot, in the time it took for Galahad to let loose its finger harkens the fight had already ended.

The larger of the two moved first. It held out its left hand, and a giant red flower appeared out of nowhere. Then he held up his right hand, and thorny vines grew out of it into the shape of a large sword. No, large wasn't a strong enough word. Massive! Both the flower and the vine sword were ludicrously large! He started by throwing the flower into a Gloucester, while thrusting the sword into another. Both easily pierced the Gloucester they had been thrown into cutting them in two!

As for the other, his feat was no less impressive. He too had a sword, though this one seemed to be made of ordinary metal. He grabbed it with his hair and swung it around with such force that it began to glow red hot. Never moving an inch of his body aside from his hair, he struck the nearest Gloucester to him with the full force of his unorthodox attack.

Within the next few seconds the ground would be littered with the broken pieces of Gloucester. In the meantime: Suzaku fired a shot squarely at the pillar - to no effect. If anything the pillar grew bigger still.

"Energy absorption?" Suzaku pondered. Then he shifted his aim and fired at the zombie instead. No effect. Or rather, the pillar grew yet again. "What? How is he - How does this Stand work?!"

"Keep feeding us data," Lloyd said. "Gosh, I wish this submarine wasn't so cramped... miss Cecile, could you see what you can do about some elbow room? We've got some numbers to crunch!"

"Please try to sound less excited about this," Suzaku asked. Well. This put a different complexion on things. An undead zombie with a Stand. Something like that was a threat. Not just to him. But to the population of the city as well.

The other zombie caught the harken finger fired from Galahad and stared at it with a twisted smile. Then, he threw it away and lifted his sword - just in time to use its vine sword to deflect a more blow from Galahad, which had rushed in with its own colossal sword drawn.

"Impressive Sir Tarkus!" Bismarck said. "The legends about your strength were not exaggerated. Being able to withstand the might of Excalibur, when the strongest Knightmare would have been cut down."

"You shall have to try harder than this to knock me down," Tarkus warned.

"As you wish."

A moment later Galahad sent Tarkus flying through the air. To which, Tarkus simply lifted his hand and formed a glider out of plants out of his Stand. It was strange, but even though he'd only half been paying attention to that exchange Suzaku had the distinct impression Bismarck hadn't even put ten percent of Galahad's full strength into that attack.

"Suzaku! Contend with Sir Bruford. Watch out for his hair. From what I hear, it's lethal."

Before he could speak any further, a vine whip lashed out and wrapped around Galahad's head, and Tarkus dragged the large Knightmare down like an anchor. Leaving Suzaku alone with Sir Bruford. Who was standing still atop his writhing pillar of plants. Staring at him. As if waiting for him to make the next move.

"Well then, Sir Kururugi?" Bruford asked. "I am waiting. I have heard much of your prowess in battle from my Master. Ever since then, I have hungered for the chance to test myself against your might. Show me the depths of your pluck!"

====Cornelia====

One of the fortunate facts about the modern world is that you don't have to be in the same room as someone to have an emergency communication with them. Which was for the best as Cornelia was of a mind to tear someone's head clean off if she didn't like what she was hearing, and with her Stand power she might actually be able to pull that off.

And right about now she was really not liking what she was seeing on this data pad.

"Three attacks. At three distinct locations," she said to her fellow Paladins, through the headset she was wearing that put her in direct contact with all of them at once. At this moment in time her and Guilford were walking down to the hangar where their Knightmares were waiting, almost certainly already being prepared for launch. "Edinburgh, Barcelona and Athens. Each with Knights of the Round present. Each, a target with comparatively low military priority."

"A craven, pointless attack," Stroheim scoffed. "All they'll be doing is hurting civilians. To no end! We'll have them surrounded in short order."

"Unless they retreat promptly," Pucci added. "Cornelia. You and Guilford have the most military experience. What might they be aiming for with this attack?"

She shared a look with Guilford. This... was her least favourite part of all of this. Whatever their reasons the two of them were still betraying their nation, their principles and everything they had been fighting for their entire adult lives. There was no coercion. There was no mental manipulation. No possession, nor hypnosis, nor anything like that.

JOJO had simply laid out the truth in front of them. He had taken them to that place and showed them irrefutable hard proof and then... and then they'd both sold their souls to the devil. When this was over, Cornelia knew that she'd be hated but even so she would hate herself more than everyone else put together if she took any other form of action.

"This is almost certainly Prince Schneizel's doing," Guilford said. He adjusted his glasses and looked again towards Cornelia, as though checking her for permission. "An unusual action like this can't possibly be incompetence."

"Which means he's almost certainly got multiple goals lined up with this action," Cornelia continued. This was her second least favourite part of the whole affair. Trying to predict Schneizel was harder than trying to predict the weather. "Which means his next action will entirely depend on what we do next."

"He's likely trying to split our attention," Cornelia said. "Even if we expand the military, a spate of random attacks like this will force us to spread those resources thin across Europe instead of pushing Britannia back."

There was more to it than that, though. There had to be. Schneizel was too canny a strategist to only think that level deep. There was something she didn't know about. Based on what she knew there wasn't anything at these cities that would serve as a viable target, so there had to be something else. Something hidden from view. Some goal that Schneizel had set which wasn't obvious at first glance...

"It is strange that they were able to get there in the first place," Gyro observed. "Would the navy not detect their movements?"

"They seem to have launched from underwater..." Guilford frowned on reading that information. "That should not be possible. The naval formation should have easily noticed an enemy transport, even one deep underwater. Unless..."

Cornelia pounded the wall next to her as names and faces flashed by her vision. She'd been a commander in the Britannian military for years. Over that time, she'd never allowed herself to be upset over those who perished at her command. They were soldiers. Their job was to risk their lives in confronting the enemy. So it never bothered her. Never got to her.

But it got to her today.

"They've had this technology for years!" she growled. "Years! Do you have any idea... Do you have any idea how many good men and women died pointlessly because they kept this from us? We wouldn't even be at war anymore! Casualties on both sides would've been cut in half!"

"Cornelia..." JOJO said, his voice gentle and that never stopped surprising her. Not least because of who he sounded almost exactly like. "Please remember. Britannia's goal is not to conquer the world. It is to look like they are trying to conquer the world."

That's right. Though the Emperor talked a big game about how there could only be peace on Earth if the Empire ruled everywhere, he didn't truly believe that. How could he, after living through the Emblem of Blood? That hypocrite. That monumental hypocrite! He'd have to answer for what he was doing as well, by the time this was all said and done.

"We could take this chance to push through their front line," Pucci suggested. "If the Knights of the Round are otherwise preoccupied, it should be a superb chance for us to strike."

"Schneizel will have thought of that," Cornelia said. "And we can't move enough Alexanders behind their lines to capture effectively without knowing what kind of trap he's set."

"Then let us defend the people, first and foremost!" JOJO announced. That forceful presence. Aside from their voice, it was the only thing that reminded her of Lelouch. It was so intense that even over this headset, she would swear that he was standing right next to her! "Tonight, innocent people have had their blood spilled. Let us show the true face of justice to those who have spilled it."

Right. That was what they needed at a time like this. Decisive action.A clear directive. Schneizel would want them confused and trying to puzzle him out. Because then they would be giving him all the time he needed to make his moves.

"I will go to Edinburgh's defense," Sayoko said. "Miss Ashford was visiting, and I am concerned for her wellbeing."

"You're not heading alone Miss Maid," Takako added. "Us Japanese have to stick together don't we?"

"Yes, of course," JOJO bowed to them. "Please move quickly. As for the rest of us, here are my instructions. Please follow them to the best of your ability. Lena and I shall go to Athens, while Mister Pucci, Mister Zeppeli and Mister Stroheim will go to Barcelona."

"What about myself and her highness?" Guilford asked. "Surely by now you can trust us to support you."

"I am placing the most trust in you out of anyone here," JOJO said. "Cornelia, while we are gone there is a chance that Britannia may make a move."

This entire situation had been the very definition of bizarre from start to present. Nothing in Cornelia's life could have told her that she would reach this point. As JOJO had said that, the weight of it crashed down around Cornelia's shoulders like a meteorite and she stopped cold in her tracks.

"You want me to take charge of the European military?" she asked. Her a Britannian Princess. In charge of Europe's military. Out of all the things that she had seen and all the impossible things she had been told, this was it. This was the most insane, out of this world idea or concept that had been presented to her in her entire life.

And it was so entirely because it was so thoroughly grounded in reality.

"We do not have time to argue," JOJO said. "Even as we speak people are suffering across three cities." He vanished, then reappeared by the door. "My Stand is mighty, but it cannot turn back the clock. Please... forgive my rudeness in this situation."

So here she was. In charge. Of Europe. Of the enemy. How... how far was she willing to go? Further than him? Further than Lelouch? Further than that devil? She barely even noticed the others hurrying away. All she could do for about a minute was sit there and stare into empty space. Horrified. Bewildered. Angry.

She thought of her family. She thought of Euphemia. Euphie... If only she'd been able to take her along as well. But in the state she was in, further stress... travelling to a strange land... Cornelia had thought it would be safest at the time to let her recover.

"You seem lost in thought," Guilford politely interrupted. And him as well. She'd left the choice up to him, knowing full well that he'd follow her to hell and back. "Is something on your mind?"

"Family," Cornelia said. "Family is on my mind. In particular I was thinking; If only they could see me now."

====Sayoko====

Sayoko Shinozaki had failed.

As the 37th Successor of the Shinozaki School, she had expected to confront many missions in her time. When she was hired on as a maid for Miss Ashford, she had taken it as a regular mission. She would function as the young woman's bodyguard and personal servant.

She had not expected to be treated with kindness. She had not been expecting a Britannian teenager would do anything more than look down on her. Berate her race. Give her impossible tasks and then mock her when she failed.

But... no. She was gentle. She was kind. She was also rather funny. The two of them became more like close friends than master and servant. They confided in each other. They trusted one another. Though a ninja should remain above such matters, Sayoko was drawn in by Miss Ashford's bottomless charm.

Then she was transferred to the 'Lamperouge' siblings...And developed an even closer bond with them. This was the extent of her failure. She could not kill her emotions. She could not help but be charmed by them. She could not help but want to help them, even above and beyond the mission that she had been given. These three foreigners had grown within her a sense of camaraderie and loyalty, even more than she had ever felt with others of the Shinozaki School.

This one time, Sayoko would feel no shame in failing in her duty.

She climbed inside of the Alexander, and noted other pilots, including Takako entering others. "I sense a strong killing intent from you," Sayoko told the bitter, vengeful woman. "This is more than a mission for you, is it not?"

Takako looked at her and smiled. It was not a kind smile. Lena would almost certainly appreciate that smile quite a bit.

She strapped in and made sure everything was in place. Her seatbelts, the contraption at the back of her head was locked in place. Not active yet. Hopefully they wouldn't need to use it as surrendering herself to that was a rather unsettling experience even for her.

"We won't launch all the way up this time," the intercom informed her. "This is an emergency launch with stealth as a low priority."

"That is fine," Sayoko said. Her only concern at this moment in time was for Milly's safety.

"T-minus fifty five seconds before takeoff."

Sayoko took a deep breath as a reflexive action. It was supposed to help calm nerves, but in truth she didn't feel any kind of nervousness. Not anymore. The rumbling began. She still felt serene. Certain of her duties, the path that she had begun to walk along. It intensified, and then she felt it. Rising like the sun in the morning.

"Apollo's Chariot has launched."

Sayoko had learned a little something of Greek mythology. Apollo, The Archer. God of the Sun, who would place it within his golden chariot and have his four horses, Aethon, Pyrois, Phlegon, Eous pull it across the sky on each and every day. An apt name given to this delivery system, for it brought the light of hope across Europe.

"I'm amazed," Takako said. "Even with the g-forces, your hat is still on your head."

"As a maid, it is my duty to be in uniform at all times," Sayoko explained. "That is the reason it is still on my head."

"I see, I see!" Takako laughed. "Then speaking as a maid, you'll be sure to help me clean up the mess they're so rudely making. Won't you?"

"This too is part of my duty," Sayoko acknowledged. She looked outside. They had entered low orbit, rather than being shot out into space. Still very high up and still moving very fast, but also still within Earth's atmosphere. "An astonishing piece of technology," she mused aloud. "By shooting one of these rockets into space, they can completely bypass the normal means Britannia uses to detect incoming enemies - right up until the last possible moment."

"Striking like a ninja," Takako chuckled.

Not quite. A good ninja strike happened before the subject was aware of your presence, but Sayoko wasn't of a mind to get into professional technicalities. Especially when she was starting to think on other matters.

Lelouch and Nunnally, for example. Those two... how was their reunion going? Would Nunnally make him see sense? Or would they have to take more drastic action? It was all for his own good, in the end. Lelouch might not see it that way. He might fight them. He might oppose them. Yet it changed nothing. Telling him what was going on was out of the question.

That gentle, brilliantly boy. She could see it so easily. Him tending to Nunnally by himself when she was feeling unwell. Reading her bedtime stories, until she insisted she was getting a bit too old for such things. Caring for and cherishing a helpless young girl with such love and devotion, without asking anything in return.

Only to now be answered with what must look like a complete betrayal. Oh, Lelouch. Kindness would not sway you from this path, and yet... For a moment there Sayoko felt as though she had been slipped some Refrain. Regrets: If only they could go back to that time. Not to change it. To appreciate it for what it was.

But she knew all too well. Each day, Apollo must raise his golden chariot across the sky. He must burn the night away to create a whole new day. There could be no going back. There could be no turning away. There could be no turning back or stopping the march of time.

"You're over the North Sea. Releasing capsules. Prepare to descend."

So soon? This was the difficult part. Mess this up, and it probably wouldn't be only her that was killed. The capsule around them split open freeing the Alexander unit to move as it wanted. Not that it had much choice in the matter at the moment: Down was making too good an argument, the other directions didn't get much of a look in. She put her finger on the flight enabler activation switch but held off for now - they had to go into free fall for quite a while yet.

There! She could see the fighting breaking out within Edinburgh already! Though she couldn't see them very well at this range, those Knightmares were probably the Britannians while those others are the limited military presence within the city.

They were close enough now. She activated the flight enabler and landed cleanly. Ready to join the battle at a moment's notice. Takako had landed a short distance away. Her Alexander was already in insect mode. Quickly crawling towards... Tristan, based on that briefing a few weeks ago. Two supporting Alexanders followed after her, while another pair were moving towards Sayoko.

"How rude," Sayoko tsked. Her Alexander quickly somersaulted aside, neatly dodging a missile that had been fired directly at its back. "Opening fire at a ninja's unprotected back is quite the insult. It tells them that you think they have no skill to speak of."

"Recorded," said Anya Allstream, Knight of Six. How messy. This would not be an easy opponent for her to face. Especially when considering... Oh, this was quite an unfortunate meeting for so, so many reasons. "I also wish to record your method of transportation. Please leave out no detail."

Not a chance. Was that what these attacks were in aid of? An attempt to lure them out so they could investigate how they were able to move troops around to anywhere they wanted? If that was the case then Britannia would have to keep guessing a little while longer:

There was no need for them to know about the expanded Apollo's Chariot program. Not yet! Casting a glance to the other two Alexanders, Sayoko took another calming deep breath. It seemed as though she was destined towards yet another failure.

As a member of the Shinozaki School, she was expressly forbidden from sharing the techniques and training with anyone but those who could be called truly loyal to the School. Those who had been vetted, tested, found to be worthy. One could hardly say that those who came up with this rule could imagine a method such as this - but they would surely frown on it either way.

"How boring," Anya said. She opened fire - and the Alexanders all scattered away with precise cartwheels that would have made Sayoko's teachers proud. "... In unison?"

"Fare thee well!" all three of them yelled at once, diving towards the Mordred from three angles at once. Their swords swung down, each aimed for a different vital point on Mordred's armour. All three were blocked by different means. Two by Mordred's mighty hands. The other... Deflected by a Stand clad in fencing armour

"This again...?" Anya asked, pushing away and quickly rising into the sky to create some distance between them. Her Stand drifted by the cockpit. "Checking records. Less of you this time. Should be a fairer fight."

Yes, there was no doubt. Her old Masters at the Shinozaki School would have been shocked to see such a display of 'teamwork'. Until they realised it wasn't teamwork at all. They would mock it, belittle it, call it a crutch and Sayoko a failure and a traitor for so pointlessly sharing out the fruits of her training.

For while the founders of the Shinozaki School could not have imagined the existence of something like the Brain Raid, they would have surely scorned it if they had.

====Schneizel====

The mood was solemn within Schneizel's command room. The mission at hand was vital for the effort against Europe. Discovering the true nature of their secret weapon was so vital that they had to risk their finest pilots, including the Knights of the Round, on a desperate gambit. This was the thought on all of their minds. Even Euphemia had a sense of anxiety about her.

"Please Euphemia, I understand your anxiety," Schneizel said. "However... Wringing your hands will not help matters. I'm sure we can find something else for you to do, if you'd like."

"Is this mission really necessary?" Euphemia asked. "The more I think about it, the more it bothers me..."

Kanon answered for him. "In the first chapter of The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote that 'All warfare is based on deception.' Europe has decided to use some kind of trick to gain an advantage against us. For now they're content to move Knightmares around freely, but what if they do something more drastic?"

"Imagine Euphemia," Schneizel said. "Vampires and zombies suddenly appearing in Pendragon. Poison gas in major population centres across the Empire. This is merely the tip of the iceberg. Depending on how it works, they could do so much worse."

"That's not what I mean," Euphemia continued to protest. "I understand that much at least. What I mean is... How are they supposed to investigate an entire city in the time it would take for reinforcements to arrive? Surely they would get surrounded by the enemy long before they found any secret facility. The specifics of the mission don't make any sense at all when you think about them. And if I have noticed, that..."

"Yoo hoo, is that Schneizel? Lloyd Asplund here with a wonderfully exciting report!"

Other members of Schneizel's family would have found this grating and annoying. A mark of high disrespect. In Schneizel's case, he found it quite charming. Lloyd Asplund was an endless source of amusement for him.

"We are here," Schneizel said. He put his finger to Euphemia's lips. Her concerns would soon be answered. The Earl's timing couldn't be better. "Am I to take it that you have arrived?"

"Oh, of course! Have no fear, everything's gone more or less the way you said it would. They came in out of the sky. Sending along details now."

"You credit me too much," Schneizel said, leaning back in his chair. "Kanon worked it out."

"After the reports came in from our salvage teams about their rocket components, it wasn't too hard to put it together," Kanon said. "Although it was only a theory. They might have been used for something less dramatic."

"Your highness, we're receiving communication from the other two submarines as well. We're triangulating coordinates based on direction of approach. We should know where they're launching from before long."

Perfect. Of course, Schneizel was already pretty certain of the nature of Knightmare delivery: Long range rockets sent into orbit, so they could land units theoretically anywhere on Earth that they had a mind and patience to. Quite brilliant really. Their detection systems didn't go up high enough to pick them up. Well... that would change soon enough.

"Wait..." Euphemia said. "You mean, you sent the Knights of the Round to those cities to bait them into sending reinforcements this way? There were never any research facilities at those cities, you only used them so you could work out where they were launching from?"

"All warfare is deception your highness," Kanon bowed slightly. "Now that we know a little more about how they're using this technology, we can work out how to counter it. To protect our own civilians."

"By threatening Europe's," Euphemia added, her tone was a bit clipped. Oh dear. She was about to start using the same tone of voice that Cornelia used when addressing her troops. "Schneizel, this is monstrous. The sole objective of this mission has placed civilians at risk of fire from our best pilots, and at the same time placed those pilots in an unacceptable amount of danger."

"Distasteful, is it not?" Schneizel asked. "This was not a decision that I made lightly. I selected our best pilots, for they had the highest chance to escape and were the likeliest to focus on the mission given to them."

"Now that we have our information they'll receive the return order from the submarines," Kanon said. "In the long run, this will save many more lives than would have been lost today. Civilian and military lives on both sides will be spared."

Ah... but that was a lie, Kanon. You knew it was a lie. So many lives were going to be lost today... but for his plan to succeed he had to wear this mask a little longer. It was not the war against Europe that Schneizel cared about, after all. It was the war in the shadows that he was aiming to win, and the discovery of this method was but a warning shot in the night.

For when he made his real first attack then let it be known to the world: That the night would come to an end. The shadows of the night would break apart, and then he would make his move while illuminating the earth beneath him. Like the sun rising in the sky.

Like Apollo driving his chariot.

[To Be Continued |\|]

Stand Stats

Thorn In My Side

User: Holly Joestar Bruford

Destructive Power: C

Speed: N/A

Range: E

Durability: A

Precision: N/A

Learning Potential: B

Abilities:

Life took a couple of things I loved: When the Stand or user is exposed to light, heat, electrical or radioactive energy it may be redirected into the Stand to increase its size. The Stand may also be fed life energy directly from the user to sustain itself.

You can test my faith: The Stand will only remain active so long as the user is in direct contact with it with some part of their body. Furthermore, the only movement the Stand is capable of is 'growth' and 'dismissal'.

You won't let me run: While the Stand image exists, it cannot be broken by conventional measures but the user may not move their limbs. If the Stand is damaged in any way the user does not share the damage - but this also means that the user is unaware if anything touches the Stand.

Kissed By a Rose

User: Joanna Fenette Tarkus

Destructive Power: B

Speed: N/A

Range: B

Durability: B

Precision: N/A

Learning Potential: B

Abilities:

The more I get of you: Stand may create any objects the user fully comprehends so long as the created mass does not exceed the user's. Created objects will have the appearance of being made from extremely sturdy plants.

On the grey: Like a normal Stand, created objects may move independently of the Stand user according to their will. However any damage inflicted to these objects will be shared with the user.

Light on the dark side of me: Stand will automatically move to protect user. If sunlight is detected while the user is undead, the Stand will move to shield the user.

Knightmare Stats

Galahad

Pilot: Bismarck

Attack Strength: B (With Excalibur: A)

Attack Range: D

Defense: B

Speed: D

Terrain Handling: C

Required Pilot Skill: A

Equipment

Excalibur: An extremely powerful and large MVS sword. To give context to its power: This sword is capable of breaking the Absolute Defense Shield. The sword is larger than the Knightmare itself and is capable of generating an energy field that allows it to block energy shots.

Finger-Harkens: As this Knightmare was developed from the Gawain, this Knightmare retains the same finger-slash harken design. All fingers on both hands can be fired as slash harkens.

Blaze Luminous: Possesses the same forcefield design as the original Lancelot.

Florence/Alexander

Pilot: Monica/EU Specialist Pilots

Attack Strength: C

Attack Range: B/C

Defense: C

Speed: C

Terrain Handling: B

Required Pilot Skill: C

Equipment

MVS Claws: Attached to both hands. Florence only.

2 Back Mounted Hadron Cannons. Florence only.

2 Waist Mounted Slash Harkens. Florence only.

Uruna Edge Knives: One on each arm .These are retractable concealed knives. This design was pre-existing on the Alexander, which is the original model Florence was redesigned from.

Insect Mode: Both models may enter the same four legged mode of travel. This permits speedier land travel over more difficult terrain without relying on landspinners, and keeps the Knightmare lower to the ground making it a slightly harder target. It also allows unorthodox movement, and is psychologically unsettling for experienced pilots to witness in action.

Sub-arms: Miniature arms attached to the side of the cockpit. Weapons(particularly rifles) may be equipped there, provided they do not require fine or precise movements. Alexander only.

Stake Shaped Tonfas: One on each arm, stored on the arms. Handheld in use. Alexander only.

Palomides

Attack Strength: A

Attack Range: B

Defense: C

Speed: C

Terrain Handling: C

Required Pilot Skill: C

Equipment:

Extra Arms: Like Pelinore, this Knightmare has an extra pair of arms. They are positioned differently, attached to the shoulders. The extra arms are also much larger.

Finger-harken-hadron: The fingers on the extra arms are all equipped with both Slash harken and Hadron Cannons. This means they may be fired independently, and fire powerful cannon blasts separately.

Ector

Pilot: Nonette

Attack Strength: C

Attack Range: B

Defense: B

Speed: C

Terrain Handling: C

Required Pilot Skill: C

Equipment:

Blaze Luminous, including Luminous Cone generators mounted to the arms.

Four Slash Harkens: Two wrist mounted, two hip mounted.

Two MVS Blades

One Jousting Lance