During the time when Umi was fighting against Shen Hu while piloting her Rune God, Hikaru was ensnared by Fuu's Winds of Admonishment spell to ensure that she will not crash land onto the ground while still injured and unconscious. The moment Fuu landed on the ground, she slowly laid Hikaru on her back while treating her injuries with her healing spell. Unfortunately, Hikaru is still unconscious so Fuu had no choice but to stay on guard until the Fire Knight gets back up again.
In her surroundings, Fuu now finds herself inside the chasm 50 feet below the surface. The moment that she looked up, Fuu saw that the Black Knight's battleship has now arrived and has picked up Tamaki's truck. However, they still are not aware that Fuu and Hikaru are both MIA. Consequently, they just left Fuu and Hikaru behind. As much as Fuu wanted to wallow in self pity for not helping Hikaru deal with Shen Hu, she still is no position to do so because her mission in protecting the convoy and the allied battleship is far from over. Thankfully, the Britannian and Chinese Federation forces did not see Fuu or Hikaru inside the Chasm.
"Ms. Hikaru, I hope you wake up very soon. They're going to leave us behind!" Fuu muttered to herself.
"Fuu! Someone is here!" Windam bellowed inside the Wind Knight's ear.
Feeling a bit alarmed by her Rune God's ominous warning, Fuu drew out her sword while staying close to an unconscious Rayearth. While sweating underneath her breath, Fuu could hear some rocks crumbling down from a small distance away. As the suspense intensifies, Fuu heard a burst of movement coming from someone's float system. It came from behind the Wind Knight.
"Hello, Knight Eleven!" Anya's grim voice spoke from behind.
The moment Fuu turned around, she feels herself getting grabbed in the face by the Mordred's huge right hand. In mere seconds, Fuu could feel her face getting pressurized by the Mordred's powerful grip, making her scream in pain for every crack on her skull.
"KYAAAAAHHHHHH!"
While grunting in pain, Fuu tried to whack her sword across the Mordred's face, only for it to grab her hand and twisted it to the opposite angle, disarming the Knight of Wind in the process. In the ensuring twist of Fuu's sword arm, Anya forced her to drop her sword while under the pressurizing grip of Mordred's left hand.
"You won't escape this time!" Anya said in a cold tone. "Once I'm done with you, you and Hikaru's heads will both become my trophies."
Fuu doesn't want to lose against the Mordred again, if she can't get stronger like Hikaru then her efforts of fighting for Japan and for Cephiro will all be in vain. Feeling weak, Fuu is about to lose hope. However, Windam's voice still echoing into her ear telling Fuu not to give up for her friends are still counting on her. She still wanted to believe in herself that she can do better just like when Fuu and Umi faced off the red, armored monster that he wreaked havoc inside the Cephirian Castle, despite how he healed himself and almost blasted most of their friends into oblivion. Also, Fuu still remembers all the memories she had with her lover, Prince Ferio and the rest of her friends; this made Fuu think about all the good things revolving around the life that she is living in. After feeling pain for another minute, making her snap out of her past memories, something snapped inside Fuu. In the ensuing latter, Fuu realized that she does not want to lose that easily.
"NO! I will not let it end like this!" Fuu grunted in anger as she felt herself and Windam powering up in a bright green, misty hue. "I'm a Magic Knight of Wind. I made a promise with my sister that I will return to Japan one day!"
Before Anya knew what is going on, Windam swung a hard kick into the Mordred's stomach, making Anya's Knightmare stagger away from Fuu and losing her grip in the process. Seeing herself a distance away from her target, Anya attempted to aim the Hadron Cannon at both Fuu and the unconscious Hikaru. However, the moment the Mordred's cannon fired, Fuu was already ready to face it head on.
"WINGS OF PROTECTION!" Fuu shouted at the top of her lungs as she raised her hand straight up into the sky, casting a huge dome-like barrier of wind surrounding her and Hikaru.
The moment the Hadron beams closed in, Fuu's spell negated it, leaving behind a massive smokescreen as it hindered Anya's sights. Before Anya could see what was coming, Windam Delta unfurled its wings and flew straight at her much to the Knight of Six's surprise. Upon impact, Fuu reached out both of her hands at the Hadron cannon and ripped it apart into two huge pieces
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Anya shrieked, seeing that the Mordred's cannon got torn apart before it exploded in front of her.
In the next second, Windam's right fist charged up in a medium-sized green orb. As soon as Windam's fist lunged straight at the Mordred's face, Anya gasped in horror upon realizing that the tables have been turned against the Knight of Six. In a panic, Anya fired a barrage of missiles at Fuu only to get swatted away by Fuu's sword as it teleported back to her, making the missiles explode and leaving Windam undamaged by its effects. Now that the Mordred is left with a huge opening without anymore weaponry to use, Fuu powered up her left hand with her wind magic and aimed it at the Mordred's face.
"GRIFFON VORTEX!" Fuu shouted.
When calling out her new spell, Fuu threw out not only just a punch to the Mordred's chest but a massive, swirling griffon silhouette that blasted Anya's Knightmare with full force, in which most of its power came out of her right fist. Again in a panic, Anya attempted to raise the Mordred's Blaze Luminous shield to protect her and her Knightmare against Fuu's new spell. However, the moment the Mordred got struck by Fuu's new spell, Anya's cockpit shook violently as she went in and out of consciousness while grunting in pain. At the same time and despite being shielded, the Mordred's shield went down after suffering a few minutes of severe overload thanks to Fuu's powerful spell. As a result, Anya's Knightmare was pushed violently further away from Windam and instantly slammed its back onto the rocky walls. The impact on the Mordred's rear was so hard that several cracks made their way up to the top of the chasm. In the resulting matter, several huge boulders came apart from above and buried the Mordred alive, assuming that the Knightmare got crushed by its sheer mass in the process. It's hard to tell if Anya is still alive or not, but whatever the case, she blacked out the moment the Mordred collapsed underneath the boulders.
After the spell dissipated, Fuu started panting for she realized that her new spell nearly drained most of her energy. Thankfully, Anya and the Mordred won't be getting back up anytime soon because of the massive weight of the rocks bearing down on both of them. So, Fuu went to check up on Rayearth and Hikaru to see if they're okay. As she got closer, Hikaru finally came to as she slowly got back up on her feet only to get comforted by Fuu.
"Ms. Hikaru, are you okay?" Fuu asked feeling concerned for the Fire Knight.
"URRGH! F-Fuu, where are we? What happened?!" Hikaru asked feeling a bit confused.
"You got slashed in the back by that yellow-faced knightmare so I went in to rescue you and treated your injuries with my magic." Fuu explained briefly.
"What about that?!" Hikaru asked further, pointing at the pile of boulders behind Fuu.
"That's nothing to worry about Ms. Hikaru." Fuu smirked.
"Wait, where's Umi and the others?"
"I think they just picked up Mr. Tamaki's truck and left took flight to their destination." Fuu explained to Hikaru.
"Let's not stand around Fuu. The Cephirians are still waiting for us on the other side. Now let's move it!" Hikaru told the Wind Knight as she and Windam flew up to the surface.
As soon as Hikaru and Fuu left the chasm, Anya, who is barely holding onto her consciousness, hears a beep coming from her communication channel inside the Mordred cockpit. Unable to move, Anya felt blood coming down from her head while hearing Gino's voice from the channel.
"Anya. Are you there? Where are you?"
"G-Gino. P-Please forgive m-me!" Anya stuttered in a weak tone before passing out, slowly closing her eyes.
"Anya?! ANYA!"
Somewhere outside of the Chasm, Gino who is piloting the Tristram, is struggling to establish communication with Anya. Unfortunately, Gino suspected that something went wrong the moment Anya and her forces were sent to intercept the Black knight convoy.
"Dammit! I can't contact Lady Anya! Something bad must've happened to her down there!" Gino said in a panic. "Suzaku. I'm going to find Lady Anya."
"I understand." Suzaku's replied from Gino's communication channel.
After disengaging communication with Suzaku, Gino's Tristram flew towards the area where Anya was last seen at. In his efforts to find the Mordred, Gino activated the Tristram's tracking beacon to locate the Mordred. Eventually, it led Gino into the chasm. From below where his Knightmare is hovering, Gino sees a bit of the chasm's wall already crumbed, which is the first clue in finding the missing Knight of Six. As soon as the Tristram descended down into the chasm, Gino turn on his Knightmare's laser scanners to survey the surroundings through a 360 degree turn. After several minutes of scanning, Gino spotted a faint signal coming from the left of the Tristram. As soon as he approached the source of the signal, Gino sees a pile of fallen boulders. At first, Gino didn't think it was anything to worry about. However, in front of the pile, he saw the Mordred's ripped out Hadron Cannon a couple of feet away from.
It didn't took Gino to notice that something was wrong due to the scenery in front of him. So, the Tristram removed most of the boulders away only to discover that the Mordred is in a total wreck. It's entire body and face was covered in huge dents and smashed up limbs with both of the Mordred's hands ripped apart, one by the fingers and the other by the wrist. Realizing the horror in front of him, Gino felt shocked for a few seconds before activating his communication channel, notifying the other Britannians.
"This is Gino Weinberg, Knight of Three. Lady Anya Alstreim is down. I repeat, Lady Anya Alstreim is down. Requesting immediate Medical Evac Asap!"
After seeing a captured Guren disappear into the Longdan Chinese Federation Mobile Fortress, Umi was ordered by Zero to fall back into position for they can no longer do anything for Kallen or her Knightmare anymore. With no other option, Umi felt ashamed that she could not stop Shen Hu from going full throttle upon her, the Magic Knights, and Kallen. No matter, she can only hope that one day, they will find a way to rescue Kallen. For now, they still need to escort the rest of the Black Knight convoy to their destination.
Shortly when Umi went back inside the Black Knight Caerlon Battleship, she disembarked from her Rune God to meet up with Zero and Zazu at the ship's command bridge before announcing a full report.
"Took you long enough, Lady Umi. What happened to the rest of our escorts?" Zero asked being the first to go over the results of their recent battle.
"We had trouble dealing with this one strange Knightmare. The next thing I knew, they captured Kallen and the other two Magic Knights went MIA on us." Umi said, feeling a bit guilty and helpless over what Shen Hu did.
"It's alright, Umi. You did your best to give us time to depart into the air." Zazu said, trying to sympathize with the distraught Water Knight.
"We'll try to find and rescue Kallen. For now our rally point is a several clicks away. By the time we reach our destination it'll be nightfall. So rest up for a nighttime battle." Zero told Umi.
"Hold up there, Zero." Zazu spoke out for Umi. "We need to bring Lady Hikaru and Lady Fuu back here!"
"It's a bit too late for that young man. The enemy is already closing in on all sides. We don't want to take any reckless risks right now because if we send in more people to rescue them, they might meet the same fate as Kallen did or worse. We still need you, leaders of Fahren and Chizeta, and the rest of Cephiro's forces defend our convoy too." Zero said, denying Zazu's request.
"As much as I wanted to go after them Zazu, I can't take any chances since that thing almost knocked the daylights out of me. I couldn't even breathe!" Umi added in, feeling a bit traumatized after fighting against the Shen Hu. "We're just going to have to pray they will be back in time."
After a few minutes of silence, Umi went down to one of the guest rooms for some R&R. As for Zazu, he sat down in front of a computer desk and pulled up the files that he obtained thanks to the Magic Knight's infiltration mission back in the Forbidden City. While working on the computer, Aska and Tarta appeared in the hallways of the Black Knights' ship as they were taking a detour around its hangar. When Tarta went to the other side of the hangar, Aska went into the corridors feeling a bit lost in her recent thoughts with one of her best friends. Aska couldn't help but worry about what happened to Fuu out there.
Despite her worries, Aska snapped out of her little world before stumbling into the young Chinese Empress, much to the shock of the Fahrenian Princess.
"Sorry, about that." Aska said, feeling a bit ashamed of her klutz. "Are you the Chinese Empress everyone is talking about?"
"Yes, I am." Tianzi replied, feeling a bit shy.
"Wow! I don't believe it. Seriously, I thought you'd be taller." Aska continued, feeling a bit flabbergasted.
"They made me Empress because my parents are not there to guide me. Instead, I was under immediate custody by the Eunichs." Tianzi added in. "Sadly enough, because of them, I never did see the world outside of China."
"Aren't you grateful that you got your wish?!" Aska asked cheerfully.
"Not really. I shouldn't even be here." Tianzi panicked.
"Forgive her optimism, she's just a bit spoiled and wild sometimes." Sang Yung appeared, trying to pull Aska away from the Empress.
"It's okay. I was just tried of staying in one place." The Empress replied nervously. "I'm Tianzi, the young Empress of the Chinese Federation."
"I'm Sang Yung. This young lady with me is Lady Aska, the Princess of Farhen and I'm her right hand advisor." Sang Yung announced.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Though, I don't think I seen either of you before. Are you with the Black Knights?" Tianzi asked.
"No, we're with the Magic Knights. And I happened to be a really great friend of Fuu Houoji, the Knight of Wind." Lady Aska smiled cheerfully. "Ever since she and I made amends back in the New World, I do wanted to pay a visit to Fuu's homeworld out of curious interest."
"Well, ever since they formed an allegiance with the Black Knights, we have to get used to hanging around with them since they and the Magic Knights both came from the same country, the very country that the Britannians took over years ago." Sang Yung informed.
"Are there any other countries that you're allied with?" Tianzi asked further.
"There is the Cephirians, the Autozamians, and the Chizetians. We used to fight over Cephiro of its governing system four years ago. Now that the Magic Knights were able to stop most of the fighting on all four sides, including our own, we all fight together as Cephiro's Alliance. Our mission right now is to help the Magic Knights reclaim their homeland; we all owe them this much since they helped saved our homelands from fighting each other." Sang Yung said, answering Tianzi's question entirely.
"You're not worried are you?!" Tianzi asked the Fahrenian Princess.
"Oh please!" Aska said, feeling nonchalant. "I used to be pretty spoiled and ecstatic until I met Fuu Houoji. She was the only Magic Knight that I looked up to most of the time."
"I wish I could honor Xingke too." Tianzi thought to herself, with Aska still listening. "He's the only person I can trust in letting me see the world outside China."
"Well, Fuu did talked me out of doing something that comes with a price beyond paying. For that, I honored her as my friend by giving up on something that isn't worthwhile." Aska grinned with delight.
"Is this the first time you did the right thing for your friends?"
"I guess you could say that."
"Lady Aska. Zero asked me to bring you into the bridge for another meeting." Qiang Aing appeared while holding onto his gnarled staff.
"Okay. I'll be right there." Aska replied clearly as she left the corridor with Sang Yung.
"You might you be sir?" Tianzi asked as Lady Kaguya came up from behind her.
"I happened to be Lady Aska's Elder Vizier, Qiang Aing." The old man announced himself. "I see that Aska's impulsive curiosity is getting the best out of her again."
"It's fine, Qiang." Lady Kaguya replied positively. "We all wanted to understand each other despite that we all came from different dimensions."
"Anyway, we have to report to Commander Zero. He has several jobs for us too." Sang Yung said, trying to follow up on their operation in China.
After sulking inside her guest room drinking tea for a few minutes, Umi came out to check up on Rakshata. Earlier when meeting up with Zero, Umi noticed that the Indian Scientist was feeling paranoid when she learned that the Knight of Water ran into the Shen Hu. It's as if Rakshata knew something about that strange Knightmare in which no one else does. As of now, Umi went down to the hangar to meet up with Rakshata to go over the results of her recent battle with the Shen Hu.
"Hey Rakshata. How are you doing?" Umi asked, trying to get to the bottom of her paranoia.
"Hi Umi. You didn't really met the Shen Hu, did you? It was that blue Knightmare with the yellow, golden face."
"That was name of that Knightmare that took Kallen? Sorry, I already did." Umi said, feeling more humiliated than ever no thanks to her defeat against it.
"I never told anyone this but I actually built that Knightmare a long time ago before they took it away from me!" Rakshata explained reluctantly.
"YOU WHAT?" Umi shrieked in a high-pitched voice.
"The Black Knights aren't able to handle such a demon like that so I gave up on it." Rakshata continued. "I guess you can say, it fell into a group of Indian Rebels instead. It fights at higher level than that of the Kallen's Guren for its radiant wave surger cannon can pierce through any Luminous Blaze Shields with ease."
"Why didn't you informed Zazu of this sooner?" Umi scolded. "We could've found its weak points if you told us about Shen Hu, hopefully sparing Kallen from getting captured by the enemy."
"Sorry Umi. But most of the information around the Shen Hu classified." Rakshata said sheepishly. "It's best not to tell anyone about this. It'll just damage my reputation as part of the Researching, Development Team."
"Well unless we can find a way to beat our enemies, we won't last for a week would we? You should see what Princess Cornelia did to her Knightmare when she fought with us back in the Tokyo Settlement. When we fired our spells at her, it flew straight back at us. It's as if her Knightmare became a automated mirror."
"I know. Zazu send in most of the data he analyzed from Cornelia's Knightmare. Where she got that reflective Tungsten armor plating still remains a big mystery to me. Nevertheless, I'll still put on work on how to counteract the new Technology that Earl Lloyd developed for the Britannian Knightmares." Rakshata replied, understanding Umi's point. "That is if we ever get out of this mission alive. Say, isn't Lady Hikaru and Lady Fuu with you?!"
"They were, but we got separated after meeting the Shen Hu." Umi said, feeling fearful over the life of her two best friends. "I can only pray they will meet us at our destination."
Somewhere in within the dunes, several miles away from the chasm, Rayearth and Windam are flying low below the clouds while under the scorching heat. Fuu couldn't help but feel pretty humid inside her Rune God as she started sweating under the weather. For Hikaru, however, she doesn't feel anything despite the heat temperature coming from the Dunes. It's already noon since they left the chasm, leaving behind a buried, wrecked Mordred rotting in the sands.
After a long trek across the dunes, Fuu was able to use her tracking GPS that Zazu gave her earlier to allow her and Hikaru make their way to their rendezvous. However, since no one else was with them, the two Magic Knights are struggling to stay on guard. There's no telling if the forces of Britannia or the Chinese Federation are still hot on their trail. Nevertheless, Hikaru and Fuu still have to maintain their dauntless morale as they cautiously moved through the dunes nonstop.
"Say Fuu, are you feeling okay? I'm starting to notice that you're shaking with a bit of excitement." Hikaru, seeing that Fuu is feeling a bit hyped while holding onto her sword.
"Well, I can't help but for some reason I felt even more winded than ever before." Fuu said, feeling shaken for a few seconds. "Anyway, we should be at our rendezvous before sunset."
"I see. Well, I hope the Knights of the Round aren't too close to us." Hikaru said, trying to stay alert while attempting to silently contact Zero with her cellphone. "Zero, are you there?! Zero, it's me Hikaru. Are you at the rendezvous?! Me and Fuu are already on our way there now."
For a few seconds, Hikaru can only hear constant buzzing coming from her cellphone. In a little while, she could only hear static voices of Zero.
"Hikaru...Where...20 miles east..Chinese Forces...Closing In...Please hurry!"
"What did Mr. Zero say?" Fuu asked, trying to stay onto their communication with the Black knight leader.
"I can't hear too much from him. But he did say they're 20 miles east from our position." Hikaru replied, turning her attention towards Fuu Houoji.
"Do you think we'll ever be able to see our families again, Ms. Hikaru?! It's already been one year since we last saw them back in Area 11." Fuu said, feeling a bit worried about her elder sister.
"I'm pretty worried about my brothers and my parents too but we won't see them again if we keep wandering around like that. I'm sure they're all fine." Hikaru replied, feeling confident again. "My brothers are still stronger enough to protect our parents now that they're reunited with them. For me, I can only hope we'll survive another day in this war-torn, ever-changing world."
"Well, I'm sure Ms. Umi is really worried about us too since I flew away to get you back, leaving her alone with the Black Knights."
"Wait, I think I see something up ahead. Get down!" Hikaru exclaimed as she descended from the sky and laid on her stomach.
Fuu did the same with her Rune God. As they crawled through the desert while on their stomachs, Hikaru and Fuu reached up to a nearby ledge to find that the Chinese Federation forces are bringing out a huge, mobile artillery cannon with two sets of huge traction wheels rolling through the sands. It is being towed from behind by their Mobile Fortress. It is powered up with Red liquid sakuradite explosives encased with huge 50mm shells and is guarded by several missile-armed Gun-Rus. Above the Artillery Cannon, Shen Hu is seen hovering above. Though, he is still unaware that the two Magic Knights are spying on him and the Artillery Cannon.
"They're not going to do, what I think they are doing are they?!" Fuu gasped in silence.
"If that thing gets in range, our entire Cephirian Battalion will disappear into a big mess of blood and wreckage!" Hikaru muttered in fear. "We have to warn Zero and get to our destination on the double!"
On the other side of the dunes of China, Zero's battleship, the Dome of Fahren, and the Bravada of Chizeta successfully made its way into the new hideout. Their hideout is defined as the Mausoleum of the 88 Emperors; it is where the Emperors of China are laid to rest. There, the rest of the Black Knights and Cephiro's Army awaits them. However, Umi still did not see Hikaru and Fuu make their way back here. So, she may not have any choice but to help the defenders deal with any attacks coming into the Black Knights hideout alone. However, Zazu was able to get his Mecha up into the battlements, standing by for any form of engagement.
As soon as Zazu's mecha, now known as the RTO, is seen onto the field, it had similar features to that of Eagle's FTO except it was mostly painted in green with white linings and that it had dual wrist-mounted laser swords to use in close combat along with a shoulder-mounted gun turret hanging on its left shoulder. The moment it went up next to Selece Omega, the rest of Cephiro's forces emerged from inside the huge cavern where Zero's Battleship is docked at. Umi and Zazu are now standing on top of Zero's battleship, readying to engage any opposition.
The 1st regiment of Cephirian Gareths formed up in a tower shield formation in front of Zero's ship to ensure that they will not charge at it at close range, with their MV Spears being held firmly; they were being led by Commander Topaz whom his Akatsuki Commander Model Knightmare is behind the formation.
For the 2nd regiment of Cephirian Gareths, they are hovering in mid air a few meters above Zero's battleship while arming their Sakuradite-enhanced arbalest, standing by to fire at any oncoming attackers. The second regiment is now led by Captain Lantis for his Black Crusader Knightmare is now equipped with a float system mounted on its back. Umi is now aiding Lantis while standing on top of Zero's ship.
As for Caldina, she is aiding Topaz and his regiment from behind while holding onto the Dancing Siren's weapons firmly. Her Knightmare is now equipped with a float system as well, along with two dagger-like slash harkens mounted on both of its hands. Out of all the warriors who are feeling nervous in defending the Black Knights hideout, the Chizetian Dancer felt nonchalant about facing a bigger danger on the battlefield.
"It's been awhile since I had a lot of fun with this hot Knightmare of mine!" Caldina grinned with excitement before turning towards Topaz. "Say sugar, how did it feel visiting the Magic Knights' world so far, ah?!"
"Well, I must say it became even a thousand times more worse than what happened when Princess Emeraude was governing Cephiro back then. I wasn't really there when it all happened. I just got recruited into Lafarga's regiment as a young military officer and this was during the time we evacuated into the Castle before Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren invaded our land to claim our government. I was never in the front lines just yet and I never saw the Magic Knights in person during that time either because I never finished my training back then." Topaz explained briefly revolving around his story. "In fact, by the time I was promoted into one of Cephiro's Commanders, the war between those countries and ours was already over and the Magic Knights went back home before I even introduced myself. Nevertheless, I only spent most of time maintaining the garrisons from village to village every week. It isn't until Britannia came in. I thought I was going to die in my first battle with them but the Magic Knights came back and I was finally able to see them for the very first time."
"Well, it's never too late live and learn from them and what those little misses have been through." Caldina said cheerfully. "Ever since one of them broke free from my puppetry, I couldn't help but feel totally confused on how did Fuu was able to pull it off. The thing is, since her willpower was stronger than my expertise, I gave up being their enemy. And for Chizeta, well there was never enough opportunities for me to attend to as a dancer so I left my homeland to entertain elsewhere."
"When you saw Tarta and Tatra again what was their reaction when you were siding with us?"
"They were pretty disappointed for my actions. However, now that Chizeta became part of Cephiro's allegiance, they still wanted me to make donations to their country by giving up every bit of earning that I have made thanks to my gambling skills; it was the only way for them to pardon me of my betrayal back then." Caldina continued, feeling embarrassed over her past actions. "I owe them this much anyway."
"I do wonder what are the rest of the Black Knights going to do?" Topaz wondered, noticing that Zero's forces aren't making too much of an appearance.
"I hate to say this sugar, but while our allied ships were escorting Zero's Battleship, Tohdou's forces kept the Chinese's main force at bay. After through some harsh fighting, he lost half of his men also because they made a futile effort of trying to get Kallen Kouzki back. So, they need time to recover and regain the strength of their formation. We're only here to relieve them of their engagement for now."
"I do hope Lady Hikaru and Lady Fuu hurry back!" Topaz muttered to himself. "It's already nightfall with the Chinese Federation closing in all around us and those two Magic Knights haven't shown up yet. Lady Umi is getting worried about."
Inside the command bridge of Zero's Battleship, the masked commander is standing in front of the computers with C.C while observing the main screen above them. He took out his communicator to follow up on Zazu.
"Do you have the data uploaded to the main computer yet?!" Zero asked the Autozamian mechanic who is still piloting his RTO.
"Of course, sir. We have to hold our ground for ETA one hour before it is put on broadcast." Zazu's voice replied from the communicator.
"The Chinese Forces are approaching from 450 meters and is preparing to attack our position. All Cephirian, Fahrenian, and Chizetian Forces stand by to engage!" Lantis' voiced echoed throughout the speakers.
"Do your best, Captain Lantis!" Zero said, hearing what Lantis carrying out his orders clearly to his forces.
"Commander Zero, we received a message from Lady Hikaru and Lady Fuu." One of the female Black Knight coordinators reported.
"Put them on screen!" Zero ordered as the female coordinator uses her computer to pull up a screen.
On the main computer, Hikaru makes her appearance while still inside Rayearth Alpha.
"Are you and Fuu still hanging in there?!" Zero asked out of concern for his allies.
"We'll be coming to you shortly. But we just spotted that the Chinese Federation Forces are going to use a powerful Sakuradite Cannon to bombard our base at right where you and the rest of the Black knights are!" Hikaru informed.
"Uh Oh! This is going to change everything." Zero murmured in fright. "Can you and Fuu do something about this?"
"We could. But they're being heavily escorted by a large squad of missile Gun-Rus and the Shen Hu is with them!"
"I'll have Ascot and his formation accompany you there. Just have that Cannon neutralized as soon as possible before it reaches into firing range!" Zero ordered.
"Understood, sir!" Hikaru said before her screen disappeared from the main computer.
After hearing Zero's new orders, Hikaru and Fuu laid low their rune gods below the forests as they surveyed Chinese's main force from afar. The two Magic Knights now find themselves 50 yards away from the Mausoleum. From a distance away, Hikaru could see Cephiro's forces at the main entrance of the Masoleum with Caldina's and Topaz's Knightmares standing by. However, she and Fuu still see a battalion of Gun Rus approaching the Mausoleum in which were led by Shen Hu, the very same Knightmare that nearly took her down to oblivion.
Just when Hikaru glared at Shen Hu in hopes of trying to get revenge on him, she saw something else that was not expected. Shen Hu's pilot was saying something about ordering a ceasefire. However, the Longdan isn't listening to the pilot's orders as they continued to bombard the Mausoleum with cannon fire, excluding the Sakuradite Artillery Cannon. The moment Shen Hu turned around to face the Longdan for its impudence, Gino's Tristram made its appearance and stopped Shen Hu from advancing towards the Chinese Mobile Fortress. In fact, the Britannian forces arrived to wipe out Shen Hu and the rebels siding with him.
"Hey Fuu, are you seeing this?" Hikaru said, feeling confused on what the two Knightmares are doing.
"Yes. It appears that those Eunich's are selling their nation and the their Empress to the Britannian Empire." Fuu murmured in disgust. "Those ungrateful fools! I do believe that man who is piloting the Shen Hu is just being used by the corrupted Chinese noblemen as well. Just like the Empress."
"Hello, Magic Knights. It is us, the Eunichs!" One sinister voice spoke out from Hikaru's communicator.
"You're not doing what I think you are, are you?!" Hikaru said, feeling a bit startled from what one of the Eunich's said.
"Did you really think you're going to exploit us that easily? You won't live long to see how we Eunichs will change our country, without Empress Tianzi."
"It seems that Zero was right. You don't care about the Empress. You just wanted to sell her out so that you can selfishly rule over the Chinese Federation instead." Hikaru snarled.
"So what if we didn't? We all live through an act of power by sacrificing every single life in the process!" One of the Eunich cackled. "Speaking of sacrificing, you and your friends didn't realized that you left your allied nation exposed of."
"What you talking about?" Fuu asked, trying to listen to what the Eunichs are saying too.
"You just sacrificed your position to Marrybel Mel Britannia!" The Eunich cackled. "We let your scouts hear about our operation so that we'll lure you and your friends away from the castle so that Marrybel can lead her forces to start a sneak attack. This was already carried out about a week ago. And everyone in the Castle is already rounded up and locked up in prison down below in their own dungeons."
"YOU LIE!" Hikaru roared in fury. "Clef and his men already fortified the Castle void of all intruders and attackers."
"Oh really? Well, they told us that Marrybel had another plan to attack from the inside of Cephiro. You'll see very soon only if you get out alive in which I seriously doubt you would!" The Eunich laughed before the communication ended.
"Dammit!" Hikaru grunted in frustration before turning towards Fuu. "You didn't hear that did you?!"
"Actually, I did Ms. Hikaru." Fuu said, feeling afraid of Ferio's life. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, we have to take down that Artillery Cannon before it even fires."
"Oh and by the way, we already did a test fire from our experimental Sakuradite Cannon!" One of the Eunich's replied as he made a fast response to Hikaru's communicator.
In an instant, Hikaru and Fuu heard a sonic boom coming from behind the Longdan. As the two Magic Knights turned towards the source of the noise, the Artillery Cannon has already fired. The next thing that happened is that the Mountain top of the Mausoleum blew up into a massive shower of rocks in which came raining down on top of Cephiro's forces stationed in front of Zero's Battleship. In the ensuing latter, Hikaru and Fuu both freaked out that Caldina and Topaz are still with them in the frontlines.
"TOPAZ!"
"MS. CALDINA!"
"Oh don't you just love the sound of destruction engulfing your friends?!" One of the Eunich's smirked with delight.
"YOU BASTARD! You're not going to get away with this!" Hikaru growled in anger as she drew out her sword.
"Get away with what?" Ascot's voice spoke from behind.
Startled, Hikaru and Fuu turned around to see Ascot's Monolith make its appearance before them along with a squad of 10 Cephirian Gareths armed with dual Arbalests.
"Mr. Ascot. We just received word that Britannian forces led by Marrybel have taken over our Castle the moment we left Cephiro again.!" Fuu briefly informed the Palu Summoner. "But we have to take care of this first!"
"I understand!" Ascot sadly acknowledged.
While Xingke's Shen Hu continued to engage Gino's Tristram, Xingke felt ever more overwhelmed when the Lancelot Conquista joined in and shot down several more of his men that we're piloting the Gun-Rus.
After hearing that the Eunichs are preparing to destroy Empress Tianzi along with the Mausoleum, Xingke felt even more betrayed than ever before. The moment the Tristram gained the upper hand, the Shen Hu gets clipped off by its float system, reducing its flying abilities to a minimum.
"NO! This can't be. I can't leave the Empress!" Xingke grunted, realizing that his defeat will be imminent.
"Fret not. I know we have made a bad start. But since the corruption of China is what brought us here, I do want to see this end in a better way!" Hikaru's voice shouted as she hurled a Ruby lighting at the Tristram, forcing Gino to disengage with Xingke.
The moment Hikaru's spell dissipated, the Tristram and Xingke turned to see Rayearth Alpha, Windam Delta, Monolith, and Ascot's Strike force of Cephirian Gareths appear on the battlefield. As they got closer, Fuu and Ascot immediately engaged with the Tristram unleashing sword attacks, magic spells, and various ranged weapons at each other. For Ascot's Strike Force, they and his pet beasts unleashed brutal attacks upon the oncoming Britannian forces accompanying Gino.
"YOU?!" Xingke exclaimed in confusion, facing Rayearth and Hikaru once again. "What you doing here? This is my fight and my fight only!"
"We may not have anything to do with how all of China is falling apart and your Empress may not be any of our concern. But the Eunich's actions will be putting our country Cephiro in danger than it is already in. We might as well be allies instead of enemies because it is the last thing my Cephirian friends would ever want." Hikaru continued as she spoke from Rayearth Alpha.
"I fight for no one but for Empress Tianzi. You cannot kidnap her." Xingke retorted as Shen Hu drew out his sword and aimed it at Rayearth. "And You can't expect me to be allies with Cephiro and the Black Knights of the USJ."
"I never wanted to kidnap the Empress. But we Magic knights were hoping to shine the light in other countries too, than rather just Cephiro itself. We already planned to exploit the Eunichs of their treachery all around the world!" Hikaru grinned, not flinching over Xingke's aggression. "We fight for belief and for honor of our nation. If you have what it takes to honor your Empress in which the Eunichs do not, then this may be your chance to protect her from those that will betray her."
"Are you really that stubborn to change our country too?" Xingke asked, feeling a bit unsure if Hikaru really is a friend or foe.
"You can take us down if you wish. But we will not give up in making our homeland a better place to live in back in Japan."
"Well what you going to do to win that kind of destiny?"
"First, that Artillery Cannon run by the Eunichs has to go to hell!" Hikaru snarled as she lit up her hand in a orb full of lighting and fire.
"You really are quite unbelieveable and yet impressive for a foe. I guess we'll fight some other time then. As of now, the Eunichs need to step down immediately!" Xingke said as he is preparing to fire Shen Hu's chest-mounted Hadron Cannon.
"Sir, the Artillery Cannon is ready to fire again!" One of the men at the Longdan's command bridge reported.
"This time shoot down Zero's ship, leave no survivors!" The Eunich's commanded.
Upon heeding the Eunich's orders, the Artillery Cannon is lighting up in a red-pink hue as the shell is about to fly towards the Mausoleum.
"We only have one shot at this!" Xingke shouted as he aimed the Shen Hu's cannon at its target.
"Hikaru! It's about time you showed up. We were getting hammered by the Gun-Ru's firing upon Cephiro's regiments." Umi shouted as she and Selece Omega appeared.
During the time when the Mausoleum got struck by the Artillery, most of Lantis' and Topaz's men activated their core-luminous tower shields in hopes of protecting Zero's ship from getting showered by the falling boulders due to the aftereffects. Although most of the ship didn't receive too much damage, a dozen of Cephiro's Gareths were crushed by the boulders while defending it while on top. However, Umi used her Ocean Wyvern magic to break apart the boulders into a million harmless pieces. As soon as the boulders stopped falling, Umi turned towards the outside of the Mausoleum to see Rayearth and Windam emerge from the forests surrounding the area. So, Umi took her chance to met up with them before taking on the Artillery Cannon seen in the distance.
"Umi! Fuu! We have to stop this Artillery Cannon right now. They're going to shot down Zero's ship again. We only have one shot at this!" Hikaru told her two best friends. "Let's do this!"
"GRIFFON VORTEX!"
"OCEAN WYVERN!"
"LIGHTING INFERNO!"
The moment all three powerful spells merged into each other, Shen Hu's hadron cannon fired a huge yellow beam at the same time with all of it heading directly into the huge barrell of the Artillery Cannon. From the inside, it blew up into multiple pillars of destruction fire followed by a flashing of Sakuradite overload. The entire gun barrell bend over forward before it created a huge nuclear explosion that obliterated most of the Gun-Rus escorting it. For the Tristram, it shook forward as if it was pushed by a massive shockwave coming from the Artillery Cannon itself. Most of Ascot's Strike Force were sent flying beyond their control at the same time, feeling Ascot startled and confused over what just happened.
"Sir! Our Sakuradite Cannon is destroyed!"
"Curse you Magic Knights!" One of the Eunichs shrieked as he slammed his fist onto the table in disgrace. "We were so close in destroying them all."
"Sir, the Empress has appeared on top of Zero's ship!"
"At least we have only one trump card left. All forces shoot down the Empress!"
Meanwhile during the time Xingke and the Magic Knights are trying to take down the Eunich's Artillery Cannon, Empress Tianzi couldn't help but see all of this unnecessary violence happening all around her, such as the Cephirian Forces struggling to maintain their ground against the Chinese Federation Forces and seeing the forces of Chizeta and Fahren keeping Chinese's aerial forces at bay. Since she is made Empress, Tianzi still could not just stand around while her people are suffering. Even at the Mausoleum, it still won't stop. Even though she had no way of defending herself, Tianzi takes another crazed risk to order everyone to stand down from another worthless fight.
"EVERYONE PLEASE STOP! THIS IS NOT RIGHT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE THIS ANYMORE!" Tianzi shouted at the top of her lungs while climbing up to the top hull of Zero's ship. "STAND DOWN!"
Unfortunately, the only response Tianzi got was the Eunich's forces appearing in front of the ship that she is standing on. Rather than standing down the Gun-Rus are aiming directly at the Empress in plain sight. From a distance away, Xingke could hear Tianzi's voice from a mile away. However, he only had a split second before protecting the Empress from getting shot down.
"Dammit. I'm not going to make it!" Xingke gasped fearfully as he sees the Gun-Rus shooting missiles at the Empress. "EMPRESS TIANZI!"
Just when the missiles are about to blow up in front of Tianzi's face, something unexpected happened between her and the Shen Hu. As the smoke spewed out from the explosion, an electrical, fire barrier shield appeared and surrounded the Empress, sparing her from digging her own grave. Rayearth shot out a protective electrical, fiery barrier despite not being the fastest Rune God in Cephiro. Astonished by such a feat, Tianzi couldn't believe that she was saved by the Magic Knight of Fire even when several meters away.
The moment Rayearth disengaged his fire shield spell, another Knightmare came out from behind Empress Tianzi and flew forward, facing the Gun Rus head on. It known as the Shinkiro, Zero's new customized Knightmare known for its powerful defensive weapon systems. The Shinkiro is seen to have similar features to that of the Gawain, except that it isn't as huge as the previous latter.
"Thank you for your aid, Lady Hikaru. Now if you don't mind, have your forces give out covering fire." Zero's voice spoke from inside the Shinkiro.
"With pleasure!" Hikaru acknowledged as she summoned a Cephirian banner with her magic to rally the surviving Cephirian forces.
"NOW'S OUR CHANCE MEN!" Topaz shouted as his Akatsuki Commander Knightmare emerged from the rubble, much to Hikaru's relief. The moment he drew out his MVS, Topaz pointed it towards the oncoming attacks upon front, giving his men the order to charge. "GIVE THEM NO QUARTER! DRIVE THEM BACK!"
Upon hearing Commander Topaz's orders, the Cephirian Gareths drew out their arbalests before firing at will while holding their position. As the enemy Gun Rus were getting hammered by enemy suppressing fire, the Shinkiro fired its Transition Cannon out in the open. In an instant, the Shinkiro first shot out a diamond-like projectile into the clearing, followed by a powerful purple beam coming from the Transition Cannon itself. The moment the beam struck the diamond object, it unleashed a massive barrage of beams that obliterated half of the entire Gun-Ru battallion.
"NO! This can't be happening!" One of the Eunich's shouted in a panic.
"Believe it, you traitors!" Xingke snarled, who is standing right beside Empress Tianzi. "You betrayed everything in China just to pursue your selfish interests. Now you will all have to pay the price."
"CHARGE!" All three Magic Knights shouted in unison as they drew out their Escudo swords.
As the Rune Gods flew towards the frontlines, the surviving Cephirian Regiments followed them both on the air and on the ground, drawing out their Maser Spears and Halberds before charging straight at the crippled Gun-Ru formations. From within the Cephirian Gareth ranks, the Dancing Siren bursted itself out of the rubble unscath. It appears that Caldina miraculously survived the attack and, in full fury, she dashes towards the front through a huge leap over the first regiment before lunging at two Gun-Rus, stabbing them both with two of her wrist-mounted daggers in their heads.
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" Caldina hissed as her knightmare kicked away from the stabbed Gun-Rus. As the Gun-Rus collapsed to their sides, Caldina's Dancing Siren did a forward cartwheel at another group of Gun-Rus who were seen on top of the ledge several meters above her.
"Zero! The data is now uploaded!" Zazu reported as his voice spoke from the Shinkiro's communication channel.
"Good! Do it now!" Zero ordered the Autozamian junior officer.
Upon hearing Zero's orders, Zazu, who is inside his Mecha, raised its arm up towards he communication link, with the cable attached from the hand to the electronic, and powered up it in a huge, bright-blue light.
"LET'S END THIS!" Tamaki shouted in triumph as he steered his Akatsuki Knightmare out of the rubble.
At the same time Tamaki charged with his Knightmare, several squads of Black Knight Knightmares followed him from behind with their weapons drawn. In the confusion, the Gun-Rus find themselves cornered in-between the two armies. As they see their forces fell apart by the overwhelming numbers of the Cephirians and the Black Knights, the Eunichs were also shocked after hearing that all of China started rebelling against their tyrannical reign.
"Oh No!" One of the Eunichs said in fright. "We lost our support from the rest of China!"
"We should run!" Another Eunich shrieked, fearing that his demise is imminent.
"I'm afraid I can no longer support you anymore now that the people of China found out about your true colors. Therefore, I will order all Britannian Forces to retreat!" Schnizel's grim voice spoke from the intercom inside the Eunich's Longdan.
After hearing what Schnizel said, the Eunichs are no longer in political power.
Onboard Schnizel's Avalon, the 2nd Prince felt a bit nostalgic that over what the Black Knights and their allies had done to expose the Eunich's treachery. He couldn't tell whether to feel ashamed or relieved. However, since they failed to accomplish their political campaign in allying with the Chinese Federation, Schnizel had no choice but to leave the Eunichs under the mercy of the Magic Knights and Xingke.
"Well played Hikaru." Schnizel muttered as he took a sip of his wine while sitting on his throne at the command bridge. "I must say, you and your friends sure have a way of anticipating our campaign. Don't get too cocky young lady. Your friends may have defeated Lady Anya. You may have convinced the rest of the Chinese Federation to avoid having a war with Japan and Cephiro. But we still have more tricks up our sleeve."
"My lord. Lady Anya has went into cardiac arrest!" Gino reported in a panic.
"Is she going to make it back to the government Bureau?" Suzaku asked, who is standing next to Prince Schnizel.
"I'm afraid not!" One of the doctors said, appearing from behind Gino. "She is suffering from internal blood loss in her skull, leaving her under fatal paralysis."
"Damn you Magic Knights!" Suzaku snarled in silence while clenching his fists in anger. "You're all going to pay for this."
Back at the Longdan, Rayearth and the Shen Hu broke into the command bridge startling the Eunichs in pure terror. In just one minute, Xingke came out of his Knightmare and drew out his sword, readying to butcher up some corrupt nobles.
"IT'S EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!" One of the Eunichs screamed in terror as he started to make a run for it.
Just when the Eunichs are about to run, Xingke jumped into action and slayed several of them in rapid succession. For the overweight Eunich, he was about to met his end as Xingke is about to close in for the last kill.
"No! No! Please, you can have all of my wealth and my assets. But don't hurt me!"
The moment Hikaru, who is inside Rayearth, heard what the last Eunich said, she just remembered from a hour ago that one of the Eunichs told her about how the Britannians conquered Cephiro's Castle behind their backs. Without hesitation, Hikaru shouted at Xingke with all her might.
"WAIT!"
"What you do mean 'wait?" Xingke asked in confusion.
"I think this one told me about what happened back in the New World recently. I want this one held prisoner for interrogation." Hikaru's voice continued, recognizing the voice from one of the Eunichs who spoke earlier.
"Are you sure about this?"
"He owes me answers. Not to worry, I'll deal with him myself." Hikaru said as she disembarked from Rayearth.
As soon as Hikaru made her appearance, Xingke and the Eunich couldn't believe their eyes the moment they see her in plain sight. Hikaru was seen in her Magic Knight uniform, displaying a fierce look in her eyes as she drew out her sword up front.
"What the? You're a girl?!" Xingke exclaimed.
"That's right. Not that it matters, I have other plans for Japan too and my Cephirian friends are here to back me up!" Hikaru said dauntlessly as she approached the frightened Eunich while holding the tip of her sword at his face.
Before the Eunich could say anything, he was immediately tied up in chains by the Cephirian Guards before being hauled away from the fallen Longdan and onto the Dome of Fahren. As the Eunich disappeared into the ship, dragged away by the Fahrenian guards, Xingke couldn't help but feel awestruck from the fact that the strange Knightmare he fought earlier was actually piloted by a young girl, unlike the Black knight Ace he fought afterwards.
"I didn't think you'd be that impressive for a young lady." Xingke said as he turned towards the red-haired knight.
"I always learned how to fight from the best." Hikaru grinned.
"What's your name?!"
"My name is Hikaru Shidou, Magic Knight of Fire. And that Rune God I was in is Rayearth, the Lord of Fire!"
"Hikaru and Rayearth, huh?" Xingke said, feeling flabbergasted. "I'm Li Xingke, Knight of the Chinese Federation serving directly under Empress Tianzi. It's been an honor to meet you in battle but I do want to apologize for have such a rough greeting."
"It's nothing. I always get that a lot." Hikaru smiled.
"Really? Well, I thought for sure that the Guren was the only one putting up quite a stubborn fight." Xingke thought. "How are you able to get this Knightmare?"
"It's a long story." Hikaru replied in positive tone.
"XINGKE!" Tianzi cried as she ran towards him in tears of happiness.
Just when Hikaru and Xingke turned around, the Empress appeared from outside of the Longdan and jumped onto Xingke in his arms, realizing that she was able to see him again at last. She started crying out of relief as tears came down from her eyes while enbracing Xingke. For Hikaru, she felt a bit nervous over what she did to the Empress but before she tried to leave she felt Tianzi's hand grab onto hers. Upon feeling Tianzi's hand touch her wrist, Hikaru felt a bit anxious on how would the Chinese Empress is going to react after everything that happened recently. However, the moment Hikaru turned to face Tianzi, she was immediately hugged by the Empress as well.
"Thank you, Hikaru. Both of you." Tianzi sniffed before she let go of Hikaru. "I never though that I would be free from the Eunich's grip. I was a slave under them until now."
"It's nothing your majesty." Hikaru replied as she backed away and a bow towards the Empress herself.
"Hikaru, can I go with you to the New World? I do want to see if I can initiate diplomatic solutions for your friends there too since you did managed to save me and all of China." Tianzi requested, in hopes of yielding her allegiance with Cephiro's Alliance as a way to thank Hikaru for her heroism.
"As much as I wanted too, I need to retake the Cephiro's Castle first! For now, you might as well establish an alliance treaty with the Black Knights first." Hikaru responded grimly.
"I understand. Just don't take too long okay?" Tianzi replied sadly. "I do need to help rebuild everything in China first anyway."
"Have fun with that Eunich, Hikaru." Xingke smirked as he escorted the Empress away from the Longdan.
On board the Dome of Fahren, Zero met up with Hikaru to congradulate her and the Magic Knights for helping him liberate China of the Eunich's corruption. Now that one of the Eunichs is being held up in the ship's brig, Zero takes his leave, letting Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu deal with the matters themselves.
While the Magic Knights are interrogating the Eunich, Zero runs into C.C outside the Dome of Fahren to go over the aftermath of their battle with the Eunich's Chinese Army.
"I seems that Britannia has taken advantage of the Magic Knights' involvement by having their strike force infiltrate Cephiro the moment the Magic Knights left to meet us in China." C.C reported.
"Are you going to help them retake Cephiro?" Zero asked.
"Maybe so. But I can't help but feel that some entity is making my head vibrate." C.C said feeling nauseous, remembering that she was experiencing headaches during her fight with Britannia outside of the Mausoleum. "What about you?"
"I'm afraid I need to do some checking up back in the Ashford Academy." Zero replied nonchalantly. "You can go aid them if you wish."