While on board the dome of Fahren, the last surviving Eunich is seen inside a prison cell being chained up and held by the wrists as he was being forced to stand on his two legs while getting beaten mercilessly by Aska's guards. With every beating, one of the Fahrenian guards smacks the Eunich in the stomach with a black tonfa, making him suffer from bruises and blood coming out of his mouth. They keep doing it until the tortured Eunich confesses on how did the Britannians took over the Castle of Cephiro from the inside. After several hours on not getting anything from the tortured Eunich, Fuu Houoji entered the prison cell being greeted by the Fahrenians with a respectable bow. In response, Fuu bowed to them as a sign of respect before turning towards the beaten Eunich.
"You better have something to say about the Britannians sneaking into our home turf back there and you better answer fast, Mr. Eunich. Or else I am going to strangle you!" Fuu hissed as her hand lit up in a swirling, green orb coming out of her magic glove.
"P-please don't hurt me! I was just hired by Marrybell Mel Britannia to help provide them resources to rebuild their gateway to the New World. Honest!" The frightened Eunich screamed in pain.
"Since when?" Aska demanded, as she appeared behind Fuu.
"It was since Prince Schnizel, Marrybell, and Prince Odysseus came to our country, 2 months ago. They may have lost their Arms Freighter which was supposed to be shipped to the Tokyo Settlement, but they already paid us 50 thousand yuan to deliver supplies to help power up their gateway. Marrybell and her men have built-in portal generator inside their Dreadnought to transport their forces to the New World! Sorry ladies, but you'll never find their Dreadnought. It was also equipped with a cloak and a Blaze Luminous shield."
The Eunich chuckled weakly before he was stabbed in the stomach by one of Aska's spears.
After the Eunich succumbed to his injuries, Hikaru and Fuu turned towards the Princess of Fahren before saying anything else.
"Well whatever this Dreadnought is, we need to destroy it very soon." Hikaru said, getting worked up in going after Marrybell's forces.
"But Ms. Hikaru, we don't know where be able to find it. It might be in the New World now and our forces won't be able to detect it anywhere near Cephiro's Castle." Fuu reminded the Fire Knight.
"Fuu's right, Hikaru. We still need to come up with a plan to rescue our friends in the castle. I'll still try to use several reconnaissance illusions to sniff out their Dreadnought but it won't be done in less than an hour. I need some time to deal with it." Aska added in.
"Well, Geo is still trying to recover back in Cephiro. If they find him while he is still badly injured, we'll lose all of our allies from Autozam. I mean, Autozam's armies haven't regained their strength yet."
"Just give me 2 hours then." Aska suggested to Hikaru.
After finishing their conversation, Aska went to the bridge to perform her illusion spells using her scrolls and artistry. For Hikaru and Fuu, they went to the Dome's hangar to check up on Umi and the others.
Meanwhile back in Cephiro, in a forest nearby the Castle, Geo was seen holding a crutch with his left hand while trying to get away to safety. As he made his way through the bushes and the trees, Geo couldn't help but feel bad that he was fleeing for his life without piloting his GTO once again. Nevertheless, Geo is still not well enough to take control of his Mecha yet and it hasn't been fully repaired or upgraded.
Flashback:
Earlier, Geo heard several explosions and shouting coming from outside the medical room in Cephiro's Castle with a loud alarm blaring throughout the corridors. Finally able to get back up on his feet again, Geo was now wearing a patient gown with his left leg bandaged and strapped to a wooden plank, limiting his movement. However, it didn't stop Geo from walking around as he made his way to the entrance of his room only to be approached by Captain Lafarga.
"Sir, you have to stay here. We're under attack by another battalion of Britannian soldiers!" Lafarga told the injured Autozamian Commander.
The moment Lafarga disappeared back into the hallway, Geo went up to a nearby window leading to the outside of the castle. Above him, Geo sees explosions popping up in the sky as two huge Britannian ships were seen looming all across the castle courtyard. In a second later, several Britannian Vincent Wards and Gareths came dropping down from the ships and started opening fire from inside the castle garrison, causing total confusion among all of the Cephirian guardsmen and their Knightmares as they were getting shot at left and right. At the same time, explosions started crumbling away the interior walls surrounding the castle while Cephiro's defenders were struggling to hold their ground at the battlements. In the middle of the chaos, Clef, Presea, and Lantis are seen in front of the castle's entrance fighting for their lives while piloting their Knightmares.
However, as Presea continued to fire rapid-fire shots with her Akatsuki, she was feeling overwhelmed as two Vincent Wards jumped on top of her from above, pinning her Knightmare to the ground. For Lantis and Clef, they tried to stop the Wards from pinning Presea down only to get hindered by a rampaging Lancelot Trial. In a instant, Lantis' Black Crusader charged at the Lancelot Trial in a furious sword-fighting duel that made every single sword clash result in loud bangs. At the same time, Lantis steered his Knightmare left and right while doing fading strikes at the Lancelot Trial only to be met with the red knightmare moving around in a series of strafing runs and lunges.
Right above the Lancelot Trial, another knightmare came down from one of the Britannian ships and took flight towards the Archwizard. A Lancelot Grail made its appearance as it unleashed a barrage of sword harkens at the Clef's Knightmare. In retaliation, the Archwizard lit up his staff and let out a huge, dome-like electrical barrier to shield himself from the Lancelot Grail's attack. However, after the harkens struck the barrier and fell on the floor of the courtyard, the Lancelot isn't done yet as he continued to charge straight at the Master Mage. Before Clef had anytime to make another spell with his Knightmare, he was met with a kick in the Archwizard's face, knocking him backwards and falling on his back. Though Clef isn't holding back as he aimed the Archwizard staff at the Lancelot Grail, firing a huge lighting bolt followed by three homing magic missiles. But the Lancelot Grail flew backwards and pulled up its Blaze Luminous shield to block Clef's magic. The moment Clef's magic struck, the Luminous shield started turning into a bright, purple ripple that absorbing most of its effects. The moment the Lancelot Grail landed on the ground and activated its landspinners, the red Knightmare drew out its swords and lunged at the Archwizard, battering Clef down with an endless barrage of sword strikes. For Ferio and Lafarga, they were already inside their Knightmares when trying to help their surviving guardsmen piloting their Cephirian Gareths defend the walls with everything they've got.
After seeing his allied comrades holding off the attackers, Geo saw the opportunity to get out through the window that carefully leaned his back against the castle's exterior walls to avoid falling forward to his death. Onto his right, Geo sees a nearby roof that supports the floor one level below him. The moment he went towards the roof, he saw that a wrecked Cephirian Knightmare is bridging a connection between the roof and the interior castle walls. He thought about staying and help his friends fend off the Britannians. However, since he is sitting ducks due to the condition he is in, Geo's only option was to get to the NSX, which is docked and hidden at an abandoned village west of the castle. Wasting no time, Geo made his way across the interior walls when no one was looking before he leaned towards a tree that is close by. The autozamian dropped his crutch right in front of the wall before he grabbed the tree with his two hands and held his uninjured leg wrapped to its trunk before slowly descending towards the ground. As soon as Geo made a soft landing, he immediately retrieved his crutch before disappearing into the woods.
End of Flashback:
Now that Geo is alone, he has to met up with the rest of his Autozamian crew to tell them what happened back in Cephiro's castle. Luckily, he still has his communicator and his sidearm in case he runs into trouble on the way to the NSX.
"I hope the Hikaru and the Magic Knights make it back very soon." Geo thought as he continued to limp through the woods without stopping.
At the edge of Cephiro's border, the Bravada of Chizeta make their appearance. The moment it reached the Cephirian border, the dark night has settled in. Before moving forward, two huge flood lights came shining down from the eyes of the statue at the bow of the Bravada. While steering cautiously above the forests, the Princesses were using their magic to control the flood lights while scanning the area. At the same time, they are watching screen from their throne room. For Umi, she immediately departed from the ship while embarked into her Rune God. Behind the Knight of water, Caldina's Dancing Siren appeared as it activated its float system before flying up into the air with its weapons drawn.
"Hang in there Lafarga! I'm coming to save you!" Caldina muttered while steering her Knightmare closer to Selece Omega.
Behind the Bravada, the Dome of Fahren made its appearance while being escorted by three regiments of 30 Cephirian Gareths. The squads are being accompanied by Zazu's Mecha and Topaz's Akatsuki Commander Model, all of them arming their weapons at the ready. Inside the Dome, Hikaru and Fuu are both standing by inside their Rune Gods, along with Ascot piloting the Monolith. While Aska used her illusion spells to recon the area, she was able to make a full report.
"Okay guys. Marrybell's Dreadnought is seen Northwest of Cephiro's Castle. They already started divebombing into the battlements as they jumped off of their ship. It does seem pretty similar to what Cornelia's forces just did last year. Anyway, the Knights of One and Ten are currently leading their forces to aid the Massacre Princess to secure the Castle Courtyard. They must've been successful in overrunning Ferio's forces by now."
"So Hikaru, what's the plan?" Ascot asked as his voice spoke from the inside of his Knightmare.
"We need to make contact with our recon sentries stationed at the floating mountains first, ensuring that they would explain how did the Britannians were able to take over the Castle so easily. Then, we plan our move in retaking our castle from Marrybell and the Knights of the Round." Hikaru said, feeling determined to rescue her boyfriend Lantis.
"Ms. Aska, are you getting all this down?" Fuu called out from inside Windam Delta.
"Yes, I am!" The Fahrenian Princess replied from the interior speakers. "We'll head to the floating mountains asap!"
"Ms. Umi! Don't try to engage the Britannian forces at Cephiro's Castle until we gather our recon sentries first. For now, just wait for us at the rendezvous." Fuu notified the Knight of Water through her cellphone.
"Understood, Fuu!" Umi's voice spoke from Fuu's phone.
Before long, Marrybell's forces were able to finally take over the castle thanks to Bismarck Waldstein and Sir Bradley. In the ensuing struggle, Bismarck's Knightmare Galahad slammed a hard thrust kick into the back of Clef's Knightmare, knocking the Master Mage unconscious. For Lafarga and Ferio, they opened fire with their lighting Varis and Energy Bowgun at the Galahad only to be met with a return fire from its sword's defective ability. Both projectiles blasted the ground right in front of the Lancelot Blitz and the Green Ranger, sending them hurling backwards. The Lancelot Blitz got back up in an instant as it drew out its two-handed Scimitar. Unfortunately, Lafarga got blasted again this time by the Percival's knee cannons, making himself and his Knightmare get flung into the walls of the palace unable to get up anymore. For Ferio, he jumped up high with his Green Ranger and slammed its huge sword on top of the Perceval only to get blocked by its missile shield. Seeing that the Perceival is occupied with the Green Ranger, the Lancelot Blitz gets back up for the third time and charged straight at the knightmare from behind.
But Bismarck was already waiting for Lantis to make one wrong move. In an instant, Lantis's Black Crusader was met with an unexpected sword clash with Bismarck's Galahad.
"Nice try, Cephirian! We'll conquer this land in a blink of an eye!" Bismarck smirked from inside his Knightmare.
"Don't bet on it, Britannian scum!" Lantis snarled as he lurched at the Galahad with more sword strikes with his Knightmare.
With using every angle of attack from left to right and from above and below, Lantis get knocked back everytime by the Galahad's huge sword, feeling the strength of the Knight of one himself. Not able to lay even one dent on Bismarck's Knightmare, Lantis jumped backwards 10 meters away from him before calling forth his magic.
"LIGHTING BALL ASSAULT!" Lantis shouted as he raised the Crusader's sword up high before channeling its electrical energy into the blade, powering up to the fullest.
The moment Lantis hurled his spell at Galahad, it unleashed a huge torrent of lighting that was meant to vaporize Bismarck in an instant. However, Bismarck was already prepared for it as he blocked the lighting with his sword. Upon impact, Galahad's sword absorbed the lighting while being pushed further away without receiving any damage in the process. In retaliation, the Galahad swung its sword vertically as it threw the lighting spell back at the Black Crusader, much to Lantis' shock. The recoiled lighting exploded in a bright flash that sent Lantis and his Knightmare crashing into the interior walls behind him. Lantis could feel the heavy damage done on the back of his Knightmare when the walls behind him bursted wide open. Just like that, the Black Crusader collapsed onto its right side before skidding to a halt. Inside the cockpit, Lantis felt some blood pouring down from his face, covering up his left eye.
"It's no use. We can't beat them alone with Hikaru and the Magic Knights!" Lantis thought as he felt that defeat is imminent.
From the Black Crusader's interface, Lantis sees the Galahad approach him cautiously while pointing his sword at him.
"You can't beat me even with that kind of power, Cephirian. I always read your every more in a flash!" Bismarck grinned.
Back inside the castle courtyard, Ferio continued to engage Bradley's Perceival but in a futile matter.
While on top of the Perceival's shield, Ferio sees that the shield is about to unload a payload of missiles up close and in person. The Green Ranger immediately jumped off and skidded away from the Perceival with its landspinners, trying to evade the missiles from hitting Ferio in a distance. Ferio steered his knightmare in a fast zigzag motion while opening fire with the Green Ranger's bowgun at the Perceval.
However, Ferio didn't get enough distance from Bradley when the Perceival charged forward at the fleeing Green Ranger, pulling out its drilling lance to deliver a killing blow to the Cephirian Prince. With just one thrust, the Perceival did a graze through the left side of the Green Ranger. Inside the cockpit, Ferio was met with a drilling pain in his lower abdomen, making him scream in terror as some blood came out from his wound. In the next strike, the Perceival thrusted his drilling lance upward, nicking the Green Ranger in the torso before making it collapse onto its back.
"You might as well beg for you life, Cephirian." Bradley grinned with delight as he is about to aim the drilling lance into the Green Ranger's face.
"WAIT!" Bismarck shouted.
"What?!"
"We still need some prisoners to interrogate over Princess Euphemia's whereabouts!" The Knight of One continued. "They can't talk if they're dead! We'll hold them prisoner for now!"
"Well, I still want to kill them for standing in our way! Especially those so-called Magic Knights!" Bradley sneered.
"We'll kill them later. For now, we have to follow Marrybell's orders!"
After standing down from his fight with Ferio's Green Ranger, the Perceival grabs the Prince's Knightmare by the face and hurls him towards the group of Cephirian Knightmares being rounded up by Britannia's Forces. So far, the Archwizard, Presea's Akatsuki, the Green Ranger, and 6 other crippled Cephirian Gareths were being held hostage by Marrybell's Glinda Knights and the two Knights of the Round. For Lafarga, after seeing Clef and Ferio get taken down, the Cephirian Guard Captain also stand down as he dropped his two-handed Schmitar before surrendering.
"Now then, come on over here!" Bismarck hissed as he pointed the Galahad's sword at the Lancelot Blitz.
The moment all of the Cephirians disembarked from their Knightmares, they get restrained by the Glinda Knights. As for Ferio, he gets dragged away from the group of restrained Cephirians only to be met with a barrage of punches from Marrybell herself before he gets knocked to the ground with his hands tied up to his back. The next thing he knew, Ferio his fresh wound getting stomped on by Marrybell herself while lying on his stomach. Clef, Lafarga, Presea, and Lantis all watched in horror while being tied up with their hands behind their backs.
"THAT'S FOR DAMAGING MY KNIGHTMARE BACK IN PENDRAGON!" The Massacre Princess shouted in triumph as she continued to keep stomping on the helpless Cephirian Prince.
"FUCK YOU, BITCH!" Ferio shouted back before his face gets shoved into the dirt by Marrybell.
"DOES THAT TASTE GOOD, PUNK?!" Marrybell roared as she moved Ferio's face all over the dirt with both of her hands grabbing his hair.
While Marrybell continued to torture Ferio right in front of the his friends and the captured Cephirian Guards, Bismarck and Oldrin disembarked from their Knightmares and entered the castle along with two squads of Britannian Marines. The moment they entered the castle, the civilians and children were backing away in fear for their lives. The moment they were all held up at gun point, the Marines led the people out of the palace leaving Bismarck to enter the hangar to secure their stolen goods.
"We might as well hold our position here until the rest of the Britannian fleet arrive. No one steals our Knightmares and uses them against us!" Bismarck told Oldrin.
"Understood, sir!" Oldrin acknowledged as she ordered the Glinda Knights to secure the Castle's hangar.
"My lord. We secured the entire castle! All enemy forces are detained!" Bismarck reported as he held his radio to his mouth.
"Very good, Bismarck. Don't celebrate yet. The Magic Knights and the rest of Cephiro's forces are still out there!" Prince Schnizel's voice replied. "For now, hold position for about ETA 12 hours! Remember to report to me immediately if something is happening."
"Yes, your highness!" Bismarck acknowledged. "They don't realize that we have just anticipated their arrival."
As Bismarck took out his cellphone, he makes a call to an allied respondent from a distance away. The moment he held the cellphone up to his ear, Bismarck smirked as he spoke slyly.
"It's time boys!"
At the floating mountains, the dome of Fahren appeared 100 feet above the area as the Magic Knights and Ascot made their descend onto the rocky, floating landscape. As they looked around, Ascot spotted that the sentries are all dead much to the Palu Summoner's horror. All Ascot saw was two wrecked Cephirian Knightmares lying on the ground both crippled and damaged beyond repair. For Hikaru and Fuu, they both gasped in shock that the recon sentries aren't able to stay alive to report anything to them. However, before they could say anything, one of the sentries who is still half-conscious, wakes up badly wounded as they was sitting next to a rocky wall behind him. The moment Ascot got closer, the sentry was seen holding his lower, left abdomen with his right hand while it was still bleeding.
"Guys, over here!" Ascot called out to Hikaru and Fuu.
The moment Hikaru and Fuu disembarked from their Rune Gods, Fuu went up to the injured sentry and cast her healing spell to fix up his wound instantly.
"Thanks, milady!" The sentry replied, seeing that his wound disappeared before his very eyes. However, the sentry still felt weak since he already had a rough day on the job so, he still didn't bother getting up just yet.
"Do you know how did Ms. Marrybell and her men got into Cephiro again?" Fuu asked the recovering sentry.
"Their ship appeared directly above Cephiro's Castle right behind us!" The sentry replied in fear. "We got startled when we heard explosions and screaming coming from the Castle. What's worse is that several of our guards betrayed us!"
"WHAT? Your fellow sentries turned your back on you? But how?" Ascot shrieked in disbelief.
"I don't know. The moment I spotted smoke and fire coming from the Castle, I was suddenly stabbed in the back by one of my own comrades. I fell backwards, going in and out of consciousness. The rest of the other sentries were all caught off guard before they were massacred right in front of me!"
"This doesn't look good guys! It seems that several Cephirians have already showed their true colors!" Hikaru concluded. "But who?"
"I guess we really need to be careful. I think the Britannians must have sent in spies of their own to infiltrate Cephiro unnoticed!" Fuu presumed.
"Well we have to warn Umi and the others! They might be in danger too!" Ascot suggested.
In five kilometers away from the Castle, Umi and Caldina's regiments stopped at their rendezvous to hold their position, with Selece Omega and Dancing Siren hovering 1,500 feet above the ground. Umi couldn't help but feel a bit tense that she has to retake the Castle in order to save Clef for whom she cherished most apart from Ascot. It may be hard on who does she has a crush on the most but may be someday Umi would try to make up to Ascot one day despite turning him down from his proposal. But now is not the time. Clef is in mortal danger and Umi still needs to wait until Hikaru and Fuu arrive.
"Umi, are you there?! Umi! We have a situation!" Hikaru's panicked voice spoke from Umi's cellphone.
"What is it?!" Umi replied as she held her cellphone up to her ear while inside her Rune God.
Before Hikaru could say anything to Umi, Caldina turned around to see three Cephirian Gareths appear right behind them and opened fire upon the Knight of Water with their Arbalests without warning!
"UMI DOWN!" Caldina screamed as she grabbed Selece and pulled her below the line of fire, barely missing both Umi and Caldina's Knightmare by a mere inch of their faces.
"WATER DRAGON!" Umi retaliated as she swallowed all three renegade Knightmares with her magic. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THEM?"
After the renegade knightmare vaporized inside Umi's water dragon, Hikaru spoke in fear.
"There's some moles dwelling within Cephiro's army ranks! We've been betrayed!"
"MOLES?!" Caldina gasped in horror.
In another twisted event, the squad that Topaz and Zazu started shooting them both from behind, letting loose a mass of confusion and violence. The two Cephirian regiments were forced to scatter in disarray, unable to back up Umi and Caldina. The renegade squad is being led by a traitorous sergeant named Alan Greenhelm. Topaz was immediately startled by such a setup that he immediately activated his blaze luminous tower shield to protect his Akatsuki Commander Knightmare from getting shot at from behind, barely having enough time to fight back. For Zazu, he felt his Mecha getting blasted in the back, sending him lurching violently towards Topaz.
"ARRRGGGGHHHH!" Zazu screamed as his cockpit vibrated violently due to the blast.
"GREENHELM, what is the meaning of this?!" Topaz shrieked, while trying to protect Zazu's mecha with his tower shield.
"Surprise, loser! Bismarck told me to say hi!" The sinister voice cackled from inside Greenhelm's Knightmare.
Before Topaz could say anything, he was suddenly slammed in the Knightmare's gut by Greenhelm's Knightmare's halberd shaft.
"GAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Feeling the full brunt of the attack, Topaz's Knightmare staggered backwards towards Zazu and Umi before they backed him up immediately.
"TOPAZ!" Umi and Zazu screamed in terror as they returned fire with their magic and missiles.
"Sapphire Whirlwind!"
In response to protect Topaz, Zazu's mecha let loose a barrage of missiles at Greenhelm's Knightmare only to get swiped away with its halberd as they exploded 10 feet away from him. In a fast reaction, Greenhelm flew upwards, dodging Umi's spell by a foot. Right next to Greenhelm's Akatsuki, Bismarck's Galahad appeared as he drew out his huge two-handed MVS.
"Sorry, Topaz! But Lord Bismarck already paid me and my men a lot that even I couldn't refuse!" Greenhelm cackled.
"YOU TRAITOR! I trusted you!" Topaz roared as he opened fire with the Akatsuki's dual wrist-mounted arbalests.
As Topaz's Akatsuki let loose a volley of purple-energy missiles at the Galahad and Greenhelm's Knighmare, both of them circled around Umi, Topaz, and Caldina before they charged at them with their close combat weapons drawn. Even though Caldina and Umi were already holding up against Greenhelm's and Bismarck's advances, Topaz became blinded by rage over the betrayal with one of his own men. The moment Caldina and Umi held their swords and retractable blades against the two enemy Knightmares' weapons, Topaz started unleashing another volley of spear-like harkens from both of the Akatsuki's shoulder plates, striking the Galahad and the renegade Akatuski in the legs before flying upwards above the clouds.
"TOPAZ, wait!" Umi called out to the furious Cephirian Commander.
Not listening to Umi's pleas, Topaz swung his knightmare in a furious 360 degree angle, making Bismarck and Greenhelm dizzy in the process. While seeing both the Britannian Knight and the traitorous Cephirian in disarray, Topaz was about to lunge at Bismarck only to be met with an impale in the back by an sneaky Perceival. At the same time inside his cockpit, Topaz's blood started spewing out from his mouth which splattered all over the controls in front of him.
"NO! TOPAZ!" Umi and Zazu shrieked in horror upon seeing Topaz's Knightmare having a drilling lance come out from its chest. For Caldina, her eyes and mouth widened with horror upon seeing one of her allied Cephirians get impaled by a Britannian Knight before her.
"M-Magic Knights, please protect my f-family!" Topaz stuttered as he coughed up blood before he collapsed on top of the controls inside his own Knightmare.
As soon as Topaz's knightmare goes limp, dropping its halberd in the process, the Perceival pulled out his drilling lance and slams a kick into its back, making the wrecked knightmare plummet into the ground before exploding in a big fireball of wreckage.
"Oh BOO HOO! That foolish Cephirian has already gained a life that's worth losing!" Bradley's voice spoke from inside the Perceival. "Tell me, Magic Knight, who do you value the most in your own pitiful life?! Your friends?! Your family?! Too bad they won't see your dead body here!"
"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!" Umi roared as she pointed her rapier at the Perceival, lighting up her blade in a glowing, blue hue.
"Good luck! Valkyrie Squadron, finish them off!"
"And Greenhelm, take care of the Chizetian forces!" Bismarck ordered his spy.
"Yes, my lord!"
"Greenhelm!" Umi muttered in anger, noticing that the traitorous Cephirian is going after Tarta and Tatra. As much as Umi wanted to make Greenhelm pay for his immediate crimes, she still has another group of enemy warriors to deal with much to her distraction.
Upon hearing his commander, four enemy Vincent Commander Models came out from behind the Perceival and drew out their MVS's. The Galahad and the Perceival retreated, feeling confident that the Knight of Water and her two remaining friends won't get past Bradley's squadron. As for Greenhelm, he rallied the rest of his men to engage the Bravada of Chizeta and its defenders.
In response to their oncoming advances, Zazu's Mecha opened fire once again with its barrage of missiles while Caldina charged at one of the Valkyrie warriors head on with her Dancing Siren. While the Valkyries evaded Zazu's missiles, Caldina became the first to strike at them with all her might. While in mid-air, Caldina's Knightmare leaned back as she aimed both of its feet at one of the Vincents, belonging to Liliana. Barely seeing it coming, one Valkyrie was met with two simultaneous kicks in the face making the female Britannian pilot get shoved away from the Knight of Water. For the other three Valkyries, they gang up on Selece Windam and the RTO with their MVS's at the ready.
"OCEAN WYVERN!" Umi shoted as she launched her spell at two Valkyries. Umi's spell flew towards the Valkyries like missiles closing into their targets. One Valkyrie managed to slice one spell with the Vincent's MVS while the other shot out a Needle blazer, making the other spell disappear into a harmless splash.
Not wanting to hold back, Umi charged at the second Valkyrie's Vincent and let loose several sword, rapier strikes at it with all her might. In retaliation, the engaged Valkyrie commandeered by Marika held her guard up with her MVS before lunging at Selece several times.
"Pretty fast, aren't ya! Well, I hope you could keep up Eleven scum!" Marika's smirked as her voice spoke ominously inside her Vincent.
Pressing her engagement with the other Valkyrie, Caldina drew out the Siren's retractable talon from her left hand and thrust it straight into the Valkyrie's Vincent in the chest only to be met with a Core Luminous bubble shield, blocking Caldina's attack. When the first Valkyrie flew backwards, it hurled a MV spear at the Dancing siren before Caldina kicked it away from her face. Getting back into the fight, Liliana made the first charge at Caldina's Knightmare posing her MVS straight at its face. The Dancing Siren leaned back its head, dodging the oncoming blade by a mere inch of its face before drawing out the other retractable talon from its right hand. Now wielding dual retractable talons, Caldina jab both of them straight towards Liliana with full fury when the Valkyrie swung its MVS in a 180 degree angle from its right, parrying the Chizetian's attack up front. Caldina isn't done yet as her Knightmare landed a side kick to the Vincent's lower abdomen.
"UGH!" Liliana grunted, feeling herself get shoved away from Caldina again. "What the hell is she?"
For the other two Valkyrie Vincent's they lunged at Zazu's RTO as they opened fire with their Assault Rifles. In return fire, Zazu let loose the RTO's machine guns from its right hand, with its laser sword drawn from its left hand.
"Hikaru, Fuu. Topaz's is dead! We're getting hammered and those traitors are going after the Chizetians! We need backup fast!" Zazu shouted from his communication channel.
"What about the regiments with you? Where are they?" Hikaru's voiced responded from the channel.
"Two of our regiments were forced to retreat and about one regiment turned on us!"
"Hang on, Zazu. We're on our way!"
On the other side, the Dome of Fahren made its way towards the Castle along with Hikaru, Fuu, and the sole surviving sentry who is now piloting a Centurion Gareth. As they got closer, the Magic Knights spotted that the Bravada is under heavy attack by Greenhelm's forces. In the ensuing battle, Greenhelm's Akatsuki started shooting a barrage of missiles in hopes of turning the Chizetian Flying Fortress into rubble.
Tarta and Tatra were both trying to raise their hands up in keeping their shield in tact. However, the Perceival started drilling his lance into the shield barrier for a few minutes. To make matters worse, all three enemy Knightmares were constantly hammering down onto the Bravada with their melee weapons without breaking a sweat, along with an endless barrage of arbalest fire coming from Greenhelm's renegade regiment. Suddenly, the two Chizetian Princesses were quickly losing their stamina after feeling the strength of all three machines slowly piercing their barrier. What's worse is that, if they collapse, Tarta and Tatra wouldn't have any more strength to summon their Guardian Spirits and will therefore fall under the mercy of the Britannian Knights of the Round.
"UGH!" Tarta grunted in frustration. "There's too many of them. We can't hold them!"
"We can't give up, not on Umi or any of her friends!" Tatra protested while struggling to raise her hand to help her younger sister maintain the barrier.
After trying to help her elder sister keep the shield barrier intact, Tarta eventually sees the Perceival's drilling lance slowly pierce the barrier, realizing that her doom is awaiting her.
"Tatra, if we don't make it, then I'm proud to be with you as my sister."
"It's an honor being with you too, Tarta! I'm sorry for everything!"
Eventually, the two princesses collapsed on the ground out of exhaustion as the shield barrier faded away. The moment they see Bravada's defenses go down, Greenhelm's Akatsuki and the Perceival charged straight towards the ship's command bridge. Crashing through the huge windows leading to the bridge at first hand, Greenhelm's Akatsuki smashed its halberd on the surface, sending out most of the Chizetian guards flying as they failed to stop the invaders from reaching the princesses.
While struggling to stay conscious, Tarta slowly looks up to see the renegade Akatsuki approach her and reaching out with its hand to crush the downed Chizetian. Next to Tarta, she sees her elder sister Tatra out cold realizing that all of Chizeta is going to fall before the might of the Britannian Empire.
"Mother! Father! Sister! Umi!"
"Men, we have secured the Bravada of Chizeta. Now let's..." Greenhelm voice spoke from inside the Akatsuki before being interrupted by a panicked soldier in his regiment.
"Sir! Fahrenian forces are onto us. Lady Hikaru and Lady Fuu are leading them against us!"
"Dammit! I'll come back for these two later!"
The moment Greenhelm exited out of the command bridge, he was immediately rammed by a charging Rayearth as he felt his Knightmare get grabbed in the waist by the Rune God's two hands. Before long, Greenhelm was lifted up and slammed down hard top of Chizeta's ship. But he shoved Rayearth off of him with both of the Knightmare's legs before back flipping away from the angry Magic Knight of Fire.
"You are so going to regret this!" Hikaru's voice snarled from inside Rayearth Alpha as she drew out her Escudo Broadsword.
"Sorry it had to be this way, Lady Hikaru! But I'm feeling a bit jealous over your so-called honor!" Greenhelm sneered as he drew out the Akatsuki's MV Halberd.
Behind Hikaru, Windam Delta let loose a Griffon Vortex upon the traitorous Cephirian Regiment. At the same time, Ascot's Monolith let loose a massive barrage of Liquid Sakuradite missiles at the same renegades. Thanks to Fuu's vortex spell and the Monolith's weapons, they both decimated half of the renegades in one go as they were left running for their lives. Upon seeing that from his Akatsuki cockpit, Greenhelm felt shock that the odds are going to be against him since one of the Magic Knights is getting stronger. But he is still trying to stay confident in aiding the Britannian Empire when Greenhelm sees the Perceival engaging Windam. Now turning his attention towards Rayearth, Greenhelm aimed his halberd at the red Rune God before making his first strike against Lady Hikaru.
In his first move, Greenhelm thrusted his halberd at Rayearth when Hikaru made several side steps, dodging the tip of the spear by inches away from the Rune God's abdomen. Responding to Greenhelm's attack, Rayearth grabbed the halberd and swung her sword at his Akatsuki's face, only to dodge it by a inch of its nose before the Rune God rammed him, knocking the Knightmare off-balance took the halberd away from him. Before Greenhelm had a chance to shot at Rayearth with his Arbalest, Hikaru hurled his halberd straight at the Knightmare in the chest, making Greenhelm collapsed onto his knees gravely wounded.
Feeling the full brunt of his halberd piercing his stomach, Greenhelm coughed up blood barely looking up at Rayearth before meeting his end on the battlefield.
"There is no honor amongst traitors! You just shamelessly killed your own brothers, so now you have to pay the price!" Hikaru hissed as she made a clean cut with her sword, slicing Greenhelm's Knightmare in two. As soon as the defeated Knightmare gets dissected, it immediately disappeared as it exploded on top of the Bravada, leaving behind some of its fiery remains all over the ships.
After defeating one of the traitors, Hikaru turns towards the Perceival as he still is lurching several more drilling lance strikes at Windam only to be held back by Fuu's sword. In one strike, the Perceival finally nicked Fuu in Windam's legs as she screamed in pain before opening fire with her Eagle Longbow. Launching one arrow at the Perceival, Fuu aimed straight at the enemy knightmare in the face only for Bradley to back away in evasion. With rapid succession, Fuu shot out more arrows in a quick rate that barely gave Bradley enough time to charge at Windam again. Just before Bradley managed to fire back at Windam, he was immediately met with a swift gash across the exterior of the the Perceival's tungsten chest by an enraged Hikaru wielding her Escudo sword aggressively.
Barely evading such an attack, the Perceival only sustained a huge, diagonal cut that is exposing the cockpit the Bradley is in. In experiencing the aftershock, Bradley felt stunned realzing that the Knights of Wind and Fire aren't that much of a pushover.
"Nice try, Eleven! But I'm afraid I have other plans!" Bradley spoke in a shaking tone.
In another move, the Perceival used its shield to fire a barrage of missiles at Rayearth. Not holding back anything, Rayearth flew backwards and upwards to evade the missiles before calling upon a "Flame Arrow" spell aiming towards the Perceival. The moment the Perceival attempted to thrust his drilling lance at the fiery spell, it made contact with the spinning weapon only to get caught on fire and exploded on the Knightmare's face, leaving behind a billowing, red cloud of smoke. In Hikaru's surprice, the Perceival charged through the smoke head first with its missle shield before shooting her down at point-blank range. However, Hikaru made a split-second response by holding up against the missle shield while activating her electrical barrier from her shield up close and person. With every missile struck at it, Hikaru's shield barrier conducted an electrical jolt that struck the Perceival in its limbs and shoulder blades, turning the Knightmare into an shocking wreck.
"ARRRGGGGHHH!" Bradley screamed as he felt his body get zapped when one of the jolts entered his cockpit through the gapping hole in the Perceival's torso. Realizing that his reckless move backfired, the Vampire of Britannia backed away while feeling the electrical current slowly damaging his knightmare from within, dropping his missile shield in the process. For Hikaru, she saw the opportunity to finish off the Knight of the Round immediately.
"Bad move, Britannian!" Hikaru grinned as she raised her sword up high, powering it up to the fullest. However, the moment Hikaru unleashed a wave of magic at the Perceival, it was intercepted by the Galahad as he blocked and absorbed its power with its two-handed MVS.
"Time to fall back, Bradley. I'll take care of this hellcat!" Bismarck's voice bellowed orders to the Knight of Ten.
Without saying a word, the Perceival flew away while its float system still remained intact despite suffering such horrendous damage from Rayearth.
"You're even better than what Suzaku thought. Maybe perhaps you'd join us too as a Knight of the Round, if you give up your loyalty to the New World that is." Bismarck cackled.
"No chance, Bismarck! I already came a long way to earn my admiration amongst the people of Cephiro." Hikaru shouted in denial as she held her sword up high above her shield, pointing it at the Galahad. "Now move aside or prepare to meet your fate!"
"Like hell you would! I happened to be the strongest of the Knights of the Round in all of the Holy Britannian Empire. So, your little fiery spells won't scare me, Lady Hikaru!"
The moment Bradley disappeared into Marrybell's Dreadnought, the Galahad charged forward at Rayearth Alpha with full, frontal fury. In his first move, the Galahad swiped its sword in a horizontal arc, letting lose all of the energy that he absorbed straight at the red rune god. For Hikaru, she almost was caught off guard when the Knight of One was using her power against her. Nevertheless, Hikaru still kept pushing herself forward in order to save the Chizetian Princesses from getting captured by the Britannians.
In retaliation, Hikaru flew upwards, dodging Bismarck's attack and then lunged at Galahad clashing blades with her Escudo sword against the Knightmare's massive MVS. Upon impact, the Galahad held his sword up straight as he protected his face against Rayearth's powered sword strike. Bismarck relentlessly steered Hikaru's blade away from him before swining his sword straight at Rayearth's side only to get blocked by his red shield. Nevertheless, Bismarck attempted to batter down Hikaru with several more heavy sword strikes, though the fire Knight still held her ground while parrying against Bismarck's might as she backed away. For Fuu, after seeing Bradley retreat from the battlefield, she aimed her Eagle Longbow at the Galahad hoping to make a critical shot while the Knight of One is distracted.
However, the moment Fuu fired a shot at the Galahad, Bismarck grinned as he disengaged his fight with Hikaru and Rayearth and chopped down the arrow in two with his sword.
"Do you really think you're going to distract me that easily, Hikaru?" Bismarck smirked as his eye lit up, revealing his geass. "I always read your every more with my own Geass."
The moment his Geass activated, he sees a projection of Hikaru charging at him with her powered-up sword held with both of her hands. In counterattack, the Galahad raised his sword high above its head and slammed it straight down on top of Rayearth, hitting the Escudo sword with such overwhelming strength followed by a loud, metallic clang out of the two blades.
Hikaru grunted while being pressurized against the brute force of Bismarck's Knightmare. However, the Flame Knight is determined to finish off the Knight of One by all means necessary.
I thought Zero was the only one with Geass. I didn't expect that there be more Geass users. Hikaru thought while backing away from the Galahad.
"What's wrong, Hikaru? You can't handle how I see your moves with my Geass?" Bismarck taunted.
"Geass or not, there is always the first time for everything!" Hikaru hissed as she raised her sword with both of her hands above her head. In another decent move, Hikaru swung her sword right across Galahad's right shoulder pad only to make another block while holding its huge MVS with both of his hands.
The Galahad swung its MVS in another circular parry before thrusting the blade straight into Rayearth by his gut. Upon impact, Hikaru raised her shield once again only to get shoved backwards a few feet away from the Galahad.
GOD! He's almost on the same level to that of Captain Lafarga! Hikaru imagined, remembering of how she fought with Lafarga during the time he was still under Zagato's spell years ago. In her mind, Hikaru is bearing witness to the strength of both Galahad and the Knight of One himself.
"Ms. Hikaru, I'm coming in!" Fuu shouted as she and Windam Delta charged at the Galahad, with her two-handed sword at the ready.
Up front, Fuu swung her sword right across Galahad's face but not before the hulking Knightmare shoved her away with a hard thrust kick unable to for Fuu to make a clean cut at her target. While still holding up her sword, Fuu only sees herself get hammered by the Galahad knocking her sword out of her grip. In his next trick Bismarck fired a barrage of Slash Harkens at Windam Delta.
"WINGS OF PROTECTION!" Fuu shouted as she called out to her wind magic.
As the wind barrier surrounded the green Rune God, the harkens bounce off while Fuu continued to aim her Eagle Longbow at the Galahad.
"We could do this all day long and none of you will be able to save this pathetic country from us." Bismarck smirked. "The last time I used my Geass was when I once dueled with Lady Marianne! There's no holding back."
"Well, I do wonder how long you can keep up with us then? Let's find out shall we?!" Hikaru said as she appeared next to Windam before powering up her sword in a white, energizing flame once again.
At the same time, the Galahad powered up his huge MVS in a bright-red hue of electrical sakuradite energy.
"BE MY GUEST!" Bismarck shouted in overconfidence as he makes his stand with his Galahad.
Hikaru became the first to make a full-scale charge with her sword. The moment the Galahad held his sword up high to upper right, Rayearth made a mad dash before both the Rune God and Galahad whacked their swords at each other in their abdomens simultaneously. But before Bismarck could turn around, his Knightmare was cut down by the waist, making the lower half explode.
"UAGH!" Bismarck grunted in horror as the cockpit he's in started blaring in red, flashing lights. "CURSE YOU!"
As soon as Hikaru turned around, she sees that the half-cut Galahad started plummeting down into the forest in a smoking wreck, realizing that she defeated the Knight of the One without giving up.
"I pity you, Bismarck. But as much as I wanted to finish you off, I still can't waste any time here. I have a country to retake!" Hikaru muttered before giving Fuu the signal to move on. "We'll finish our fight later."
When Hikaru turned towards Windam and nodded, both she and Fuu steered their Rune Gods towards the Castle, while escorting the Bravada onwards.
While fighting against the Bradley's Valkyrie team, Zazu's mecha is getting outgunned as the two britannian hellcats piloting the Vincents started ganging up on him. However, it wasn't before Umi/Selece made a powerful, lunging spearhead with her rapier aiming straight at one Valkyrie's Vincent that's closing into the RTO. In an instant, Umi's sword punched through the enemy Vincent in the right side of the humpback cockpit in high velocity. The Valkyrie warrior never saw it coming before her knightmare blew up in oblivion, disintegrating the pilot in the process.
Now with three Valkyries left to deal with, Caldina's Dancing Siren fired two dagger-like harkens at the nearest Vincent which was Liliana's. Just when Liliana evaded the Siren's harkens, Caldina smirked as if she was trying to anticipate the Valkyrie's flight pattern. The Dancing Siren flew towards Liliana's Vincent and did a very powerful side kick to the Knightmare's torso. Upon impact, Liliana started coughing up blood as she struggled to stay conscious. In the finishing blow, Caldina's Knightmare reached out towards the Valkyrie's Vincent with both of its bladed arms in a horizontal, X-like scissor stance and decapitated the Vincent's head before she stabbed the Knightmare simultaneously.
"NOOOOOO! LORD BRADLEY!" Liliana screeched before meeting her doom.
The moment Caldina's Knightmare withdrew her talons from the defeated Vincent, the Knightmare blew up in flames, transforming into a burning wreck before plummeting straight into the forest below.
"Two down, two more to go!" Caldina cheered in triumph.
"This is not good!" Marika gasped in horror as she sees two of her comrades go down in flames.
"My lady. What do we do?" The surviving Valkyrie warrior asked in a panic while her Vincent hovered next to Marika's Knightmare.
"We need to contact Lady Marrybell that we can't hold our ground much longer."
"What about the Knights of the Round? Are they still here with us?"
"Lady Marika! The Knight of Ten has retreated to the Dreadnought and The Knight of One is MIA!" A voice erupted from Marika's communication channel. "Lord Bradley has given the order to fall back!"
"Understood. Deploying Chaffsmoke!" Marika acknowledged as her Vincent shot out a smoke grenade from its tungsten torso.
Marika and the remaining Valkyrie warrior disappeared into the huge cloud of smoke and vanished, disengaging their fight with Umi, Caldina, and Zazu.
"It seems that Hikaru managed to get past the Knights of the Round for now!" Caldina said confidently. "Come on, Umi. We have to save the rest of our friends!"