The Journey of the Unholy Trinity (English Version)

by Arremi

Six months have passed since the Zero Requiem, and the young Empress Nunnally has been presented with the opportunity to see the truth about the path her brother traveled, but the truth will show more than the story of Lelouch vi Britannia, since the life of the Demon Emperor has always been attached to the lives of the White Reaper and the Immortal Witch. (Watch the show fic)

3. The White Knight Awakens

Chapter 2: The White Knight Awakens

Lelouch's monologue along with his mischievous smile was a spectacle that would undoubtedly remain etched within the memory of every member of the audience. Some thought it showed the beginning of the story of a tyrant, some thought it was the fall of a good person, some thought it was the beginning of a hero, but among all those thoughts there were some who could only wish they had never heard Lelouch's thoughts.

"A lie..." laments Milly in a low voice. "Was it really all just a lie to you, Lelouch? Our friendship, the smiles and laughter we shared, the moments we remembered, was it really all just a lie to you?" tears welled up in Milly's eyes, the thought of who she considered a friend and who she had been secretly in love with, thinking of the time they shared as a lie hurt, hurt more than she wanted to admit.

Rivalz is not feeling much better, he remembered that Lelouch had told him that he did not get along with his father, at that moment he felt a bond between them. Rivalz himself also had his own issues with his father, even the surname Cardemonde was his mother's maiden name, not his father's. He thought they had become best friends, obviously he had noticed that things had changed, especially when Suzaku arrived, but, still, he thought their friendship was something real, he didn't want to think it was just a lie.

"Brother, I really didn't know you..." thinks Nunnally depressed as she listens to Lelouch's words. "I thought you were happy like me, I thought we could forget everything about our past and live a common existence... Sorry brother, sorry for never noticing that you were not happy like I was."

Zero notices the state of the room and clears his throat to get everyone's attention. "I know that many want to take some time to think about what they have just seen, but the time we have is limited, at lunchtime we can discuss what we have seen, but for now I think we should start the next episode."

"Zero is right," says Nunnally trying to ignore her own thoughts. "If it's okay with all of you, let's continue," the other people in the room nod in agreement with Zero and Nunnally's words, so Nunnally starts the second chapter.

At the beginning of the episode, we hear again the narration of C.C. about the events that took place during the conquest of Japan.

Ohgi, noticing that C.C.'s narration is the same as the one she gave in the first episode, asks, "Is this going to appear at the beginning of every episode? I would really prefer not to have to hear about the loss of Japan every time we start an episode."

"Yes, can't we skip it?" asks Chiba.

Nunnally seeing that the Japanese don't want to see the summary of Japan's previous situation again agrees with them. "I don't think there would be a problem if we omitted it, but what if something comes up differently? I think we should look at it, just in case."

The others nod as they are satisfied with the compromise.

The name of the second episode appears on the screen: "The White Knight Awakens".

"The Lancelot!" Lloyd shouts happily. "We finally get to see my dear Lancelot."

"Our Lancelot!" corrects Cécile, grabbing Lloyd by the ear.

"Yes, that's what I meant, our Lancelot," agrees Lloyd nervously.

Tamaki is confused by Lloyd's enthusiasm. "Finally? But it's only been one episode."

"Only one episode?!" Lloyd escapes from Cécile's grip while looking at Tamaki. "Your brain is too tiny to appreciate the Lancelot; one episode is already too long to wait."

"What did you say!" Tamaki gets up to go to Lloyd, but is stopped by Ohgi before he can do so.

Ohgi sighs. "Let it go, Tamaki."

The aforementioned man lets out a grunt, but finally returns to his seat, although he continues to glare angrily at the scientist.

The corpses of the innocents can be seen, while Lelouch in front of C.C.'s body begins to monologue. "Tell me, what do you want me to do? Why did you give me this strange power?"

"I guess the Geass they were talking about was that power," Milly commented.

"Right," Tohdoh replies as he turns to Milly. "The Geass was Lelouch's ability, the power to make a person follow your orders no matter what they are, even if that order is to end your own life or betray your principles."

"How can such a power exist?" Rivalz can't imagine that such a thing really exists. "It looks like something out of a show or a movie."

"We don't know," Xingke answers honestly. "The origin of the Geass is completely unknown to us."

"It is certainly one of the topics we should discuss," says Tohdoh.

C.C., even though she is presumed dead, does not react to Lelouch's questions. Suddenly the ground begins to shake, this surprises Lelouch, but before he can react there is an explosion from the exit of the place where he was, after the explosion enters a knightmare, it is shown that the pilot of the Knightmare is Villetta.

Villetta tenses up, she is absolutely sure that this was the moment when Lelouch used his Geass on her.

Villetta makes a reconnaissance of the area, surprised by all the corpses of her army buddies and the student in their midst. "What are all the Royal Guards doing...? Villetta presses a button on her knightmare to try to communicate with Lelouch. "What happened? What's a student from Britannia doing here? Answer me or..." Villetta immediately starts shooting around Lelouch as a warning, but Lelouch doesn't even blink at the shots.

Most of the audience was not as calm as Lelouch, those who had never been in battle were quite surprised by the suddenness of the gunfire. Some other people with military experience were better at hiding their reaction, the only ones who were not affected in the least were Zero, Schneizel, Tohdoh, Cornelia and Xingke.

"Damn it!" said Rivalz as he fell out of his seat in surprise.

"Impressive," says Xingke when he sees Lelouch undeterred. "Most soldiers wouldn't be half as calm in that situation."

"I'm not surprised," Schneizel commented. "Lelouch must have sensed from Miss Ohgi's words that she wasn't planning to hurt him until she received answers."

"Even so, it's to be applauded," Kaguya says with a smile. "Even if he knew that he really wasn't in danger, the sound of the gunshots should have provoked a reaction, even if it was just a reflex."

Lelouch simply looks at Villetta and tries to use his Geass on her. "Get out of there. Now!"

Ohgi grips his wife's hand tightly as he glares angrily at Lelouch.

For some reason Villetta doesn't react to the Geass, and is simply annoyed by Lelouch's attitude. "Who do you think you are?"

Rivalz looks at the screen in confusion. "The Geass didn't work?"

"Maybe there was something that prevented it," Milly says, biting her lip. "It seems that Lelouch's Geass is activated in his eye, it may require eye contact to use it."

"That's the most likely answer," says Nina to Milly's theory. "Although that just leaves more questions. Is there a limit to the distance? Can the lenses negate it? Can Geass manifest in other parts of the body?"

"I guess we can just keep watching and wait for our questions to be answered," says Cornelia, still wondering exactly how the Geass works.

Lelouch seeing that his Geass doesn't seem to work simply deactivates it and thinks to himself. "I understand. It only works with direct eye contact," Lelouch immediately turns to Villetta. "My name is Allen Spacer; my father is a duke."

Villetta reacts to being in front of a possible nobleman. "A Duke?"

"I have my ID in my breast pocket. Once you confirm my identity I will ask you for protection." Lelouch says calmly. Lelouch's words make Villetta come out of her knightmare.

"Does Allen Spacer really exist?" Tianzi asks the Britannian members of the audience.

"He does exist," Jeremiah replied. "Although he was from a very small family, they really didn't have much of a presence in Britannia."

"That Lelouch knows of its existence is not really unlikely," says Zero. "He was certainly doing research on his enemies even before he got his Geass."

Villetta, while walking towards Lelouch, gives him instructions. "Keep your hands up. I'll take your ID." But before she could get any closer to Lelouch, Lelouch activates his Geass.

"Now, give me your knightmare."

Villetta is shown receiving the Geass, showing as if something in her mind was manipulated, which causes her to hand her key to Lelouch. "Understood. The code number is XG2-1G2D4."

"I can't believe I fell for that," says Villetta, embarrassed at how easily she was fooled by her desire to be noble.

"It's all right, dear," Ohgi tries to comfort his wife. "We all make mistakes; I doubt anyone could have imagined that a teenager would have the power to control people."

"Your husband is right, Miss Ohgi," Cornelia seconds calmly, though she then puts on a serious expression. "Though that doesn't take away that you did make mistakes, after all even if Lelouch had been a true noble, you should have communicated with your superiors for orders, not to mention that you should never leave your knightmare in the middle of a battle, no matter the situation."

"Yes, ma'am!" Villetta confirms almost by reflex.

Rakshata for her part ignores the whole issue of Villetta's mistakes and concentrates on how Lelouch's Geass works. "Interesting, it seems that the Geass works by modifying or altering a part of the human mind. I thought it would put the person into a type of hypnosis, but it seems that rather than influencing someone it directly controls them."

Chiba listening to Rakshata's words also begins to wonder how Geass works "How exactly will it work? I don't see how it's really possible to control someone just by looking into their eyes."

Gino nods. "Same thing. I really can't imagine it."

"It's certainly a mystery," agrees Rakshata.

Lelouch smiles as he finally found a powerful weapon and a way out of that place. "Very good."

The scene changes to Villetta coming out of her trance, now being completely alone in that place. "I... What did I do?"

"I'm surprised, Lelouch was quite lenient on this occasion," says Gino when he sees that Lelouch simply used his Geass to get a knightmare.

"What's so indulgent about controlling my wife!" Ohgi voiced his annoyance at Gino's comment.

Gino putting his hands in front to defend himself starts to explain. "I'm not saying that using the Geass was good, but in that case Lelouch really didn't have many more options, besides just asking her for her knightmare was lenient, at that moment Lelouch simply saw Villetta as an enemy soldier, remember that with his power he could have easily made her end her own life or become his slave."

"But..." Ohgi realizes he can't say anything, since Gino is right. If Lelouch had wished, he could have made Villetta commit suicide or become a puppet. "I guess you're right, but I still won't forgive him for doing it."

"I'm not saying you have to, you have every right to be angry, but in this case it's hard to blame Lelouch for using it."

The scene changes unexpectedly to show Lloyd. "Are you having a bad day?" Lloyd's words seem to wake up Suzaku, who is shown lying with bandages on his chest. "It looks like you missed your chance to go to heaven, Private Kururugi."

"Did I... where... where...?" asks a confused Suzaku as he doesn't recognize the place where he is.

"Hmm? Ah, we're still in the Shinjuku ghetto," says Lloyd as they are shown to be in a medical care vehicle in the ghetto near Prince Clovis' personal vehicle.

"How did they find him?" Guilford asks. "I doubt Prince Clovis' army would go looking for soldiers lost in battle."

Jeremiah having served for some time for the Prince responds, "Most likely some other private got to where Private Kururugi was shot while looking for the gas, Clovis' guard surely hid what happened, and they simply believed that Suzaku was wounded by some terrorist."

"With Prince Clovis nearby, this is probably the safest place to be," explains Cécile.

"Well, it didn't end up being the safest place," Lloyd laughs humorously. "After all, Prince Clovis himself didn't survive."

"Lloyd!" a mortified Cécile scolds. "You can't say that, we are in front of Her Majesty and her brothers."

"But it's the truth," Lloyd replies shamelessly. "Prince Clovis ended up being killed, ironically at the time we were in a more dangerous place than we could have imagined."

"Mr. Asplund!" Guilford stood up, annoyed by the way the scientist referred to Clovis' death. "I will ask you to be silent and apologize, your words are an insult to the royal family."

Cornelia simply puts her hand on her Knight's shoulder to try to calm him down. "It's alright Guilford, he is not wrong. Clovis died in that battle, it's not something I like to remember, but trying to deny the truth won't do," Cornelia as she finishes speaking to her knight looks at Lloyd. "Although I would appreciate it if you would say it in a more respectful tone."

Guilford at the words of his Princess simply nods and sits back down, but not before giving a warning glance at the scientist, who simply smiles without being affected in the least by his gaze or Cornelia's words.

"This protected you, Suzaku," Cécile comforts Suzaku while showing her the object that saved her life.

"This blocked the bullet from inside your protective suit," Lloyd seconds.

"Is it valuable?" asks Cécile.

Suzaku simply grabs the object. "Yes, very much so," it is shown that what protected Suzaku is a pocket watch.

"That watch..." Tohdoh can't help but react at the sight of the pocket watch.

"Do you recognize it, General?" asked Chiba.

Kaguya, also recognizing the pocket watch, answers before Tohdoh can do so. "That watch belonged to my uncle, Suzaku's father."

"Then it belonged to my predecessor," Ohgi looks at the watch with interest. "It seems that even after his death he protected his son."

Zero looking back at the begins to think about his father. "Dad... would you be proud of what I am currently, or would you think I'm an embarrassment to our family? Ironic, even though I was the one who ended your life, your watch ended up saving mine. Some would say that means you don't blame me, that you still care for me even after death, but I can't help but think it's a sign of the hatred you must have felt for me, as you no doubt know that's what I really wanted at the time."

Lloyd approaches Suzaku and begins to speculate. "You Eleven believe that gods live in everything, even objects, don't you? I guess this one," before Lloyd can finish speaking, he is interrupted by Suzaku.

"It's Lelou..." but Suzaku, understanding that saying Lelouch's name would be a bad idea, quickly changes what he was going to say. "What is the situation?"

"It seems that the poison gas was released. They say there were many casualties among the Eleven," Lloyd explains.

"They still haven't found those responsible," Cécile assures.

Suzaku seems a little confused at the woman's words. "They haven't found them, huh? Not yet?"

Kallen gets angry at Lloyd's words. "Not only do they lie about what's really going on, but they end up blaming us for the deaths they caused."

"It's despicable," Tohdoh is also upset by the actions of the Britannians. "It may be a clever strategy to cast the resistance groups in a bad light, but still lying to their own countrymen about what's really going on shows how disgusting they are."

"As if you and the others have the right to say that," Jeremiah thinks in annoyance as he looks at the Black Knights.

"Private Kururugi," Lloyd snapped Suzaku out of his confusion. "How much experience do you have piloting a knightmare?"

"What?" says Suzaku in confusion. "There's no way for an eleven to become a knight."

"Says the one who will end up being called Knight of Zero." Laughs Kallen sourly. Deep down she resents him and feels jealous of the fact that Lelouch called Suzaku his knight, even though she knows she has no right to feel jealous about it.

"I don't understand," commented Tianzi confused. "Why would he call himself an Eleven? I would expect him to say he is Japanese."

"Because he was a traitor!" Chiba shouts in annoyance. "He abandoned his identity as a Japanese when he joined Britannia, maybe the last remaining noble part of him made him not call himself Japanese."

Zero hearing Chiba's words couldn't help but lower his head a little. "Could she be right? Was I really calling myself Eleven because deep down I didn't think I deserved to be called Japanese?".

"What if you could do it?" With a smile, Lloyd shows the Lancelot's activation key. Then the scene changes to show the Lancelot covered. "Congratulations! A unique knightmare is waiting for you! Hop in and everything will change. You and your world."

"Whether you like it or not," confirms Cécile.

"You know, there was no need to be so dramatic," Rakshata laughs at Cécile's words.

Cécile blushes with embarrassment. "Please don't make fun about it."

Several civilians appear trying to escape from the soldiers, but several of the innocents are mowed down by knightmares, suddenly a slash harken shoots out of the ground, it belongs to Kallen's knightmare, which starts attacking one of the Britannian soldiers.

"How horrible," Milly is sickened by the sight of innocent people being killed by soldiers. "As a reporter I've seen several of these tragedies, but seeing the unjustifiability of one really makes me want to vomit."

"I can't believe all this is happening just because of one woman," Nina commented. "Is the Geass really worth all those deaths?"

Rakshata laughs as she smokes. "It is a power that allows you to control a person completely, for many such a power would be worth more than the lives of millions of people."

"Daman Britannians! How dare they?!" Kallen's words were spoken as she tried not to weep at the carnage she witnessed.

Ohgi contacts Kallen over the radio. "Kallen! The Glaswegian still can't move?"

"Don't worry Ohgi, it's all right. I'll act as a decoy. Get the people out of here! The only ones to be captured are us, members of the resistance," Kallen said to Ohgi, who was standing next to one of his comrades, who was launching a missile at the Britannians.

"I know, but we are trapped, they have us completely surrounded."

The camera switches to Ashford Academy, where the female members of the swim team are having fun, unaware that a battle is taking place nearby. Shirley was among the group, getting ready and putting on her swimsuit.

"It's strangely disturbing how different the scenes are, one moment we're watching innocent people being mowed down and the next a bunch of students having fun at their school," says Ohgi, rubbing his arm.

"It really shows how different life was for the young Britannians and us," Tohdoh reflects.

Tamaki meanwhile completely ignored Ohgi and Tohdoh's words, mostly concentrating on the scantily clad girls on the screen. "How old are they?"

"Shirley and the others were 17 at the time," Milly replies without taking her eyes off the screen.

"Damn," Tamaki mumbles under his breath as he averts his gaze, even if he found them attractive, he wouldn't dare look lustfully at underage girls.

Shirley's phone starts ringing, to which she quickly answers when she sees who the call was from. "Lulu? What are you doing?" as Shirley's voice was heard, the camera changed to show the knightmare that Lelouch was riding, to quickly return to the room where Shirley herself was. "Where are you now? If you keep missing classes they'll make you repeat a year."

"Are you near a television?" asks Lelouch, ignoring Shirley's questions.

"A television?"

"I'm sorry, it's important."

"Wait," Shirley begins to speak to her classmates. "Excuse me, can I change the channel?"

"Which one," asks one of her classmates.

Lelouch realizing that he didn't tell Shirley which channel to switch to quickly gives her the answer. "The news, are they saying anything about Shinjuku?"

"The news? Let's see..." while Shirley is looking for the news channel, Lelouch was using the knightmare with ease.

"How did Lelouch know how to handle a knightmare?" asks Xingke. "I don't see how he could have had a chance to ride one before, and I don't think even he would be able to learn to ride one without any prior training."

"Before Suzaku arrived, it was Lelouch who was in charge of using a knightmare for school festivals," Milly replies with a smile as she recalls her time as a student.

"You use a knightmare in a school festival?" says Chiba confused.

"Of course, when necessary we used it, like when we tried to create the world's largest pizza." Milly is extremely happy. "I still remember all the different festivals we had, how could I forget the swimsuit day, the drag festival," Milly lets out a sigh. "So many good memories."

Most of the adults in the room upon hearing Milly's words couldn't help but look at her as if they saw a madwoman, the only people who didn't turn to look at Milly were other students and former Ashford students. Villetta, who simply shuddered at the memory of the outfits she had to wear during her time at Ashford. Ohgi, who as a former teacher, simply smiled at the idea of the students having a good time, and Lloyd, who simply had an expression of amusement at the various festivities.

Tianzi is excited to hear about the different festivals. "It sounds like a lot of fun; I wish I could go to one."

"I agree, it certainly looks like fun," Kaguya seconds, happy to see her friend so excited.

"Then you should come to the next festival we have," says Rivalz, leaning in close to them. "I'll make sure it's as good as possible. I'm sure Kallen would be happy for them to come too," Rivalz's words make Kallen nod with a smile.

"Yay!" shouts Tianzi happily and excitedly.

Shirley checks the channel and tells Lelouch what appears. "Nothing, except for something related to traffic restrictions."

"Why are there so many restrictions," asks Lelouch as he tries to hide from the other knightmares.

"No idea, they don't say anything in particular."

Lelouch listening to Shirley's answer begins to think. "I understand, once they are done with everything, they will publish a news item that favors the military," Lelouch suddenly seems to notice something.

"Oh, you gambled again, didn't you? I've warned you more than once how dangerous it is!" Shirley was complaining to Lelouch with annoyance, but Lelouch was more focused on the chess set he had found in the rubble.

"Did he really start watching a chess game in the middle of all that?" asks Tamaki with a raised eyebrow.

"My big brother always loved to play chess," Nunnally smiles as she remembers moments before her exile. "I remember he always wanted to play a game with our brothers."

"Yes, I remember," Schneizel seconds, also happy about those memories. "Whenever I went to visit them he always asked me to play a game, he was always the best opponent I had."

"I remember it too, Clovis was always asking for a rematch no matter how many times he lost, and Euphy often had to drag him away from the board for a moment," Cornelia remembered those happier days with longing. "They really were the best years of my life."

The three royal brothers could not help but space out in their own world as they remembered those moments, where everything seemed so much simpler, and none of them had lost any of their loved ones. The other members of the audience were simply silent for a moment as they watched the state of the brothers, none of them daring to interrupt this moment between them.

"Yes, I know," Lelouch says quickly. "By the way, tell my sister I'll be home late today. Goodbye," with that goodbye Lelouch hangs up on Shirley without letting her speak.

Shirley, seeing that Lelouch has just hung up on her, gets annoyed. "Oh, why does he always hang up on me like that?" Shirley tries to call Lelouch back, but is warned that the number she dialed is out of range. "Oh come on, not again."

"Oh, Shirley," sighs Milly as she sees her dear friend upset by Lelouch's actions. "You really were too kind."

The screen inside Lelouch's knightmare is displayed, which shows the entire area and the units of Britannia's army currently deployed.

"As long as they want to ocularize the information it will be difficult for them to call in reinforcements," Lelouch thinks as he analyzes the battle conditions. "So they will have to work with the pieces they have on the board. Even so, I'm surrounded, it will be hard to get through alone. Getting shelter also involves its risks," Lelouch finishes his thought by pulling his seat to the outside.

Kallen was still fighting, at the time she was destroying one of the army helicopters, a feat that Lelouch was able to witness from where he stood.

"I want retribution for dragging me into your battle."

"Dragged into our battle?! Tamaki shouted in annoyance. "It was his own fault for climbing the stairs to the vehicle."

"It wasn't really anyone's fault," says Tohdoh. "But I can somewhat understand Lelouch's feelings, from his point of view for trying to help someone, he was caught in a dangerous situation where he observed what he believed to be the death of his friend, I doubt he held you in very high regard at the time."

Kallen just bites her lip as she listens to Tohdoh, a little annoyed by his words.

Several army knightmares begin to arrive at Kallen's location, one of them being used by Jeremiah.

"It's our friend, the Glaswegian." Jeremiah says sarcastically. Jeremiah starts shooting at Kallen, causing her to try to escape.

The Glasgow starts ringing from running low on energy, causing Kallen to worry. "There are only 30 minutes left!"

Out of nowhere comes Lelouch's voice from Glasgow's communicator. "The west entrance!"

"What!" says Kallen confused when she hears the unfamiliar voice.

"Use the train tracks to get to the west entrance!"

Kallen listening to Lelouch begins to demand information from him. "Who is this? How do you know this code?"

"It doesn't matter who I am!" Lelouch declares, ignoring Kallen's questions. "If you want to win, you must trust me."

"Win?" Kallen says as if the word was beyond her understanding, but immediately follows Lelouch's instructions.

Chiba looks at Kallen skeptically. "You really listen to him? You didn't know who he was."

"I know," Kallen says seriously. "It's true that I had never heard his voice before, but I had no better choice at that moment."

"What would you have done if it had been a trap?"

Ohgi quickly steps in to defend Kallen. "We were at a complete disadvantage at that point, Britannia wouldn't need to make a trap to defeat us."

While Kallen was using the tracks to move, she starts asking Lelouch for directions. "Hey, what do I do now!" Behind her were two enemy knightmares, one of them being piloted by Jeremiah.

"Pathetic Eleven... What's the hunt if they run away?"

Chiba grits her teeth at Jeremiah's words, she wants to yell at him for daring to insult the Japanese, but she knows it would be a futile effort, the former military man has already made it clear that he has changed his mind.

A train is passing along the tracks, the sound it makes makes Kallen become aware of it, while that happens Lelouch's voice is heard again.

"Since you trusted me, you'll win. Jump on the train!"

"Understood," says Kallen as she jumps on the train just in time. Jeremiah, not reacting fast enough, is forced to try to stop the train with his knightmare.

"Do you think you'll make it through there? Jeremiah asked, unimpressed, and then looked at the other soldier. "If that's your plan... Go for the Glasgow."

"Yes, sir!" but when the soldier tries to chase Kallen, he is destroyed.

"What?" Jeremiah says confused, only to notice that the knightmare who defeated his subordinate is one of the army, who starts shooting at him. "Friendly fire? What unit are you from? The enemy is the armed Glasgow. "Oh god, a terrorist!" the knightmare's shots destroy one of Jeremiah's knightmare's mobile legs, causing Jeremiah to drop to his knees and attempt to shoot.

Kallen, seeing that Jeremiah was about to shoot the person who had helped her, rushes towards him, to which Jeremiah, noticing that he is in a disadvantageous position, activates the ejection mechanism of his cockpit, which allows him to escape.

"Not bad for an Eleven, don't you think, Orange," said Tamaki mockingly. "For you to be so confident, you were so easily defeated with a simple tactic. Aren't you ashamed?"

Jeremiah is not offended at all by Tamaki's words. "I don't see why I should be ashamed, it was obvious that I would be defeated if I faced His Majesty's tactics, the only thing I am ashamed of is that even if I didn't know it at the time, I was an obstacle for him" Jeremiah stands up suddenly and shouts to the four winds. "Forgive me, Your Majesty!"

The room falls silent for a moment, the other members of the audience really not knowing how to react to Jeremiah's enthusiasm, with the exception of two people.

"Go, Jerry," says Anya without a hint of emotion as she gives several small claps along with Sayoko.

"Let's just get on with the recordings," says Cornelia, clutching her forehead in exasperation.

Kallen, seeing that she was able to get rid of her pursuers, thanks Lelouch. "You saved me! But how did you get a Sutherland?" Kallen notices that her savior is no longer present. "What? Where did he...?"

Four members of the resistance unexpectedly arrive, including Ohgi and Tamaki, but also Naomi Inoue and Yoshitaka Minami.

"Inoue..." sighs Ohgi as he sees another of his fallen former comrades. "I hope they are well in their eternal rest."

Tamaki upon hearing the words and seeing his friend's encouragement grabs his shoulder in support. "I'm sure they are happy, surely celebrating in a big way," Tamaki's words make Ohgi get a small smile.

"Yes, you are right."

"Hey, Kallen!" Ohgi shouts. "What was wrong with the radio before?"

"What? Did he also communicate with you too?" asks Kallen, surprised.

"Yes! Yoshida's group should arrive soon," suddenly Ohgi's radio starts to play, and Lelouch's voice comes out of it.

"Are you the leader?"

"Oh, yes."

"The cargo from the train that stopped there is my gift to you. They are tools for your victory. If you want to use them and win, you must follow my orders."

Hearing Lelouch's words, everyone begins to open the train carriages, in them are several knightmares for them to use, more than they have ever had in their entire lives.

"How did he know there would be knightmares inside the train?" questioned Gino. "Besides, how could he communicate with Ohgi if he was busy commanding Kallen? It's not like he planned to be there, it was a coincidence."

"Who knows," says Villetta. "I don't remember my knightmare having that information, I guess he just deduced that inside the train there should be more knightmares for the army."

"I'm more curious about where Lelouch learned to command," Kaguya says, then turns to the members of Britannia's royal family. "Was Lelouch taught military tactics when he was still living with you? When he was with us, he was able to learn a little thanks to Mr. Kirihara, but it really wasn't much."

Cornelia shakes her head. "Lelouch was still too young to be taught that, the closest would be his chess games he had with Schneizel. He most likely studied strategy in his spare time after being exiled."

"All this..." says Kallen, astonished when she sees all the knightmares. "But how?"

Lelouch communicates with Kallen again. "The woman in the Glasgow."

"Yes!"

"Stay where you are. You will be used as a decoy."

"Understood."

An almost completely destroyed building appeared on the screen in the distance from where Kallen was standing, and inside it, in a high part, Lelouch was watching from afar the people he was commanding.

"How much energy do you have left?" Lelouch asks Kallen.

"About 15 minutes."

"Load it. In ten minutes I will contact you with further instructions," Lelouch, having finished giving Kallen instructions, lets out a sigh. "This is wearing me out. Anyway, I must persevere to win. After all, I'm risking my life in this game," as he finishes speaking to himself, Lelouch fiddles with a chess piece he is holding.

"Game?!" Ohgi is annoyed by the way Lelouch refers to the situation. "Did it seem like a game to him? Many innocent people died there, several of my friends did. And it looks like a game of chess to him?"

"Tch, what do you expect," replies Chiba, also annoyed. "It's the Demon Emperor we're talking about; he would obviously see the whole situation as a game."

"Do you really not notice? asked Schneizel mockingly, drawing the attention of all the members of the audience. "Lelouch always gave chess great importance, you should be happy that he sees the battle that way, after all it means he plans to win in the best possible way."

Ohgi and Chiba are silent before Schneizel's words, neither of them still liking the comparison, but both of them understand that discussing the matter further would only waste their time.

Clovis' personal vehicle is shown, with General Bartley speaking. "There are terrorists mixed in with the population of the Eleven and they are showing resistance, but it did not affect the superiority of our army," Bartley was accompanied by several other military personnel and Prince Clovis.

"We know that, continue," Clovis says as he listens to the General's report.

"Understood, the gas capsule will be..."

"Just as the public thinks," Clovis interrupts.

"Yes, and we'll keep looking for the girl."

"Yes, they must find her. Dead or alive."

"I still can't believe that brother Clovis would do something like this just to get Miss C.C. back," says Nunnally sadly.

Cornelia noticing Nunnally's state of mind tries to comfort her. "I won't defend Clovis' actions, but I can understand why he would be willing to go that far, if C.C. has the ability to give a Geass to anyone, it would be foolish to let her roam free, it could be a real problem for Britannia if several people with the same power as Lelouch showed up, not to mention the chaos it would cause all over the world."

"I know, but still committing such an atrocity horrifies me, especially being done by someone like Brother Clovis, he had always been very kind and loving to me and my big brother."

"I know, believe me when I say that I also resent having to see Clovis perform a massacre, he really wasn't cut out for the position of Viceroy, he was always an artist, not a politician or military man."

The scene changes to show a knightmare screen showing Tamaki talking.

"Hey, are you sure about this? They all lost the danger detectors" Tamaki starts to get upset. "Are you sure this is not a trap?"

"The other side has all the advantages in this war," Ohgi replied inside the knightmare. "They don't need to set any traps! Assume your assigned positions..."

Lelouch's voice suddenly sounds. " P-1, can you move? The basics should be no different than what you're used to."

"P-1... Isn't that a chess designation?" Cécile thinks out loud. "I remember that at some parties they used to talk about chess."

"You are correct, it looks like my brother really went out of his way to make the situation look like a chess game," Schneizel smiles at the way Lelouch handles the situation.

"Then there is no way Lelouch will lose," commented Rivalz, remembering all the chess games he saw Lelouch win with ease. "I've never seen him lose a single game, I have no doubt that this one will also end in victory."

Ohgi upon hearing Lelouch's voice questions him again. "Who are you? At least tell us your name."

"I can't. What if the channels were intercepted? However, if Q-1 arrives in time, the enemy Sutherland will arrive in 23 seconds. Probably two of them. Shoot them through the walls."

Kallen hearing the old codename Lelouch had given her couldn't help her eyes from watering as she gets lost in her thoughts. "Q-1... I really missed you calling me that. Why did it have to end this way?", Kallen wipes the tears about to come out of her eyes with her hand. "I guess I'm just left to move on, it's what you would have wanted, isn't it Lelouch?".

Tamaki is annoyed by Lelouch's way of talking. "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone, check your weapons," says Ohgi.

"Hey, are you serious?" Tamaki complains.

While Lelouch was giving orders to Ohgi and the others, Kallen was acting as a decoy, finally being spotted by the military.

"Enemy sighted in F-31," a military officer warns Clovis.

"A feint, eh. What simpletons," says Clovis arrogantly.

General Bartley starts giving orders to the soldiers. "Have Laslo Squadron go in directly! Send Eugen and Valerie! Have them attack from behind!"

"For how cocky the little prince acts, I've seen him do little in battle," Rakshata laughs mockingly. "His general seems to be the one in charge of everything."

"A Viceroy does not need to command a battle directly," Cornelia remarked, annoyed by the insult to her brother. "There is nothing wrong with Clovis having his subordinates take charge of the matter."

"Normally I would agree with you, but this situation is not normal, after all the battle is happening for a personal project of his, not for something that is really related to his viceroyalty, not to mention that we both know how this battle ends."

Cornelia purses her lips at the scientist's words, but decides to remain silent. She knows that Clovis' actions cannot be justified, using Britannia's resources to retrieve a personal experiment kept hidden from Britannia would be considered a crime, even if performed by a member of royalty.

Ohgi was counting down to start the operation. "Three, two, one, fire!" with his words Ohgi and his companions start firing through the ruined wall, managing to destroy several of the enemy knightmares without giving them a chance to counterattack.

"We lost Eugen and Valerie!" reports a military officer.

Clovis is slightly surprised by the events. "Hmm? An ambush?"

Elsewhere Lelouch laughs to see that his strategy succeeded. "An identification signal can be a double-edged signal. Besides, if the terrorists follow my orders, I will have controlled all the variables," Lelouch smiles mischievously to see that everything is going just as he planned. "P-1, P-4, P-7! Move 100 meters to the right and fire your slash harkens aiming at all three."

"All right, do as the voice says!" commands Ohgi.

"Hell, what choice do we have?" says Tamaki in annoyance.

"You're not moving yet, P-5?" asks Lelouch.

Tamaki quickly gets into his knightmare. "Stop calling me that!"

"You really hated him leading you at first," Kallen says to Tamaki as she looks at him with amusement. "Quite ironic for the man who would later call himself his best friend."

Tamaki is embarrassed by Kallen's words. "Shut up! It's not like you were any better, I distinctly remember you always acting like a schoolgirl in front of the boy she likes."

Kallen turns red as a tomato at the comment. "I wasn't!"

"Of course you did, you were always jealous when he went off with the green-haired bitch somewhere."

"I wasn't jealous!"

"Both of you, be quiet," Ohgi scolds his friends. "This is not the time for this. You can discuss it later."

Both Kallen and Tamaki upon hearing Ohgi's scolding remain silent, although they still have their frowns furrowed.

The Britannian soldiers were still being destroyed by Lelouch and the terrorists. Bartley, seeing all the casualties they were suffering, became nervous.

"Enemies sighted advancing toward G-28!" reports one of Bartley's subordinates.

"Send in the Laslo squadron... Glaube's squadron, rather!" ordered Bartley in a panic.

"Is it possible that the terrorists have our weapons?" Clovis wonders in confusion.

Elsewhere Kallen scaled a building and destroyed another enemy knightmare.

"Sir, Glaube ejected! His unit was destroyed!"

"Change the codes! They are intercepting communications!" says General Bartley as he notices that the enemy seems to know where the soldiers are.

"We did it! Four times!"

"Do it again!"

Prince Clovis tired of all the chaos rises from his throne. "This defeat is unacceptable!"

"Hmm, pathetic," says Chiba mockingly. "They lose their advantage for a moment and start to panic. They are a failure as a military."

Tohdoh nods at Chiba's words. "It's pretty obvious that none of them are used to having to deal with a battle that isn't completely in their favor, the fact that they are being defeated by such a small group of people even with all the possible advantages they have shown their inexperience. The only one who seems to have any kind of experience is General Bartley, and even he is falling into a panic."

Cornelia and Schneizel agree with Tohdoh's remarks, but Cornelia out of respect for her brother says nothing. Schneizel on the other hand simply does not really care about the effectiveness of Clovis' subordinates, he simply waits to see what actions his brother will take to try to regain victory.

On the screen inside Clovis' vehicle, Lloyd suddenly appears.

"Hello," says the scientist cheerfully.

"What is this?" asked Bartley, annoyed. "We're in the middle of an operation!"

"Then it's time to deploy ASEEC's secret weapon."

Clovis, annoyed by Lloyd's interruption, walks towards the screen. "Now is not the time for that!"

In the ghetto the battle was still going on, Lelouch was still giving precise instructions to the terrorists.

"R-2, fires anchor. B-7, use UN artillery. Group N keep advancing" with each order from Lelouch Clovis' forces were weakening and losing ground.

Nunnally strangely seeing her brother win the battle without much effort can't help but feel a little proud and happy, she wished Lelouch had never had to command, but seeing him accomplish it with such ease made her proud to have him as a brother, not to mention the fact that after seeing Lelouch's true goal she couldn't help but take his side even more. "big brother, you really were someone special, though I wish you hadn't had to use your talent to command."

"It really was a pity; don't you think?" Cornelia murmurs to Schneizel. "That father exiled Lelouch and Nunnally, I wonder what we could have achieved if Lelouch had been on our side."

Schneizel simply falls silent at his sister's words, he had never been interested in thinking what might have happened if things were different, he considered it a waste of time, but for a moment he couldn't help but think of a world where Lelouch and Nunnally hadn't been exiled, where he and Lelouch would have worked together. "We would have been unstoppable, nothing could have stopped us, but I suppose such a world would have been too perfect."

"We lost Laslo Squadron!" announces a military officer.

"Now! Bring Quincey's squadron!" Clovis orders.

"Your Highness, if we do that we will break the siege!" warns Bartley.

"Breaking the siege..." says Cornelia offended by the very idea. "Only an idiot would break the fence, anyone with the slightest bit of brains would know that doing so is foolish. Clovis would never make such a mistake."

"Undoubtedly, Your Majesty," Guilford supports. "Even if Prince Clovis was not the most talented in the art of war, he would know that such an act would simply lead to defeat in almost every case."

Schneizel even being able to hide it, was also honestly offended by the mere idea of breaking the siege, as someone who loved strategy, the very idea of making such a move was insulting. "Clovis, I really want to believe that you didn't break the fence, so please don't make such a mistake."

"So it was Prince Clovis who caused the siege to be broken," Jeremiah thinks in annoyance at the Prince's stupidity. "It's really no surprise that my Lord could defeat him so easily."

"Why is it bad to break the siege?" asks Tianzi.

"Breaking the siege would mean that the enemy was no longer surrounded, Your Majesty," Xingke replied. "This could cause the enemy to escape or in some cases attack directly with ease."

Tianzi nods. "I see."

Lelouch, seeing that his strategies had worked, began to think about what the enemy would do. "Now, the enemy has five options."

Clovis, despite hearing the warning, continued with his decision. "You can reinforce the breach with the units guarding me. We are sure that the enemy has his forces here!"

"It can't be," Cornelia holds her forehead for the poor strategy she just witnessed, but blushes as she remembers the insults she hurled earlier. "Clovis... I really can't defend this."

"It was certainly a mistake on his part," says Schneizel, almost resigned to his brother's actions. "Although it bothers me that he did it. Clovis was never the best at strategy, but he wasn't a complete novice either, I taught him the basics when he was younger."

"He probably got carried away by his emotions," says Tohdoh. "It is obvious that he was not used to having to make a real effort in a battle, so when he saw that not everything went perfectly as usual, he became nervous and anxious to finish it as quickly as possible."

Schneizel sighs. "It's most likely, but it's still disappointing."

At Clovis' orders, the soldiers began to mobilize, while Jeremiah watched in confusion as his comrades advanced.

"Who ordered them to break formation?"

Lelouch also seemed pleasantly surprised at the actions of his enemies. "Well, that was a stupider move than I expected," Lelouch contacts Kallen. "Q-1, your map is accurate, right?"

"Yes, it's from the old city. But without the current landmarks."

"It will work."

He shows himself to Clovis, who seemed honestly proud of the order he gave.

"All right, now send Burts and the rest."

Lelouch continued to give instructions. "Mission number three."

"Surround them and concentrate our forces there!" Clovis orders.

"Are you ready for them?" asks Lelouch with a smile.

"It really looks like a show," says Gino excitedly. "Lelouch really looks like a hero about to defeat the villain."

"Mr. Weinberg!" shouted Guilford offended. "Prince Clovis was not a villain, and the Demon Emperor was anything but a hero."

"I know," says Gino. "But in what we're being shown, Lelouch certainly looks like a hero defeating a villain."

"Still, there is nothing heroic about the Demon Emperor´s actions, he simply joined the fight out of his desire for revenge. I would hardly call his actions morally right."

"Of course, because Clovis is undoubtedly demonstrating his moral superiority to Lelouch by massacring a ghetto to hide his human experiments," Kallen comments sarcastically.

"Comparing the actions of Prince Clovis and the Demon Emperor is out of place," Guilford replied in annoyance. "I won't defend Prince Clovis' actions, but they don't compare at all to what Lelouch would end up doing during his reign."

Kallen was about to respond to Guilford again, but before she can do so, Nunnally tries to end the argument.

"Please!" shouts Nunnally. "Kallen, Mr. Guilford, I understand you disagree on the matter, but we must move forward."

Both upon hearing the words of the Empress are silent. Kallen still has an expression of anger at the knight's words, while Guilford acquires a grimace of embarrassment at seeing that the Empress herself had to handle the matter.

"The enemy's greatest strength is in that central point," Clovis says while looking at the virtual map of the area. "Finish them off!"

Clovis' soldiers advance towards the target while Lelouch smiles, but when the soldiers reach the point where the terrorists should be, they disappear from the map puzzling Clovis.

"What? Where is the enemy?"

Unbeknownst to Clovis, the enemy he thought he was about to defeat was in some sort of tunnel. In that group was Kallen, who, when she reached a certain point, turned as if preparing for something.

"With this, I say check," Lelouch pronounces as he puts down the chess piece he was holding as if he had just won a game.

Just at that moment Kallen uses her harken slash towards the ceiling of the tunnel, causing it to shatter, as the floor breaks to Clovis' surprise all the knightmares he had sent to destroy the terrorists are completely destroyed.

Lelouch seeing that his plan worked perfectly starts laughing. "It worked, didn't it? I can do it! Yes! I can defeat Britannia!"

"Pretty presumptuous of him, isn't it?" says Rakshata. "One plan goes well and he already thinks he can defeat an empire that covers a third of the world."

"Can it really be considered presumptuous if he succeeds?" asks Anya. "At the end he achieved his goal."

Xingke shakes his head. "Whether you end up succeeding is not what matters. Believing you can win the war by winning a single battle will make you overconfident in the next one."

Clovis in despair cannot believe what he has just witnessed. "Who? Who the hell am I facing?" The Prince begins to tremble with fear. "Is it possible that he is better than Tohdoh? Lloyd!"

"Howdare you compare the General to Lelouch!" Chiba shouts in annoyance.

Tohdoh simply raises his hand to calm Chiba. "It's okay Chiba, I would be lying if I said I was superior to Lelouch as a commander."

"But General..."

"Chiba," Tohdoh said in a firm tone. "I appreciate that you want to speak on my behalf, but as soldiers you must admit a truth even if it is painful, and the truth is that Lelouch surpasses me as a commander."

Chiba wanted to speak again, but hearing Tohdoh's tone she decides to remain silent.

"Yes, your Highness?" asks Lloyd.

"Can you win? Will your toy beat them?"

Lloyd smiles at the Prince's words. "Your Highness, please call him Lancelot."

Outside Prince Clovis' vehicle the Lancelot was being prepared for use. "Z-0-1 Lancelot activated. Activating Lancelot. Releasing hatch. Z-0-1 Lancelot, ready for activation. Initiating extension stage."

Suzaku was getting ready, putting on his pilot's uniform, while he was doing so, Cécile was talking to him.

"Did you read the manual?" Cécile asks the young Japanese.

"A little bit."

"Well done," says Cécile proudly. "I got the highest score with the simulation."

"Look... About what I said before," Suzaku says as he gets out of the vehicle from where he was. Outside, what appeared to be the Lancelot covered by a cloth could be seen.

"Huh?" Cécile says confused, but quickly realizes what Suzaku is referring to. "It's possible, but it's a close to zero chance."

"What are you talking about?" asks Tamaki.

"Suzaku wanted to know if he could find His Majesty," Cécile replied.

"Even before going on a mission?" Chiba looks genuinely confused. "From the way Kururugi acted during his time as a knight, one would think that the only thing he would care about would be to finish off the enemy as quickly as possible, so he could gain more prestige and even get promoted, even if it resulted in the death of his friend."

"Suzaku would never do that!" Milly exclaims in annoyance. "He always helped the people around him whenever he could."

Chiba snorts, and then mutters, "He certainly showed that when he was killing us mercilessly."

"But it's not zero, is it?"

"That's right. Anyway, I don't want you to do anything rash. The new system does not have the ejection mechanism installed."

"You hadn't even installed the ejection mechanism?" Ohgi said incredulously. "And yet you were planning to send him to fight?"

"Sure," Lloyd says shamelessly. What does it matter that it can't eject? being able to send the Lancelot was more important."

Ohgi is simply more confused by the scientist's attitude. "But it would put the pilot's life at risk, it would leave him completely defenseless."

"¿And?" asks Lloyd as if he really didn't understand what the problem was. Ohgi upon seeing the scientist's reaction simply remains silent, completely confused by his disinterest in the loss of human life.

"Of course, I understand, Miss Cécile." Suzaku's words are accompanied by the revelation of the Lancelot in all its splendor. The majesty of the Lancelot leaves Suzaku speechless "It is this..."

"Oh, my dear Lancelot," sighs Lloyd dramatically. "You have really improved over time, but even in your initial state you are absolutely perfect."

Rakshata hearing Lloyd's words can't help but laugh. "You say that the Lancelot was perfect, but I clearly remember that in the end in the Battle of Damocles my Guren defeated your Lancelot, so your Lancelot is quite far from being prefect, Earl of Pudding."

Lloyd lets out a snort of indignation at what his rival said. "How dare you?! My Lancelot is far superior to your Guren, what happened in the battle of Damocles was..." but before Lloyd can finish speaking, his mouth is covered by Nina and Cécile.

"Lloyd," Cécile chides quietly. "For the moment we can't talk about it, until we know that it will appear in these videos, we mustn't reveal anything."

"That's right, professor," Nina also says, almost whispering. "We mustn't say anything about it."

Lloyd, hearing the protests of his fellow scientists, closes his mouth and crosses his arms, still annoyed by Rakshata's comments, but understanding that saying anything else would simply make Cécile angry with him.

"Yes, the experimental weapon we developed at A.S.E.E.C., the advanced engineering delegation. Lancelot. The world's first seventh-generation knightmare."

Below the Lancelot, in the control room, Lloyd could be seen with Cécile and another scientist.

"Very good, Suzaku," says Lloyd. "Shall we proceed with the ignition?"

"Proceeding with initial phase 20 ignition," announces Cécile. "Equipping power chargers."

"Pre-ignition confirmation. Power charger reading normal. Thirty seconds to reach critical voltage," said a researcher while the Lancelot core could be seen on the screen. "Luminous core, phase shift. Yggdrassil conduit..."

"Devicer in place," reports Cécile. "Confirmation of the Devicer to Z-0-1. Individual identity record complete. Confirm establishment of human-machine interface. Yggdrassil resonance confirmed. Weak rejection response. Weak Devicer stress level. All readings are nominal."

While listening to Cécile's checks, the entire preparation process could be seen on the screen, how Suzaku entered the knightmare, the preparations he made inside, and the Lancelot connecting.

"Wow," Rival couldn't help but let out a sigh of amazement at the Lancelot's preparation. "Knightmares were always cool, but to see how one this advanced really works is something unique."

"Yes, it's quite impressive," Gino smiles. "I've been flying knightmares for a long time, but seeing all the preparations happen so dramatically really makes it all look that much more impressive."

Kallen smiles. "No doubt. I hope also shows it when I use the Guren."

"It would be a crime if they didn't," says Rakshata, smoking.

"Everything is going well so far," says Lloyd.

Outside the medical vehicles were moving away from the area, while the support tanks were moving into position. Suzaku was putting the finishing touches to his preparation, getting the Lancelot into position to be launched onto the battlefield and the cables holding it disengaged.

"Lancelot, M.E. impulse!" Suzaku announces.

"Lancelot, launch!" ordered Cécile.

The Lancelot upon hearing the woman's words shoots off at high speed, causing Lloyd and Cécile to fall to the ground under the force of the acceleration.

"It really is nostalgic," Zero thinks as he looks back on the first time he piloted the Lancelot. "At that moment I thought I could finally change something, that things would finally get better... Or at least that's what I kept telling myself. Who knew that would be the path to my eternal punishment."

"Full throttle, right?" Lloyd was ecstatic to finally see the Lancelot in action.

The Lancelot was speeding to the combat zone, inside Suzaku marveled at the Lancelot's power. "It's better than the manual said! With this..." but before Suzaku could finish his thoughts he grabbed his abdomen as he was still suffering from the bullet wound he had received.

The scene changes to show Tamaki, who seems to notice something.

"Wait a minute. What is that?" Tamaki's knightmare's screen shows the Lancelot approaching at full speed. "It doesn't seem to be a Sutherland..." Quickly the Lancelot attacks Tamaki's knightmare, so fast that the red-haired man doesn't even react.

"Son of a bitch!" said Tamaki. "He always attacked me first, never let me show my talent as a pilot."

"Talent?" Kallen looks at the red-haired man with amusement. "Tamaki, if you were really that talented you wouldn't be the one who always falls first."

Tamaki blushes at Kallen's comment. "Shut up! It's not my fault, if I had a new knightmare too I could easily defeat it."

"Whatever you say," Kallen rolls her eyes, obviously not believing that Tamaki would be able to defeat Suzaku even if he had a more advanced knightmare.

Away from the scene Lelouch is happy to see that everything is going well. "Another push and the checkpoint will fall..."

Suddenly the voice of one of the terrorists is heard. "This is group B! Reporting enemy signal!"

"What? Reinforcements?" Lelouch says a little surprised. "The real battle is different, isn't it?" Lelouch quickly starts asking for information over his communicator. "Status?"

"They were all able to eject, but they took out four units in an instant!"

"Number of enemies?"

"One! It's only one!"

Lelouch is confused when he hears the terrorist's words. "What?"

"He really didn´t expect that, did he?" asks Rakshata humorously.

"I doubt anyone could expect a single knightmare to destroy four units in an instant," says Sayoko.

"I guess I can't argue with that, although it's still amusing to see someone so confident of victory being put on the spot by a single enemy unit."

"I think it's a new model. I've never seen anything like..." Before the terrorist could finish reporting, the transmission was suddenly cut off.

"Hey," says Lelouch, trying to communicate. "What's going on?"

The scene changes to show what had probably been the knightmare of the terrorist who had been reporting to Lelouch being destroyed by the Lancelot. The Lancelot, seeing that his enemy had been defeated, activates his sensors followed by his shield.

The other terrorists get into position and begin to mow down the Lancelot, but the Lancelot, thanks to its shield, manages to redirect the bullets when they hit the shield.

"Tch, anyone could win if they had that," Tamaki mutters in annoyance. "He just got lucky."

"Suzaku wouldn't have needed the Lancelot to defeat them at that moment," Cécile thinks annoyed by the Japanese's words. "From the beginning he showed exceptional talent in piloting knightmares, the only person who could have stopped him would have been Miss Kōzuki."

"What?" Lelouch says incredulously as he listens to the report given to him by the terrorists. "The bullets bounce?"

"Yes?" one of them says. "What do we do? Ishida! Come..." but the transmission cuts out again before he can finish speaking.

Lelouch is upset to see all the losses he has suffered. "Useless terrorists. If they are defeated by a unit with the resources they have..."

"What do you mean, useless!" Tamaki shouted in annoyance. "Without us he wouldn't have been able to make the little Prince start losing."

Ohgi and Kallen are also upset by Lelouch's comment, in Ohgi's case he is more upset by the fact that they are called terrorists even though all they wanted was for Japan to be free again, even though deep down he knows that at that time what they were doing was terrorism. Kallen for her part is also upset, but what she feels most is a strange sadness, she knows that at that time Lelouch knew nothing about them, but still it bothered her that Lelouch referred to her as useless.

"Lelouch has no right to call us useless," said Ohgi, crossing his arms. "We followed his orders as he requested, it's not our fault that something like the Lancelot was activated."

"Did you forget that at that time Lelouch was under no obligation to participate in the battle or did he know anything about the Lancelot?" Schneizel questioned with a smile. "The only reason you guys didn't die was because of Lelouch's instructions and the knightmares he gave you, anyone would be upset if they saw that after giving such powerful weapons to the people you saved, they were unable to finish off a single enemy."

Ohgi and Kallen calm down at the Prime Minister's words, they both know he is right, although Lelouch's words still bother them. Tamaki on the other hand seems about to start arguing with Schneizel, but Ohgi grabs his shoulder, and with a look tells him that it's not worth it.

It could be seen how with a slash harken the Lancelot continued defeating more terrorists. One of the terrorists curses when he sees the Lancelot in action, but is destroyed before he can do anything.

"Okay, I can do it!" says Suzaku to himself. "With the Lancelot, I can stop them all at once!"

"N-4, N-5, hold position," Lelouch orders the terrorists. When the last units arrive, surround them. The terrorists upon hearing Lelouch's instructions quickly comply, they start shooting at the Lancelot again.

Suzaku simply kept moving forward while using the Lancelot's shield, easily finishing off each knightmare he faced.

"We can't stop that thing!" shouted a frightened terrorist, but he was quickly defeated.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lelouch asks when he sees that another of his units was destroyed. "What's that? What's going on?"

"It's really interesting how quickly the course of the battle changes," says Gino with amusement. "One moment Prince Clovis is about to finish off Kallen and the others, as soon as Lelouch arrives, the Prince's forces are easily defeated in a single attack, and now with Suzaku and the Lancelot everything is back in the Prince's favor."

"This is what real combat is like," Cornelia says as she recalls all the wars she has participated in. "Everything can change in a single moment, that's why it is so important to teach soldiers to learn to adapt and not to fall under pressure."

Guilford and Tohdoh nod at Cornelia's words, both having seen firsthand how a battle that seems to be won, changes course extremely quickly just because of someone's death or disappearance.

The camera switches to show Prince Clovis watching the battle. "Holy. Now I will be unnecessarily indebted to my older brother," the Prince turns with a smile. "Anyway, it's for the best."

"Why would he be in debt?" asks Milly.

"The Lancelot was a project financed by me," Schneizel replies, smiling. "For which Clovis, by using it in one of his operations, owed me a favor, although sadly I was never able to ask him to pay me back."

The battle continued in full force in the ghetto. The Lancelot easily overwhelmed any enemy that stood in front of it, one of them being Ohgi, who screams as he is hit by the Lancelot.

Villetta shudders at the sight of her husband being attacked, even though they were enemies at the time, she did not like to see the man she married get hurt. Ironically she forgets that it was she who gave him the bigger wound by shooting him.

"P-1, what happened?" asks Lelouch when he hears Ohgi's shout. "The enemy...? Is it really just one unit?"

Cécile along with Lloyd and another scientist were looking at the data obtained from the Lancelot's activity.

"The results are better than we thought!" says Cécile.

"Yes. And the pilot is taking it very seriously," Lloyd seconds as he adjusts his glasses.

Knightmare after knightmare fell defeated, the Lancelot triumphantly defeated them all, in a moment almost looking like an angel of death, sent to slay any adversary.

"Who would have thought that this is how the legend of the White Reaper would begin? commented Kaguya with a sad expression as she watched her cousin finish off Japanese rebels.

Zero cringes in his seat as he hears his old nickname. The White Reaper nickname did nothing but give him bad memories, one in particular that always stayed with him was when he saved a little girl and promised her that he would find her father, only to find out that he himself had murdered him in battle. "Did I really think it was necessary, or did I just lie to myself so I wouldn't think about Euphy's death and justify my hatred for Lelouch...? Euphy, I'm so sorry for not being the knight you deserved."

Suzaku inside the Lancelot is still holding his abdomen to try to endure the pain. "If I stop the knightmares, the battle is over! Anyway, I must save Lelouch and that girl!"

"Even at that moment Suzaku was thinking about my brother and Miss C.C.," Nunnally thinks sadly. "My brother could have died that day and I would have never found out how he died, while Suzaku was doing his best to save him...", a tear falls from Nunnally's eye. "I really was so useless; did I ever really help my brother?".

"How ironic," says Cornelia. "Kururugi went out to try to save Lelouch and that strange girl, not knowing that the person he was facing in battle was the same person he was trying to save."

Schneizel lets out a small laugh. "There is no doubt that no one could have expected that in that situation."

Suzaku thanks to his scanner manages to find an enemy knightmare inside the top of a building so he goes to attack it, the knightmare turns out to be the one that Lelouch pilots, so Lelouch is surprised to be found, and by the strange design of the knightmare.

"That?" Lelouch wonders to himself as he tries to defend himself from the Lancelot, who starts to struggle with him. "Is that what's ruining my plans?"

"You are the Commander, aren't you?" Suzaku asks as he begins to gain ground in his struggle.

"He's just a pilot! How dare he!" Lelouch cursed. Under the weight of the two knightmares the ground collapses, causing them both to fall several stories. "I have no choice! I must get out of here!" but before Lelouch can move, the Lancelot gives him a spinning kick, causing Lelouch to fall to the ground.

"Big brother," whispers Nunnally worriedly as she sees Lelouch's knightmare fall to the ground.

Before Suzaku can finish off Lelouch, Kallen in her Glasgow arrives and with her only remaining arm stops Suzaku's arm.

"Hey, I'm returning the favor!" Kallen shouts at Lelouch as she tries to use her harken slash to attack the Lancelot, but the Lancelot stops it with his other hand and destroys it, which makes Kallen end up in trouble. "This is the end for me." With the last of her strength, Kallen manages to activate the ejection mechanism, which allows her to escape. In the distance of the building, Lelouch can be seen running away.

"I must remember that," Lelouch thinks. "In a battle, the human factor is the most important thing," Lelouch notices that the Lancelot is still following him, so he shoots at it while still fleeing, going so far as to shoot at buildings so that they collapse on the Lancelot.

Suzaku easily activates the Lancelot's sensors, so he manages to dodge the buildings that fall on him.

"Wow," said Rivalz in amazement. "Suzaku really was amazing in that knightmare, it doesn't compare at all to what we did at the academy."

"Obviously not," Lloyd replied, annoyed by the comparison. "My Lancelot is superior to any other knightmare."

"What is that monster?" Lelouch can't believe what he's seeing.

"You bastard," Suzaku says angrily. "He's causing damage for no reason," Suzaku suddenly notices that a woman holding her baby is falling.

The audience tenses for a moment, none of them wishing to see an innocent woman and her baby fall to their deaths.

Suzaku quickly jumps and grabs the woman in mid-air saving her life.

The audience relaxes to see that the woman was saved.

"Wow, who knew Kururugi would be distracted to save a woman in the middle of a fight," says Guilford. "Very different from how he acted later."

"Suzaku in his youth had always been very honorable," says Tohdoh as he remembers better times. "He had always tried to help as many people as he could," Tohdoh slyly looks at Zero. "I wonder if that really changed."

Lelouch noticing his enemy's actions is confused. "He rescues someone in the middle of a battle?" Lelouch lets out a sigh. "I don't mind giving you the tactical victory here. However..."

Elsewhere Cécile, Lloyd and another scientist see Suzaku's actions. "What? Did he rescue someone?" asks Lloyd in confusion.

"It seems so," replies the scientist.

"Oh, my goodness. How strange of him," says Lloyd.

The woman who had been saved looks at the Lancelot as she trembles, then runs away to Suzaku's surprise.

"Not even a thank you?" asks Gino with a frown. "One would expect that if someone saves your life you would at least thank them."

"She's a woman who almost died with her son, you can hardly blame her for being terrified, especially when she's facing a machine that could kill her in a second," Xingke replies. "Not to mention that from her point of view it was the Britannians who started the battle that almost took her life in the first place."

Cécile nods. "Yes, anyone would be scared at that moment."

Cécile's voice sounds over Suzaku's communicator as her image appears on the screen. "Suzaku? You must be tired; why don't we call it a day?"

"I can go on, please let me go on."

"Be careful with the uptime!" Lloyd shouts from outside the control vehicle.

"Yes, sir!" affirms Cécile.

Lloyd turns as he thinks to himself. "Gosh, that kid is a valuable resource."

Near Lloyd, a soldier approaches Prince Clovis' vehicle, which is intercepted by another soldier, who points his gun at him.

"Stop! What about your ID?" demands the soldier. "It's Prince Clovis' personal transport!"

"Finally, the checkpoint," says the soldier as he removes his helmet. "And the security is as poor as I expected."

"That's Lelouch, isn't it?" says Gino when he recognizes the voice.

"It looks like it," Tohdoh replies. "Although I wonder where he got a full soldier's uniform."

"He probably used his Geass to get one of them to give him his uniform," Rakshata theorizes, and then a smile appears on her face. "Although that makes me wonder what happened to that soldier, it would be funny if when he came to his senses he found himself in just his underwear."

Several members of the audience can't help but let out a few chuckles at the mental image of a soldier being in his underwear in the middle of a battle.

"It would certainly be a unique experience for that soldier," says Kaguya with a smile.

"I can't even imagine his face when he realizes the state he's in," laughs Kallen.

"Did you expect?" says the confused soldier.

"Yes," commented Lelouch. "I'd like you to let me in."

"I understand," the guard accepts Lelouch's request, a strange red glow appears in his eyes. Lelouch's eye is shown, which obviously had just used the Geass.

"So that's how he was able to meet Clovis," Ohgi murmurs. "I always wonder how he could have gotten past security. Now we can see that it was thanks to the Geass."

Chiba looks annoyed. "Tch, it's always thanks to Geass, anyone could do it if they had such a power."

Zero shook his head. "I'm afraid you're wrong, Miss Chiba. It's true that the Geass was a very powerful weapon, but no weapon will achieve anything if it's used by someone who doesn't know how to use it, and if Lelouch was good at something, it was in taking advantage of the resources he had, we could already see that in this battle, with only a little more than a dozen people he managed to force Prince Clovis to use the Lancelot.

Xingke nods. "Yes, in the end it takes a good head to be able to use Geass for something really useful."

Kallen was running across the battlefield, until she is spotted by Ohgi. "Kallen!" shouts the Japanese man

The camera switches to show the interior of a building, which is filled with Japanese people who lived in the ghetto.

"This is your fault for opposing to the Britannians!" a Japanese shout at Tamaki.

"What?" says Tamaki angrily. "You fucking coward!"

"Do you know how many people died because of this?" asks a terrified woman.

Tamaki starts shouting while holding a gun, and Ohgi together with Kallen enter the building. "Silence! Do you know how many of us were captured or killed?" The woman who asked Tamaki the question starts crying, which makes the red-haired Japanese man angrier. "Don't cry!"

"Tamaki!" shouts Chiba angrily. "That's no way to treat civilians."

"Chiba is right," Tohdoh frowns at Tamaki's actions on the screen. "You can't blame them for being scared, they just wanted to live a peaceful life."

Tamaki says nothing and simply grits his teeth, after all he has been through he knows that his behavior at that moment was not correct.

"Ohgi, what about that guy we heard?" asks Kallen.

"I don't know," Ohgi replies as he sits on the floor. "He doesn't answer when I call him. Maybe he died."

Out of nowhere the entrance of the building explodes surprising all the Japanese inside the building.

"Do you see?" Tamaki looks at Ohgi angrily. "Instead of obeying someone we don't know; we could have used the poison gas."

"And then you would have killed everyone in the ghetto," Jeremiah comments, annoyed by the Japanese's stupidity and for saying that they shouldn't have followed Lelouch's orders. "Don't you ever think about the consequences?"

Tamaki is about to answer Jeremiah, but strangely just before doing so he closes his mouth again and clenches his teeth even tighter.

"But..." Ohgi tries to reason, but is interrupted by Tamaki.

"Damn that Nagata!"

Kallen, already tired and annoyed by her partner's words and actions, punches him in the arm.

"Why was that?" asks Tamaki in pain.

"For acting like an idiot! Not only did you treat our compatriots as hostages, but you also insulted Nagata, even when it was your fault that the plan didn't work out the way it should have," Kallen scolds angrily. "Not to mention your stupid idea to use what we thought was poison gas."

"Calm down, Kallen." Ohgi says trying to defuse the situation. "It was a tense moment, I'm sure Tamaki..."

"No," Tamaki interrupts Ohgi. "Kallen is right, I acted like an idiot, I shouldn't have acted like that no matter how shitty the situation we were in," Tamaki lets out a sigh. "I simply ask for forgiveness."

The audience is silent for a moment, several of them surprised by the strange display of maturity from the normally loud and rude man.

"Oh come on," says Tamaki when he notices the silence. "Even I can admit my mistakes when I see that I make them."

Ohgi simply smiles at his friend's attitude. "I guess you're right, it's good to see that you've changed, but deep down you're still the same."

The Britannian soldiers begin to enter through the entrance they destroyed, accompanied by a tank.

"So, this is where they're hiding, Elevens," says the soldier driving the tank, immediately getting into position to order the other soldiers to open fire. "Prepare to fire!"

"Big brother," says Kallen, frightened for the first time in the entire battle.

"You have a brother?" asks Gino. "How come you never mention him?"

Kallen puts on a sad expression at Gino's questions. "He died a long time ago, even before what we are seeing happened."

"Oh," Gino regretted asking. "I'm sorry if I brought back bad memories."

"It's okey. I still miss him, but I know he would be happy to see that Japan is finally free and I'm still alive," a nostalgic smile appears on Kallen's face. "He was always very overprotective of me."

Nunnally cringes at the redhead's words, remembering how she herself would say those words whenever she was scared. "I already knew about Kallen's brother, but I really don't think I ever learned much from him ... Maybe I should talk to her about it later"

"Fire..." the soldier begins to say, but is interrupted before he can finish giving the order.

"Attention all forces!" Clovis' voice is heard. "Cease fire now!" The Prince's words surprise the Japanese.

"Cease fire?", Suzaku thinks in confusion upon hearing the Prince's order.

"In the name of Clovis la Britannia, third Prince and Viceroy of Area 11, you are ordered to stop!" along with the Prince's words, the camera changed to show the reaction of several people. "All forces, cease fire! You are also to stop all attacks on buildings in this place! All wounded, Britannians or Elevens, are to be treated without distinction! In the name of Clovis la Britannia, you are ordered to stop! Cease fire now! I will allow no more fighting of any kind!"

"I don't understand; why would Prince Clovis stop the battle?" asks Rivalz.

"It was probably Lelouch's work," Kaguya answered, looking at the screen with intrigue. "He was close to where Prince Clovis was, so he probably used his Geass or threatened him to do so."

Inside Clovis' personal vehicle the lights were off, the Prince was sitting on his throne, in front of him was Lelouch pointing a gun at him still dressed in a soldier's uniform, Lelouch's face is hidden by the helmet and the darkness.

"Happy?" asks the Prince.

"Yes. Well done," says Lelouch.

"What now? Shall we listen to music?" Clovis asks sarcastically. "Or play chess."

"I'm surprised," Anya comments, even though no surprise can be felt in her tone. "I didn't think I could keep my cool in that situation, seeing as I was already upset at simply losing the upper hand in combat."

"Clovis was always an artist, and even though he specialized in painting, theater was also one of his favorite things," Cornelia explained. "At least Clovis would always be good at acting in front of other people so he could fool them."

Schneizel and Nunnally nod, both remembering how passionate Clovis could be about the subject.

Lelouch removes his helmet, but his face is still hidden by the darkness of the vehicle. "That sounds familiar," Lelouch's words confuse Clovis. "Don't you remember? You used to play chess with me. Sure, I always won."

"What?" Clovis gets even more confused.

"Do you remember?" Lelouch asks. "At the Aries Villa?"

Clovis is strangely angry when he hears about Aries Village. "You... Who are you?"

"It's been a long time," says Lelouch as he approaches to finally show his face. "Older brother," Clovis reflexively stands up, his eyes reflecting disbelief at who he is talking to, while Lelouch simply continues his speech. "The eldest son of the late Empress Marianne, and number seventeen in the line of succession to the throne. Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service."

"I can't imagine how surprised Prince Clovis must have been," Sayoko shakes her head. "I doubt he expected the person threatening him to be his own brother."

"I don't think anyone could have expected that," says Guilford.

"Lelouch? I thought you were..."

"That I was dead? Clovis becomes even more nervous at Lelouch's words, while the latter simply looks his brother straight in the eyes. "You were wrong. I came back, your Highness. I came back to change everything."

"I have to give it to him," says Gino as he looks with interest at Lelouch. "He knew how to make words sound great."

"He was always good at making words carry more weight than you'd expect them to," Kallen fondly recalls of all the speeches Lelouch gave as Zero, the speeches that always tugged at your heartstrings. "It's no surprise that Lelouch managed to make people see him as a messiah as Zero."

Everyone in the room nods at Kallen's words, they all got to hear Zero's speeches at some point and they all admitted that each and every one of them were extremely memorable. The room falls silent as the audience is lost in their memories, but suddenly a voice is heard.

"Wait!" Rivalz shouts as he processes what Kallen just said. "You're telling me that Lelouch was Zero?!"

---

Well, here I bring you the new chapter of the translation, I hope you all enjoy it.

The text below is the original chapter notes.

Well, here you have the new chapter, I hope you like it. This chapter is almost not ready for the planned date (you can blame my studies for that), but I managed to finish it just in time, I hope it will be at a good level for the readers.

You know, I'm always impressed by how much information there is about the world and characters of Code Geass in supplementary material, even more so by the fact that not even half of that information appears in the series, Milly's crush on Lelouch and Rivalz's relationship with his father are never mentioned at any point, only the former is ambiguously implied, while the latter gets no attention at all.

Some may notice that Tohdoh seems to be suspicious about who Zero really is. I honestly doubt that someone like Tohdoh can't connect the dots that show the true identity of the new Zero.

As always, feel free to comment your opinions and criticisms, after all they are necessary in order to make this story improve over time.