@~@Chapter Twenty-nine@~@

21, 000 soldiers. 21, 000 elite soldiers from different magical realms, including the Maganac people. Though they are outnumbered, Zechs made sure that these soldiers are elites who can fight half a day or more, with only the mere thought of survival in their minds. Number doesn't mean strength. Number doesn't mean power. Number doesn't mean victory. It all boils down to one question: Are you the best? Zechs knew they have the best. They are ready.

It was six in the morning. Noin walked down the rows, inspecting every soldier. They had no idea how many OZ soldiers they will be fighting against. Even Treize could not tell them. He knew that Master has a secret number of elites himself. However, excluding the MDs and the secret troop, they will be up against 50,000 human soldiers. Plus the MDs and perhaps the secret troop, each soldier may be up against five, six enemies, provided that they don't get killed first.

Noin gave the whole ground of soldiers a cold glare. " Soldiers!" Her voice rang in the ears of every one. They straightened themselves even straighter at the very sound of her command and the power of her magic. "You have been through wars, you have seen deaths, you have seen losers and you have witnessed survivors. You are survivors, you are the winners, and I want you to believe you are always one tough fighter. For your efforts, I salute you."

She raised her hand to side of her forehead and every soldier saluted her back. Relena appeared then. " Noin, it's been hard on you."

" This is nothing, Miss Relena, compared to all the sufferings. I am only doing what I must do. This is my duty," she said.

Relena looked at the army with a seriousness that Noin had not seen before. It was a look of dogged determination, strength and courage. You have grown stronger Relena, Noin thought to herself, feeling a sense of achievement on Relena's behalf.

" Talk to them," she said to her. " Tell them how you feel."

Relena shook her head. " I'm sure they understand. They can see it in your face. They believe in you more."

" They believe in both of you," Zechs' voice reached their ears. The two turned around. " Go on Relena."

Using her magic to amplify her voice, just as Noin had done before, Relena spoke to the soldiers for the first time. " First, I would like to thank all of you. You are brave men and I admire you for that. Really, I do."

" A few words from her and the morale of the soldiers is even stronger," Zechs commented.

" She is really an amazing person," Noin said.

" So are you."

Noin looked at him in surprise. She smiled. " Thank you."

The five boys came out soon after and they were ready to go. Battle cries rose clearly up into the sky.

*************************************************************

Lady Une knocked on Treize's office before she came in with the latest news. " Noin sent me a piece of news _____ they have set off."

Treize lay back in his swivel chair. "They are very punctual."

There was another brief knock on the door and Sally invited herself in. " Hi traitors."

" Hello spy," Treize said.

" They'll be here before noon. With the presence of the six Gundam tablets, they can get here faster. So do we have an early lunch?"

" Do you remember the plan?" Lady Une asked.

" Rest assured, I'll play my part well. I am trained in this."

" Lady Une," Treize said as he stood up.

" Yes?"

" If we are still alive after this whole thing is over, let's go live in seclusion. I know of a place, an abandoned cottage in a woods that I once discovered eight years ago. No stranger can find us there."

Sally cleared her throat. " I think I came in at the wrong time."

" Stay Sally, you can be our witness," Treize said as he held Une's hands with a firm gentleness. " I will stay by you no matter what happens, be it good times or bad times. Let's stay together."

Une was almost in tears. She could barely answer to his vows. It was an indirect way of asking for her hand in marriage. She does not care if they get married or not, as long as she can be with him.

" Oh Treize…" She nodded her head in agreement.

Sally clapped as the pair continued to gaze into each other's eyes. " And if you ever break your promise, Treize, you can be sure that I, Zechs, Noin and all the five Gundam Guardians will be on your tail. So make her happy."

" I will. I am a man of my words," he answered sincerely.

" Ok. Sorry to break this moment up but if someone discovers you two being lovey-dovey, all our efforts will go down the drain. Bear with it; it's just for today. I will see you later, Une," she said. With a wave, she disappeared out of the room.

Two hours later, Treize made a dire announcement, calling all the OZ soldiers to assemble. The alarm is raised and their plan starts. Lady Une and Sally were deliberately put in charge of guarding the gate as the whole headquarters was replaced from its previously manual mode of fortress defense to a more destructive mode _____ magic.

A protective shield was created outside the gate of OZ. To force open the gate they have to go through the shield first. However, the three believed that this would pose no problem to the approaching army as they have a total of six Gundam tablets with them. They can turn the 'impossible' into 'possible'. Anything is possible with them.

Meanwhile, Master and his mute girl stayed in their secret compartment, watching all these through a magical circle of wavering air. Mute girl cocked her head towards Master, waiting for his instructions from behind his white cloth.

" Finish off Lady Une and Sally Po," he said. " Stop them from opening the gate."

She bowed and exited through the only door in this pseudo-palace. Master turned his back on the cloth and took out what look like a hand mirror and a comb. He started to comb his hair.

Lady Une punched the last soldier in the stomach. He groaned in pain and Sally knocked him out with a chop at the back of his neck. He fell into her arms and she dragged him away to join a pile of gatekeepers, as soldiers guarding the gate were addressed, behind the nearest building.

" He sure is the heaviest of them all," Sally said.

Lady Une tied her hair into two, tight buns. She had already stopped wearing her glasses. Sally watched her with interest. " I never know how to tie my hair into buns. The best I can do is plaits." She touched the plaited hair hanging by her shoulders.

" I can teach you," Lady Une offered kindly.

" No thanks. I'm too used to plaits. For now."

A pair of steady footsteps caught their attention and the two women were quickly on alert. It was a servant, a modest-looking servant with waist-long hair and a guileless pair of eyes. She stopped abruptly upon seeing the two of them, apparently surprised to see them there. She quickly bowed low.

" What are you doing here?" Lady Une asked sharply. If possible, she would not want to hurt an innocent soul.

The young woman looked up, shaking her head but making no sound at all. Une then recognized her as the mute maid who has been working in the headquarters for a long time.

" OZ is on alert. We are guarding the gate now. Turn back and find a safe place to hide. You don't want to get hurt in this battle," she said.

As if not comprehending this common language, the mute girl took two steps nearer, her naïve eyes questioning her.

" I said go!" Lady Une raised her tone. Still, the girl moved forward. " Don't you understand?"

Sally realized that something was wrong. Lady Une was bewildered. What is wrong with her? Is she deaf as well?

" Get away from here!" Une tried again, swinging out an arm to accentuate her meaning.

Sally studied the mute servant carefully. One of her hand was hidden from view. " Une! Her hand!"

Right after Sally's warning, the mute girl flashed out a dagger and lurched towards Une. She dodged the attack narrowly. She's experienced! Une thought with a gasp.

Sally fired a spell at her which she blocked easily. The maid then conjured a spell with the image of a white tiger and released it at the two of them.

" Shield!" they both cried out at the same time. 

" It's powerful," Sally said shakily. " Who is she?"

" I don't know. All along I thought she was a servant," Une said.

The mute servant laughed soundlessly.

Une thought fast. " Sally, the Ring of Trust!"

" Third level of the Shield? O-key!"

With similar hand gestures, the two countered the girl's unorthodox magical spell with a more powerful shield spell. It pushed the white tiger back until both spells exploded, eliminating each other.

Immediately, mute girl called up another spell, and the two prepare to attack back.

Treize felt something funny in him. An uneasy feeling tickled his heart. Right away, he knew something has happened to Lady Une. He had just finished giving out instructors and briefing the soldiers on the simple and useless battle strategy he had devised.

" Warriors of OZ, here, I give thanks to your courage and support you have for OZ." He saluted them.

They did likewise in return. " We do it for you, sir!" someone shouted and all the soldiers agreed. Treize raised a hand to thank them and with that, exited gracefully and appropriately. He hurried on to the gate.

Lady Une dodged the mute girl's kick and attacked with ferocity. Sally threw a wind spell without the girl's knowledge, hitting her at the back. Aroused and getting impatient from their well-coordinated attacks, a whip materialized in her hand and she swung it out, scratching Sally by the cheek and Une by the leg. Smiling sweetly, she generated a strong energy in her body and transferred it to the tip of the whip, burning the other two whenever their skin come into contact with it.

" Curse her," Sally muttered under her breath. " I don't believe the two of us can't win her."

" I have a feeling she was the one who helped that demon to injure Noin," Une said and a huge fireball formed in her hand. She aimed it at her current enemy.

The servant blocked the ball with her hand and sent it flying back to the two of them. She raised her whip but something held her back. She spun around angrily to see Treize behind her.

" Treize!" Lady Une said gratefully.

" You have your fun," Treize said to the girl and with the whip acting as a medium, he passed an electric spell to her. Her body wrung in pain but she was unable to let go of the whip. And when he finally released her, she created a quick smokescreen and fled. Treize did not bother to chase her.

" Are you all right?" Treize asked them.

" She's going back to that devil! Why didn't you go after her?" Sally asked.

" Because they would be here soon," he told her.

" You failed?" Master said as soon as mute girl came back. " So they have some help…" He closed his greenish-coloured eyes.

" Men of OZ, this is your Master." His voice boomed throughout the whole headquarters. " I hereby announce that Treize Khushrenada is a traitor of OZ. I want some of you to get that traitor at the gate and kill him and his fellow helpers. From now onwards, I will personally take over the whole command of the army."

There was a stirring as the soldiers looked at one another in confusion and disbelief.

" I don't believe this!"

" But it's the Master!"

" All you damned fools listen to me! Haven't you heard what I said? You shall all act on my command from this second onwards!"

" Long live the Master!" the soldiers shouted in response. Twenty soldiers hurried to the gate while the rest from every part of the headquarters listened attentively to their new strategy.

" Did you hear something?" Sally asked them.

" I didn't," Lady Une answered. " But there seems to be some stirrings."

Treize answered their questions for them. " Looks like he has discovered who the traitors are." He paused. " Lady Une, Sally, get ready. They are here."

Outside, Zechs and the rest of the army have arrived in EverlastVille. Wufei held out his tablet and shone it at the ground, revealing two pieces of twisted-looking, green-coloured rocks placed along an invisible horizontal line.

" That is the entrance to the headquarters of OZ. This whole stretch of space between the two rocks is the length of the gate. Their headquarters exist in a small dimension of its own," he explained.

" Wait," Heero said suddenly. " Shine your tablet along the line, Wufei."

Wufei did so.

" Did you notice a faint red line?"

" Yes."

" Did Sally or any of them ever mention a red line?"

Wufei frowned. The rest shook their heads.

" Stand back," Heero instructed. He took out his Wing Zero tablet.

" Twin-beam Buster Rifle!"

Two strong beams of rays shot straight ahead and hit something invisible. A translucent red wall appeared. Heero did it again and the whole protective cover collapsed. The red wall disappeared.

Inside, Treize and the women took over. " Now!" he commanded. The three of them aimed their strongest gate-keeping magic at the gate.

From farming to defense, every kind of magic can be found, including magic to guard the gate, which is also called the Gate-Keeping magic. They knew it was useless to pull the level located at the side of the gate because Master has taken control and the whole place is protected with his evil magic.

Outside, Heero and the others waited with baited breath as the gate opened inch by inch, in slow motion. One- fifth… two-fifth… half…

" Hurry up," Duo prayed.

Inside, twenty soldiers had already found the traitors.