Two months later after Lelouch's defeat in Korea, most of the other cities and garrisons that tyrannical Emperor conquered under his grip were reclaimed by the Chinese Federation and the Black Knight forces. For Marrybell, she initiated a full garrison all around Pendragon to ensure that it will be the last stronghold for the Empire's enemies to come across.
With a detachment of Black Knights led by Kallen, the Cephirian Forces led by Master Mage Clef, and the Chinese Federation led by Xing Ke, they were able to reclaim most of the cities in the west. Other resistance forces stayed in Japan to help restore what was destroyed during the assault upon the ruins of the Britannian Government Bureau, along with Lafarga, Ascot, Caldina, Xaldin, and Presea. In addition, the Chizetians and Fahrenians were able to help the Autozamians build a Warpgate in the Shinjuku Getto to transport supplies and resources to the people of Japan in helping them repair the damages all over the Tokyo Settlement.
As for the Magic Knights and the Master Mage of Cephiro, they went onboard the Ikarugi as they joined up with Kallen's Black Knights, bidding farewell to their loved ones in Japan once again before preparing for their final battle. In their planned motives, Hikaru makes her decision to return to Pendragon to face what is left of the tyrannical Empire, with the aid of Umi, Fuu, Ferio, Lantis, and Clef.
Cornelia, Nunnally, and Euphy are both inside the morgue onboard the Avalon, which is flying alongside the Ikarugi. They pay their respects for their brothers and sisters that were killed under the hands of the Demon Lelouch. In fact, ever since Lelouch took the throne of Britannia at Pendragon, most of his half-siblings there were being forced into slavery under the influence of his Geass. Sadly, most of them ended up committing suicide as they were struggling to break free of Lelouch's control.
Furthermore, right after the battle in Korea, they were notified that Prince Clovis was also killed while being held captive inside the Damocles; This occurred before the Damocles self-destructed. It turns out that Clovis' body was found inside the prison floor during the time that Geo and Xing Ke helped freed the prisoners. Cornelia is planning to hold a ceremony to the rest of the their half-royal siblings that were killed during Lelouch's reign. However, she has to wait until they reclaim Pendragon, purifying it of Debonair's darkness and Lelouch's Geass. Upon learning that Cornelia, Euphy, and Nunnally are the only ones left in the Britannian Royal Family, Lord Guilford had to keep a close eye on them from now on.
As for Claudio, the only remaining Glaston Knight protecting the three Britannian Princesses, he struggled to reestablish contact with the other Knights of the Round. Ever since the remaining ones were defeated by the Magic Knights in the Tokyo Settlement, the Knights of the Round haven't been seen again ever since; not to mention that Gino and Bismarck disappeared after both of their Knightmares are destroyed. Sadly, when Lelouch took the Britannian Throne by force, the remaining Knights of the Round have been MIA, considered that their fate is rendered unknown.
With no other ways to reestablish contact with Gino or Bismarck, the remaining Britannian Knights still have to keep the remaining princesses safe from Lelouch. In fact, the Magic Knights will have to finish the fight with Britannian's demons on their own, since half of the Cephirian Army stayed behind in tending to their wounds, along with their allies and friends. However, they are likely making a much more bigger risk since only a handful of Black Knights and two detachments of Cephirian guardsmen remain as part of the Resistance for they will be facing an overwhelming odd of 5,000 Britannian Knightmares back at Pendragon.
During their two month trek around the world, the Magic Knights helped Kallen and her men liberate as much villages as they could in the Northern borders west of Japan. After successfully rescued the villages under Lelouch's grip, the Black Knights recruited scores of conscripts and militia into their ranks.
So far, only about 30 villages have been liberated from Lelouch's grip for they are being reinforced by Cornelia's and Kallen's Loyalists.
However, Lelouch's forces still remain at large due to the fact that he still has 75% of the entire world under his grip. It will be a matter of time before Hikaru and the rest of her remaining followers, friends, and allies will have to end Lelouch's tyranny once and for all before he retakes the lands near the Tokyo Settlement.
In the present, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are now at the command bridge of the Ikarugi standing by for further orders from Master Mage Clef and Commander Kallen Kouzki.
All around them, the Black Knight operators seen at their workstations while monitoring the navigational map.
"Commander, we are en-route to Pendragon. ETA is 5 hours." One of the Black Knight Operations reported in.
"Excellent work, ladies." Kallen acknowledged. "Have the Black Knights prep their Knightmares for the final assault."
Heeding Kallen's orders, the operators relayed them to the Black Knights inside the ship's hangar. At the hangar, the Guren is seen being refueled and resupplied with the aid of Lloyd, Cecil, and Rakshata. Shortly after Lelouch left the Damocles, the Supply Corps members were immediately detained by the Cephirian guardsmen, the moment they arrived at the hangar when they were trying to evacuate the hostages. However, at Lelouch's request, Cecil and Lloyd switched sides with the Cephirians as well just so that they spare themselves of meeting a fate worse than death.
As of now, they are seen helping out Rakshata rearming the Black Knight Akatsuki Knightmares with what's left of inside their Britannian Armory. In the next minute or so, Cecil left the hangar to go check on Princess Cornelia and Princess Euphy, leaving Lloyd in charge of prepping the Cephirian's and Japan's Knightmares. However, it didn't change the fact that Lantis and Clef ordered their guards to keep a close eye on the Britannian Supply Corps while in their custody.
"So Earl, what are you and Cecil going to do once the Emperor's reign is over?" Clef asked, while checking on his Knightmare.
"Well sir, we might as well change our career. All I wanted was to live a noble, neutral life." Lloyd spoke nervously. "No offense, though."
"You're not that bright for a Britannian, are you?!" Clef said, in a stern manner.
"Whenever there is war, it always gives me an opportunity to invent more Knightmares. This is also why we recruit people to pilot prototype Knightmares; I'm a man of science and invention you see." Lloyd continued, while checking on the stats of the Magus Wizard Knightmare with his data-pad. "I'm pretty surprised that you had help from the Autozamians and Rakshata to build your Knightmare when helping the Magic Knights face their adversaries in the Tokyo Settlement."
"Don't get to cocky, young man." Clef glared as he pointed his staff at the Earl of Pudding. "If you didn't yield to the Black Knights out of mercy, I'd have you imprisoned under my spells immediately."
"Now. Now, sir. I don't want any trouble no more." Lloyd stammered while raising both of his hands up, with a big drip coming down on the back of his head.
After a few minutes of glaring at the Earl, Clef slowly pulled his staff back to his side before taking a slow breather.
"I'm not that blind, young man. Rakshata told me that you were the one who built the Lancelot, let alone having Suzaku Kururugi operate it at your own expense. I hope you don't try anymore funny business with your antics from now on because I got my eye on you." The Master Mage spoke, giving the Earl a fair warning.
"Let's not fret, Master Mage." Rakshata intervened, hearing what Clef just said. "Since he tampered with my Guren earlier, I'll deal with him myself. He owes me this much after all."
Lloyd couldn't help but chuckle nervously after seeing Rakshata glare at him sternly.
"Anyway, just be thankful he didn't tampered your Knightmare when it was hauled into Pendragon's Hangar." The female researcher added in.
Before Clef could say anymore, Lantis appeared from the entrance of the hangar to notify the Master Mage of the present situation at hand.
"Master Mage, Princess Cornelia requests your audience in the briefing room. The Magic Knights and Ferio are already waiting for you there as well."
"I'm on my way." Clef replied before turning to face Rakshata one more time before leaving the hangar.
"Your Knightmare will be ready as soon as you come back, Clef." Rakshata reminded.
"Thanks Rakshata." Clef said as he took a small bow to the Head Researcher before leaving the hangar with Lantis.
At the briefing room, the moment Clef came in, Cornelia and Guilford are seen standing next to a huge flat screen hanging on the walls behind her as she waited for everyone to be seating. In silence, Kallen, Hikaru, and Ferio are sitting at the front row, while Umi, Fuu, Viletta, and Lantis are sitting at the back row. For Ferio, he stood at the opposite side of where Cornelia was standing before he first makes his presentation based on what is seen on the screen.
"Okay everyone, you all know why you're here. I already had a talk with Cornelia about what are we going to face once we reach Pendragon. You already know what is already waiting for us there. However, our scouts reported that ever since we escaped execution at Pendragon and that Emperor Charles fell before Lelouch's might, Princess Marrybell Mel Britannia has been granted the opportunity to reorganize all forces stationed there." Ferio said, making his first announcement to everyone in the briefing room.
Before he could say anymore, Cornelia stepped in to carry out the next part of the announcement.
"From the information that Claudio and Viletta obtained from their recent reconnaissance mission, the Demon Lelouch has setup a huge Fleija cannon at the palace. He loaded it up with Fleija warheads. If we get anywhere within its range, our fleet will be obliterated in a blink of an eye. The worst part is, Nina can no longer develop anymore anti-Fleija javelins to counteract those warheads. So, unlike our previous battle, it will be suicide to charge head-on towards the palace at Pendragon. Viletta, will you do the honors?!"
"Yes, your highness!" Viletta spoke up as she stood up from her seat before heading towards right where Cornelia is. The moment the Knight of Britannia turned to face the Magic Knights and their allies, Viletta continues where Cornelia has left off.
"I still have a plan to infiltrate the palace as undercover spies. Some of you may not trust me at first because of what I had done too. However, my loyalties still lie mostly with Princess Cornelia and Princess Euphemia, than rather just the Empire itself. If you girls help me get into the palace, sabotage that cannon, and end this tyranny, I'll let you all go back to school."
Upon realizing that Viletta is referring all this to the Magic Knights, Hikaru felt hesitant in falling for her offer due to the fact that she is also one of her enemies during the war between Cephiro and Britannia. The moment the Fire Knight looked at Viletta sternly, the Britannia also makes another pointer.
"Our destined republic will ensure that everyone will be treated with equality this time. I know that's what Euphy would want right?"
"I have nothing to hold back anymore. Since there's always another chance, I don't mind trying again. It's never too late to start over again you and I." Hikaru said with a confident smile on her face. "After all, our will helps us create a new tomorrow."
"Good answer." Viletta replied back. "I thought for sure that Ohgi is just using me. I didn't know who to believe back then. But now I do. In fact, I'm not that different from Ohgi regardless. As of now, I'll make up for all the mistakes I made with Ohgi after misjudging him."
"So, what's your plan of action, Ms. Viletta?" Fuu asked.
"Okay first of all, I'm going to carry out this infiltration my way. I will have to ask you girls to hand over your magic gloves for now." Viletta said, getting straight to the point as she used a remote to change the images on the flat screen. At the same time, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu took out their magic gloves from their hands and put them all on the table in front of Viletta. "I'll give them back as soon we take care of that Fleija Cannon first."
On the screen right now, it shows an external top view of the Palace at Pendragon. Viletta pointed out the layout of the palace while continuing her plan.
"Lelouch's weapon is set up on the exterior east side of the palace. It is being controlled and monitored by a guard tower from the palace's west side. We'll be deploying outside of the entrance of Pendragon. I have disguises for all of you to use once we land 1,500 meters outside of the city. I'll be the one to drive you into the palace unnoticed. Once we stop at the palace's checkpoint, I'll keep them busy long enough for you to get out and head to the objective marker. Any questions?"
"Where will the rest of our forces be stationed at while we move in to sneakily sabotage the Fleija Cannon?" Umi asked.
"I'll be lead our forces to the rendezvous near the execution grounds." Prince Ferio announced as he answered Umi's question. "Clef and I already had a talk over it before the briefing. We'll be heading to Pendragon in a similar fashion. As soon as they give out the signal, our Knightmares will come in and we help rescue the prisoners."
"Once you girls destroy the Fleija Cannon from the inside, you exfiltrate the palace immediately and meet up with us at the Execution Grounds. We all have until 1200 hours to do this before Emperor Lelouch executes all of the world's leaders that he captured after conquering most of the world." Cornelia added in. "Are you all up for it?!"
"I'll always be up to the challenge Cornelia. I already escaped such horror once, I can do it again." Hikaru replied in a determined manner.
"Well, Marrybell has already tightened most of the security in the palace ever since Lelouch took over the Britannian Empire. So, try not to get too carried away. I know you're strong Hikaru but Marrybell is very ruthless when it comes to both her Geass and her strength of arms. She's much more crazier than I am." Cornelia warned.
"Do you want Marrybell alive or not?" Clef asked the 2nd Princess of Britannia.
"That will be up to all of you to decide." Cornelia replied hesitantly. "She may need to face her trial for abusing her authority as a military commander of Britannia's forces. She may be my half-sister but she's not the same Marrybell that I remembered anymore. Ever since Lelouch took the Britannian throne by force, Marrybell was carrying out her goals in his favor for unknown reasons."
"Anyway, let's not waste anymore time. Everyone, we'll be reaching at the starting point in 0800 hours." Ferio said as he concluded the mission briefing.
Upon hearing Ferio's closing statement, everyone got up from their seats and headed down to the ship's hangar to prep their knightmares for the final battle at Pendragon.
Meanwhile at the palace in Pendragon, 8am at sunrise, Emperor Lelouch comes out only to be escorted by his Royal Guard as he makes his way to the Execution Grounds via mobile throne. From both of his sides, the Royal Guards were all standing tall while holding their halberds up to their side in silence. In front of the Emperor and his mobile throne, Marrybell Mel Britannia is leading a squad of 10 Vincent Wards while piloting the Lancelot Chaos. Down the road, he was greeted by his subjects in a nonchalant manner; it doesn't change the fact that most of the citizens in Pendragon are still under the influence of his corrupt Geass.
While sitting on his throne, Lelouch takes a sip of his favorite wine as he sees the arena up ahead. Behind his throne, Lelouch's Akatsuki is seen standing above the Demon Emperor motionless. He couldn't help but smirk at seeing the prisoners being hauled to the execution grounds while holding them up on another mobile platform, which is behind Marrybell and her squad. They were all chained up to the posts, wearing grey prison jumpsuits unable to do anything but pray for a quick death at their execution.
"Nunnally and Shirley may be gone, but I'll still bring this Empire down my own way." Lelouch thought, not realizing that his little sister is still alive despite the Fleija incident at Area 11. "Also, I may have lost the Damocles to the enemy, but I still have a backup plan in case they make a strike at Pendragon."
Back at the Palace, the Fleija cannon is seen mounted on a huge, metal platform on top of the hangar. It is guarded by a squad of 20 Gareth Knightmares. Behind the cannon, they use a heavy conveyor belt to bring in the Fleija warheads from the armory before loading the weapon into the huge chamber. Lelouch has left one of his gun captains in charge of managing and loading the Fleija cannon whenever ordered, as well as protecting the weapon from getting attacked by any intruders.
"I do wonder how far will Hikaru and the Magic Knights go in order to save this world from the Britannian Empire." Marrybell thought as she still remembered that her enemies remain at large. "If they were to face me in battle one last time, I'll take them all down with me!"
Marrybell also smirked with determination for she felt pretty confident to use her Lancelot Chaos to defeat the Magic Knights, thanks to Lady Debonair's dark magic flowing through herself and her knightmare.
As for Debonair, her evil spirit is still infused with Marrybell's soul. She could hear the dark witch's voice in her head.
"So Marrybell, are you ready to face the Magic Knights as soon as the time comes?"
"I'd be eager to tear them from limb from limb. So, yes I'll crush them with my own two hands."
"We might as well fight them together, two against three. I hope for sure that I'll crush those foolish little bugs this time."
"After that, I will no longer have any further use for you or Lelouch. Once the Magic Knights are destroyed, I'll absorb both of their souls using their power of Geass to transform this entire world into my paradise full of slaves. As soon as this world is under my grip, I'll destroy Cephiro and the rest of its allied countries for good!" Debonair vowed to herself.
Back to Lelouch, he sees the Execution Arena more closer as several more guards await for him at the entrance, along with the Executioner. After the failed execution of the Magic Knights, the previous one was hauled to the hospital only for him to succumb to his severe burn injuries done by Hikaru herself. Shortly afterwards, they appointed another executioner who has recently retired from the Britannian Army.
The moment Marrybell's squad and the mobile platform hauling the prisoners stopped in front of the entrance, the Royal Guards proceeded to bring the prisoners in first before they were being followed by the Massacre Princess.
Once the prisoners and Marrybell's men disappear into the shadows of the Arena's entrance, Lelouch gets up from his throne as he makes his way towards the entrance too. Again, he was escorted by a dozen Royal Guards from behind.
"Don't keep me waiting Magic Knights, you know what you have to do to have Zero stall us before you show up right?!" Lelouch thought to himself before he leaves his mobile throne outside.
9:00am
Meanwhile, at the Pendragon Palace checkpoint, several security guards are standing by while the security officer is operating inside the security booth watching the surroundings via security cameras. Being the security checkpoint, Two Vincent Ward Knightmares are seen standing motionless as the pilots were keeping a close eye at the entrance leading up to the palace. They're both armed with Giant Cannons, ensuring that if anything goes wrong, they'll be ordered to open fire immediately upon the intruders with a huge blast of their huge weapons. As the officer took a sip of his coffee, he spots an military truck approaching them in the next minute or so.
Inside the vehicle, Viletta Nu is driving the truck while disguised as a Britannian Royal Guard. She can only hope they wouldn't get suspicious of her actions, despite being a pureblood Britannia herself. She may be a Knight of Britannia but because she is against Lelouch's reign and because of Lelouch's Geass, Viletta can't trust herself to assume that she won't get attacked by her fellow Britannians. She already knew that Lelouch's Geass is afflicting all of the security staff and Royal Guards before returning to Pendragon. So, by using the Royal Guard uniform that she stole from a nearby armory, Viletta will have to blend in like the rest of the Royal Guards to avoid risking her face being exposed in Pendragon.
The moment Viletta stopped her truck before the checkpoint, one of the security guards walks up to her and asks for her ID badge.
When the guard takes a good look at Viletta's badge, he scans it inside the officer's booth. After a few minutes, a small beep occurs. At first, Viletta thought that she is going to get exploited after giving them a fake badge. She started sweating underneath her breath, the moment the guard and the officer came out of the booth to give her back her badge. Before Viletta could say anything, the officer makes his statement first.
"Viletta Nu, what is your place amongst the Empire?" The officer asked, making Viletta a bit relieved for a moment.
"I-I was an honorable knight of Britannia!" Viletta said, reluctantly.
"And where does your allegiance lie?" The Officer asked further.
"With the Emperor himself!" Viletta said hesitantly, even though it is a lie.
As the officer and the security guard looked at each other before turning towards Viletta, the officer makes his acknowledgement.
"Why are you here?"
"I brought more royal guards to help strengthen the security around the palace courtyard." Viletta answered briefly.
"Did you have permission from one of our higher-ranked Britannian Commanders doing so?" The Officer asked, making Viletta tense up.
"I did!"
"Very well. You're clear to proceed Viletta!" The Officer said, ending his private speech.
Viletta makes a slow breather, feeling relieved as she sees the security checkpoint open up. Without a second to spare, Viletta drives her truck towards the palace. Before the Magic Knights knew it, they see that they're all heading down into the garage. Once the truck stops in one of the parking stalls, Viletta gets out of the truck and waves to the disguised girls to get out of the vehicle.
As Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu jumped out of the truck, they are all now seen wearing Britannian Royal Guard uniforms with their hats and veils covering up their faces. They are now armed with Assault Rifles and halberds, whom were attached with slings wrapped over their shoulders. They were ordered to replace their magic gloves with those weapons as a way to conceal their identity without arousing suspicion.
"Alright girls, we may need to keep this quiet, okay." Viletta ordered as she handed out a PDA map of the Palace to Hikaru. "You may need to use this to head down to the weapon's control center, which is located in the Palace's 5th floor. Be careful everyone, the other Royal Guards are patrolling the floors during 12 hour shifts. You just knock them out or kill them with your silencers and hide them from plain sight if there's no way to avoid them but make sure there won't be any witnesses. You do have Zazu's infrared scanner with you, right?!"
"Yes I have." Hikaru whispered as she patted on her pouch, hanging on the left side of her waist."
"Good, because once you reach the control center and take care of the operators stationed there, find the files that contain the code to shut down the Fleija Cannon, scan it, and send the code straight to the Ikarugi. Once that's done, meet me back at the garage. I'll hand back your magic gloves there. Then, it's party time."
"Sounds fun. What about you, Viletta?" Umi said, feeling confident before asking the Britannian about her acts.
"I'll try to buy you all some time. But don't keep me waiting. We have three hours before the execution." Viletta replied back as she took out her Assault Rifle.
Without another word, the Magic Knights disguised as Britannian Royal Guards head towards the elevation while Viletta went up the stairs leading to the palace foyer to conduct their plan to liberate Pendragon from its tyranny.
As the Magic Knights got inside the elevator, they looked at the buttons used to take them to a certain floor. About 20 buttons are seen to the left of the elevator doors. For the first 3 buttons, they were labeled as "P" for parking, "L" for lobby, and "A" for the Atrium. From buttons, 4 to 20, they were labeled as "1 to 16" considered that they all lead to their distinctive palace floors. Just like what Viletta asked them, the girls are instructed to go to floor 5 to conduct their mission.
Umi was the first to press onto the button that leads to the 5th floor. While the elevator is taking them up to the 5th floor, she, Hikaru, and Fuu attached their silencer mods to their assault rifles.
When Viletta entered the palace foyer, she takes a good look around before heading to the surveillance room which is located in somewhere in the west wing of the foyer.
So far, only two Royal Guards are seen standing in front of the grand staircase which is facing the main entrance of the palace, holding their halberds next to their sides. Above her, Viletta could see several medium-sized flying monsters hovering close to the ceiling making soft buzzing noises. Luckily there were several marble stone pillars reaching up 30 feet towards the ceiling. They all have tall banners hanging from the top, bearing the Emblem of the Holy Britannian Empire itself.
Feeling confident that the guards are not going to move around anytime soon, Viletta takes her chance as she walks her way to the west wing without looking at anyone in the eye. She didn't bother going up the stairs because the guards kept their close eye on the main entrance most of the time.
Behind the staircase on the west wing, Viletta goes into a hallway that leads to the cafeteria.
Once the elevator doors opened, the disguised Magic Knights proceed into the hallway of the 5th floor cautiously as they raised their assault rifles towards both left and right. Seeing that the hallway is clear, Hikaru reached her fist towards the left as she leads her comrades down the hallway still readying their weapons in case for the unexpected.
They made sure to walk with light steps so that no one below the 5th floor could hear them. However, they didn't notice that they're still being watched by the surveillance cameras which are attached up on the ceiling.
At the surveillance room, only one guard is monitoring the security cameras from inside the palace. He soon notice that three Royal Guards are moving slowly through the 5th floor in a suspicious manner. At first, he thought for sure there isn't to worry about. However, in just two minutes later, the guards are approaching a steel door which is leading to another hallway via control center.
Before he had the chance to contact the rest of the Royal Guards, a bullet punctured the back of his skull as he collapsed onto the panels. Just like that, he dies from a critical gunshot wound to the head as blood came pouring down the panel before his body fell flat on the floor.
Behind him, Viletta there at the entrance of the room when she shot the guard with her silencer pistol while he wasn't looking. As much as she wanted to apologize for committing such atrocity against her own people, Viletta still assumed that the guard is still under the Demon Lelouch's Geass too. They wouldn't even remember the sins that they end up doing while being controlled by the false power of Geass either way. So, the least Viletta can do is put them out of their misery. As long as Lelouch is on the Britannian throne, no Britannian in Pendragon is safe from his mind-controlling Geass regardless of class and citizenry.
Moving on, Viletta approached the surveillance console and turned off all of the security cameras throughout the palace, ensuring that the Magic Knights will proceed to their objective without being watched any longer.
Back at the 5th Floor, the Magic Knights did not see anyone else appear on the same floor they're in before they reached to the other side of the hallway. While holding onto her Assault Rifle with her right arm, Hikaru held her PDA Map with her right hand at the same time as she used its interface to locate the control center.
On her PDA Map, Hikaru could see several red dots a mere distance away from their position. It also points out that several Royal Guards are standing near the doorway leading to the control center, just around the corner.
Throughout the hallway, the girls cautiously concentrated their rifles up ahead as well as pointing their crosshairs at every door they come across. On every floor of the palace, it is safe to assume that most of the doors lead to separate rooms where people use to sleep in; mostly as if they're in a huge hotel. However, they still need to be aware from the fact that most of the rooms in the palace floors are occupied by Britannian Nobles and Royal Guards. As they pass every door, Hikaru and the Magic Knights need to walk quietly so that the nobles and Royal Guards do not hear them from inside their rooms. If not, they would raise the alarm which is located inside their sleeping quarters.
Eventually, Hikaru was able to reach the edge of the corridor first as she raised her fist up high to her side, ordering her friends to stop. As she leaned up against the wall, Hikaru turned slowly around the corner to see if anyone is there. Not a moment too soon, Hikaru spots 5 Royal Guards standing outside of what it looks like a sliding metal door.
Before they came up with any ideas, a Britannian nobleman appeared right behind them as he makes his way out of the metal door.
Even though she can't hear what the nobleman is saying, he directed the guards to head towards the opposite direction that Hikaru and her friends are hiding at. At the sign of relief, Hikaru waited until the nobleman and the guards disappeared to the stairways on the other side before she moved in with Umi and Fuu following from behind her.
After making several light steps towards the metal sliding door, Hikaru immediately stopped next to it before slowly peeking through the small glass window up to her height. Through the window, she sees two security guards standing in front of a group of operators who are working on the computers while monitoring the Fleija Cannon stationed outside of the palace.
"Remember girls, we need to secure this room quietly so that no one above or below this floor will notice anything." Hikaru said, reminding Umi and Fuu of their operation in the palace.
As Hikaru turned back towards the door window, one of the guards approached towards it unaware of her immediate presence. However, just as soon as the door slid open, Hikaru slammed the butt of her assault rifle at the guard in the face, knocking him out cold in an instant. The moment he fell on his back flat on the floor, the other guard was startled by the intrusion.
Once he turned around to draw out his sidearm, the guard as met with a "phew" as a bullet slammed straight into his face with blood splattering onto one of the operators in her white coat. From Hikaru's right, Umi took a quick shot of the guard with her silenced assault rifle before Fuu appeared and charged at another guard on Hikaru's left, slamming her rifle in his torso before he collapsed on the floor while holding his stomach in pain.
When the downed guard looked up to see his attacker, Fuu aimed her assault rifle towards his face sternly.
"Nobody move!" Fuu ordered in a angry whisper.
The moment the operators turned around, Umi and Hikaru took off their hats and veils as they pointed their guns at them.
"Hands up, all of you!" Hikaru ordered the operators as the sliding door closed behind her and the Magic Knights.
Out of frightened response, the operators raised their hands up to the ceiling including the female one with the tainted coat. In the next minute, the two guards and the operators are all tied up and gagged, except for the female operator. Umi and Fuu took their chance to interrogate her to hand over the files containing the code while Hikaru searched the file cabinets on the left of the control panel for it.
"You better not scream or else I will kill you the way I killed that guard!" Umi snarled while holding one of the operators at knife point. For Fuu, she held the operator in place with a headlock. "Where is the code for that Fleija Weapon?"
"Fuck you, Eleven!" The female operator replied while being strangled by Fuu.
In an instant, Umi covered the operator's mouth with her left hand and stabbed her in the leg with her knife. Upon feeling the sharp pain on her leg, the female operator let out a muffled scream.
"Don't test me!" Umi growled as she pulled the knife out of the operator's leg. "Millions of lives are at stake right now and we don't want to continue this war any longer than it already has. Now where is the code?"
In just 10 minutes of interrogation, the injured, bloodied operator finally confessed that the files containing the code are located in the "F" marked file cabinet, much to Hikaru's eagerness. Without any more seconds to spare, Hikaru found a manila folder containing the code to the Fleija Cannon and used her infrared scanner to send it to the Ikarugi.
"It's done girls!" Hikaru said, accomplishing her main task.
"I take back on the killing intent. We already did too much damage over the past two years, so we will resort to a much harmless method." Umi said, feeling a bit guilty for her immediate action. "Time to go to sleep everyone."
"Wait, what?" The operator gasped in confusion.
As soon as Hikaru and Fuu went outside of the control room, putting back on their disguises once more, Umi hurled a sleeping gas grenade before she closed the door behind them. Once the grenade hit the floor, it spewed out a purple gas that engulfed the entire room in a heavy, purple mist. The moment the guards and operators all breathed in it, they all collapsed on their sides before taking a temporary snooze.
In the hallways, Hikaru used a lighter to burn down the other codes for the Fleija Cannon ensuring that no one else will used them to take control of the Fleija Cannon anymore.
Back onboard the Ikarugi, the ship's operators have received a private message from Pendragon considering that the Magic Knights have succeeded in obtaining the code to shut down the Fleija Cannon much to Clef's delight.
"Good work girls!" Clef said, acknowledging the Magic Knights' success.
In response to the message sent to them, one of the operators went on her computer to gain access to the network mainframe online before entering the code to power down the Fleija Cannon.
From a mere distance away, the Fleija Cannon immediately lowered its gun surprising the guards and the Knightmares stationed there. In confusion, the weapon is also flickering on and off as the lights went out. Before they knew what was happening, the cannon turned off immediately.
"What the hell happened?" One of the guards shrieked in bewilderment.
"Something isn't right!" The Security Officer shouted as he ordered on of the guards. "Contact the control room! Have the entire Palace under lockdown!"
In response, the Knightmares scrabbled to secure the palace's exterior while the security guards struggled to establish contact with the operators in the control room, raising the alarm all over the palace. Unfortunately, after a few failed attempts the guards immediately went inside the palace to investigate the matter themselves. Upon hearing the alarms, most of the Britannian nobles have been startled by the noise as they were ordered to evacuate the area while being escorted by the Royal Guards.
At the same time during the confusion, Viletta felt surprised not even thinking that their actions with cause a lockdown.
"I guess I didn't expect they would do that immediately." Viletta said, feeling a bit ashamed. "I hope those girls don't get caught up in that chaos."
While the alarms started blaring, Hikaru and her group heard people below the floor being escorted out of the building. They immediately went to the nearest stairwell before they went down, hoping no one else would see them on the way to the garage floor.
However, after going down two floors, the girls spot one Britannian Nobleman below them trying to head downstairs at the same time while being escorted by one Royal Guard, forcing themselves to stop immediately before reaching the second floor of the building. The Magic Knights attempted to let the nobleman and the guard go ahead further down the stairs unnoticed by their presence. As they slowly walked down, Hikaru eventually sees the nobleman disappear into the 1st floor, along with his escort guard.
Relieved for the moment, they finally reached the garage floor is closed during lockdown.
The next thing they see is that Viletta Nu was hiding behind her truck as she waved her right arm, telling the Magic Knights to head over to her location asap.
Once the girls hid behind the truck with Viletta Nu, the Britannian Knight immediately gave them back their magic gloves.
"I think this is where we need to get crazy!" Viletta spoke hesitantly. "But you might as well do this quick before they catch up to us."
"You might as well leave that to me!" Umi smirked as she put on her magic glove, discarding her Assault Rifle and Halberd afterwards.
Once Hikaru and Fuu followed suit, Umi came out from her hiding spot as she sneaked around behind the control booth, which is used to open up the garage.
With only one operator managing the door controls inside the garage from the booth, Umi could see that only two Knightmares are standing in front of the entrance with their weapons at the ready, along with five Royal Guards whom were armed with Assault Rifles.
Moving silently closer to the booth, Umi slowly drew out her rapier before entering the booth unnoticed. Before the operator knew it, he was suddenly knock upside the head with Umi's sword grip. Before the operator fell, she grabbed him from the back to make sure that no one could hear a dropping "thud" before putting his unconscious body underneath the booth's control panel.
After looking across the panel, Umi sees a small red button which is used to open the shutters of the garage leading outside. Making a quiet motion, Umi quickly slammed her right hand onto the button, alerting the guards with a loud beeping noise.
"What the hell?" One of the security guards startled as the shutters slowly opened up in front of them.
"Hey, you!" Another guard shouted as he spots Umi from inside the control booth.
Without warning, the guards opened fire at the control booth forcing Umi to duck underneath the control panel as bullets came flying towards her, shattering the booth's windows into a million pieces.
Upon seeing Umi under heavy, small arms fire, Viletta immediately slammed her foot onto the gas pedal the moment she takes the wheel of her truck once again. Just like that, Viletta's truck started heading towards the entrance at high speed.
At the same time, with Hikaru and Fuu sitting at the front seats on Viletta's left, the Wind Knight opened the side window as she raised her hand out towards the distracted guards.
"Emerald Typhoon!" Fuu shouted as she fired a huge gust of wind at the guards.
Being caught off-balance, the security guards were sent flying by Fuu's spell, forcing both Knightmares to aim their guns at the oncoming truck.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" One of the Knightmare pilots shouted!
Before either Knightmare had a chance to fire upon Viletta's truck, Hikaru was next to make her move.
"FLAME ARROW!"
Upon casting her spell, Hikaru shot out a huge firebolt at one of the Knightmares in the face, blasting the Vincent Ward as he loses his sights. The next thing that happen is that the blasted Knightmare spun out of control as it crashed into the other Vincent Ward, surprise the pilot as he was met with a slam in the Knightmare's chest. As a result, both Knightmares toppled over each other as flames sprayed all around them.
Umi took her chance as she ran up to the back of Viletta's truck. Once Umi jumped inside the vehicle, Viletta drove out of the garage as she and the Magic Knights make their way towards the execution grounds. Now that their first plan is accomplished, they move down the street to meet up with the rest of their comrades.
Back at the Execution Arena, Lelouch is sitting inside the Royal Booth with both guards standing next to him on both sides. From his sights, Lelouch sees all of the captured leaders from around the world standing on top of wooden platform where the gallows are seen hanging in front of them. While being tied up with their hands behind their back, the leaders are now about to met their end on the gallows.
Around the arena, most of the spectators are feeling a horrified chill crawling up their spines, fearing that if they don't obey Emperor Lelouch, they will be facing the gallows too later on, along with their loved ones.
After a few minutes of sitting, Lelouch hears startled murmurs coming from the spectators all over the arena, before he knew what was going on, the Demon Emperor spots a familiar figure standing in the middle of crowd from a hefty distance away at the bleachers in front of him, across the execution grounds.
In taking a good look at the unknown figure, it emerged from the shadows wearing a familiar mask and a cape.
"Is that?" One of the Britannian spectators muttered in shock.
"It can't be! I thought he was dead!" Another spectator spoke.
As soon as it approached the sunlight, the figure drew out his sword just as the guards approached him with their rifles at the ready. At the same time, the Vincent Wards aimed their Assault Rifles at the figure from below Lelouch's royal booth.
"IT'S ZERO!" The third spectator shouted from somewhere at the eastern side of the arena.
"GUARDS! SEIZE HIM!" Lelouch shouted as he pointed his finger towards the cloaked figure.
However, before any of the guards or Knightmares opened fire, one of the guards has spotted a group of incoming units heading towards the arena.
"Your majesty, we have a group of Knightmares inbound. They're heading towards us!"
Before the Emperor could understand what his guard is elaborating, a group of Cephirian Knightmares have also appeared right on top of the arena's walls. From outside, the Knightmares fired up their Slash Harkens before they hoisted themselves up towards the top floor of the Arena. It was the Magos Wizard, the Black Crusader, and the Green Sentinel.
In a sudden surprise, the Britannian Knightmares were met with a barrage of heavy fire and spells showering all around them, making them lose their ground as they were forced to fall back up against the walls in front of Lelouch. At the same time, Zero lunged at the Royal Guards with his sword as he cut down most of them with ease. In a struggling effort, the Vincent Wards held up a shield formation to block the rest of the attacks caused by the Cephirian Knightmares. At the execution grounds, a huge explosion blasted from inside the walls.
In the ensuing chaos, two groups of Black Knight Akatsukis and Cephirian Centurion Akatsukis came out of the blasted walls and charged straight at the Vincent Wards with all their might, with Kallen's Guren Sieten taking the lead. Frightened, most of the Britannian spectators made a dash out of the stadium not wanting to get caught up in the chaos.
"FOR ZERO! FOR JAPAN! FOR CEPHIRO! CHARGE!" Kallen roared at the top of her lungs as she drove her red Knightmare into the fray fearlessly.
"Marrybell, go help them out!" Lelouch said, giving out orders to his loyal half-sister.
"Yes, your majesty!" Marrybell's voice rang out.
With the Black Knights and Cephirians engaging the Britannians head on with their Knightmares, Kallen grabbed several Vincent Wards with the Guren's Radium Claw before making them explode from the inside when a huge dirt explosion erupted from right in front of her feet.
As Kallen looked up, she and her Knightmare were met with a big slam by the charging Lancelot Chaos mounted inside an Elphaba.
"GUUURRRRGGGGHHHHHH!" Kallen grunted in pain as she felt her Knightmare getting knocked off-balance by Marrybell's Knightmare.
"KALLEN!" Ferio's voice shouted from the Green Sentinel. As he jumped off the bleachers while piloting his Knightmare, he opened fire at the Lancelot Chaos with his Hurrican Bowcaster in "Rapid Fire" mode.
After shooting out a dozen energy bolts at the Lancelot Chaos/ Elphaba, Marrybell flew up backwards as she activated her Blaze Luminous Shields to ward off the bolts. Upon impact, the energy bolts exploded in green blasts of Sakuradite Energy unable to damage the Elphaba. In retaliation, Marrybell's Knightmare fired its missiles at the Green Sentinel while flying towards Ferio 50 feet above him.
Backing away, Ferio's Knightmare skidded left and right while returning fire with his Bowcaster.
"Kallen, free the prisoners!" The Cephirian Prince ordered as he drew out the Sentinel's huge Crescent Sword.
As the Elphaba rammed into the Green Sentinel, Ferio attempted to slam his sword on top of Marrybell's Knightmare while shoving it away from his.
In response to Ferio's orders, Kallen's Knightmare drew out its Fork Knife and with just one motion across the platform, she cut off all of the gallows as they fell to the side, much to their relief of the prisoners. As the prisoners came down the platform, they were picked up by several Black Knight Knightmares who are not engaging the Britannian Vincent Wards before they drove out of the stadium unharmed.
Seeing all of the prisoners disappear during the chaos, Emperor Lelouch gets out of his seat as he makes his way to the exit behind his throne while being escorted by his Royal Guards.
On the road to the Execution Arena, Viletta receives a call on her cell phone telling her that the Cephirian and Black Knight forces have intercepted the execution. They are requesting the aid of the Magic Knights to help take down the Demon Emperor there. As soon as Viletta replied back to her caller, telling them that they're on their way right now, she spots a security checkpoint 200 meters head of them.
"Are you girls ready to face off the demon?" Viletta asked.
"You bet!" All three Magic Knights said in unison.
"Then brace yourselves! We're almost at the arena."
Eager to end the tyranny in Britannia, the Magic Knights have all went back into the passenger seats as they drew out their Escudo Swords from their Magic Gloves. Along the way, Viletta pressed harder on the truck's gas pedal not even paying attention to any speed bumps as she and the Magic Knights feel themselves get shaken for every bump the vehicle runs over.
At the arena checkpoint, a squad of Vincent Ward Knightmares await Viletta and the Magic Knights. As soon as they were spotted approaching them at fast speed.
"ALERT, we've got an oncoming truck heading towards us at full speed. It may be a suicide bomber. OPEN FIRE!"
In response to the PA speaker from the security booth, the Knightmares didn't waste any time in opening fire with their Assault Rifles and missile launchers. Viletta struggled to steer her truck left and right in attempts to dodge incoming enemy fire.
In just a few minutes, the constant fire coming from the Vincents finally struck home at Viletta's truck obliterating it in a blink of an eye. As the explosions consumed the oncoming truck, it lurched forward out of the smoke as it crashed on its right side before skidding in front of the checkpoint to a halt.
"Commander, we have taken down a supposedly suicide bomber. Requesting to investigate!" One of the Knightmare pilots spoke on the intercom.
"Request granted. Proceed with caution!" The responder replied as the Knightmares slowly approached the downed vehicle.
Just when they think the threat is taken care off, the Knightmares faced an unexpected surprise. The wrecked truck suddenly came flying towards the Knightmares. Before they even knew it, the truck slammed into a nearby Knightmare unlucky enough to get too close to the wreck as it crushed the Vincent and its pilot to death.
In the next second, Rayearth X, Selece X, and Windam X came out of the smoke and immediately flew straight towards the rest of the other Knightmares, hacking them all down with their swords. As for Viletta, she came out of Rayearth's hand after taking care of the Knightmares at the checkpoint.
Once Rayearth laid Viletta down to the ground, she jumped off and took out her Assault Rifle before heading towards the Execution Arena.
"This is for Ohgi!" Viletta muttered as she ran towards the arena's entrance opening fire at the security guards. Upon getting attacked, the guards were forced to take cover behind the pillars near the entrance before several of them got shot at up front.
At the same time, the three Rune Gods charged forward ahead of Viletta as they fired their magic spells at the guards and Knightmares at the entryways.
"Come on, girls! We've got an Emperor to take down!" Hikaru shouted in a eager tone, letting loose a Flame Arrow at a Vincent Ward.
"RIGHT!" Umi and Fuu replied in confident unison.
Back at the execution grounds, the fight amongst Cephiro's, the Black Knights', Lelouch's and Marrybell's forces start to intensify as all Knightmares started pouring in from all entrances of the arena. For Zero, he fought his way through the bleachers while several of the Cephirian and Black Knight Knightmares laid down suppressing fire from below, blasting away any Britannian Royal Guards and Security that tried to shoot him down from behind. Unfortunately, tide has turned against Kallen and Ferio as they see Marrybell's Lancelot Elphaba shot out a mass volley of Plasma Missiles at both of their Knightmares. At first, they flew backwards with the help of their flight systems. However, in the midst of the plasma explosions, massive dark tendrils reached out from the back of Marrybell's Elphaba, heading towards them in attempting puncturing Ferio's and Kallen's Knightmares squarely in the chest.
As soon as Kallen activated the Guren's energy wings, she elevated her Knightmare upwards and evaded the dark tendrils. However, Ferio wasn't able to evade quick enough as his Green Sentinel gets punctured in its legs and arms.
"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" Ferio screamed as his cockpit shook violently while his Knightmare received external damage on its limbs and arms. Struggling to break free, Ferio pulled the ejection lever as his hump-back cockpit flew away from the exploding wreckage of his Green Sentinel.
Upon seeing this, Kallen flew her Knightmare straight at Marrybell's Elphaba with sheer fury as she let loose a Radium Wage Surger at the Giga Fortress. Unfortunately, Marrybell could already see it coming as she activated the Elphaba's Blaze Lumious shields. Upon impact, the Guren Sieten shoved its Radium Claw at the Elphaba's head only for its Radiation waves to get blocked by the Giga Fortress's shield barriers. In just as few minutes of letting the Radiation waves shower the Elphaba unharmed, Marrybell retaliated by doing a back flip, knocking the Guren off-guard.
Losing her concetration on the Elphaba, Kallen cursed as she was met with shot from its belly cannon, hitting the Guren's Radium Claw with sheer precision. With just one blast, the Guren's Claw blew apart as it came off from its right hand. Not that it matters, Kallen still has more tricks up her sleeve.
The Guren flew backwards with several flaps of its energy wings and launched a volley of missiles at the Elphaba. Just as the missiles zeroed into the target, Marrybell's Giga Fortress spun fast enough to whack them all way from her while lunging towards the Guren Sieten. Once the Elphaba got closer to the Guren again, Kallen's Knightmare ascend a few feet above it before attempting to slam its Fork Knife on machine's head. However, before Kallen could strike back, she and her Knightmare were both met with a powerful slam in the Guren's stomach by the Giga Fortress' massive body weight.
Before Kallen knew it, she screamed in pain as she felt violent, electrical jolts flowing through her cockpit for the Elphaba fired electrical tasers coming from both of its huge Harkens. In her next move, Marrybell rammed her Elphaba at the Guren again, this time she used the Giga Fortress' full thrusters before sending Kallen flying into the bleachers.
As the Guren crashed into the bleachers, it fell out of commission as its energy filler has completely drained and is seen totally cripped with a missing arm and several broken circuits and limbs. Before Marrybell could finish off Kallen, she heard another voice rang out from her left.
"LIGHTING BALL ASSAULT!" Clef's voice roared out as his Magos Wizard Knightmare fired a blue lighting beam of magic from its Wizard's Staff, hitting Marrybell's Knightmare on the side.
However, even as Clef's magic struck dead on, the Elphaba didn't flinch as it stood there hovering unscathed. Instead, the lighting struck the Purple Blaze Luminous barrier as it was hurled back at Clef's Knightmare. In horror, the Master Mage flew to the right, barely missing the reflected beam by a mere inch of the Knightmare's foot. Before Clef could fire another spell with his Knightmare's staff, he was met an endless barrage of plasma missiles coming from Marrybell's Elphaba. Just as Clef's Knightmare casted a Barrier Shield around himself, the missiles struck it as the Master Mage could feel his Magos Wizard getting hammered and shoved away into the bleachers. Upon rough impact, Clef was flung backwards as he hit the back of his head inside the Knightmare's cockpit, knocking the Master Mage out cold.
After striking down another Vincent Ward with his Energy Sword, Lantis spots Clef's Knightmare out of commission on the bleachers. Fearing for the safety of his instructor, Lantis flew his Black Paladin up to the sky engaging Marrybell's Elphaba at will.
Readying his Energy Sword, the Black Paladin lunged at the Elphaba in sheer fury in hopes of driving Marrybell away from his friends and comrades.
However, the Elphaba refused to let up as Marrybell made several more shots with the Knightmare's belly cannon and its missles. With every shot and missiles inches at his face, Lantis whacked them all away with his energy sword before firing back with his Knightmare's lighting shoulder cannon. As the Paladin's cannon fired at the Elphaba, Lantis was able to weaken the Knightmare's Blaze Luminous shields as they flashed several times before disappearing. However, Marrybell smirked underneath her breath as if she is baiting the Magic Swordsman into finishing her off.
As soon as Lantis' Black Paladin charged forward, aiming its Energy sword straight at the Elphaba dead on, Lantis felt a violent rumble in a sudden surprise. The Black Paladin as only inches away from hitting the target with the Elphaba grabbed Lantis' Knightmare by both of its arms with the Grappler Arms.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Lantis shrieked as his eyes widened with horror.
"You Cephirians never learn! FOOLS!" Marrybell shouted in triumph as her Knightmare ripped both of the Black Paladins' arms apart before aiming its cannon at the Knightmare's face.
With just one blast, Lantis' Knightmare was met with an explosion that engulfed its face as it disintegrated into a sprouting display of sparks, wire, and metal parts, flying all over the place. Crippled and armless, the Black Paladin fell down into the execution platform, breaking it down into a million pieces of broken wood and splinters.
Lantis barely struggled to look up to the Elphaba on the Knightmare's interface as he felt blood coming down the left side of his face.
"H-H-Hikaru, please hurry!" Lantis gasped in pain before going in and out of consciousness.
"I hope you enjoy your last days here, Cephirians, because you are all going to die either way." Marrybell's demonic voice cackled from inside the Elphaba as she is getting ready to fire its Plasma missiles at all four main targets: Ferio, Kallen, Clef, and Lantis.
Ultimately, before Marrybell could squeeze the trigger in firing her volley of missiles, another explosion bursted out from the bleachers right behind her and her Knightmare with smoke billowing afterwards.
"HOWLING BLAZE!" A loud voice spoke as a fiery wolf silhouette zoomed out of the bleachers.
In Marrybell's startled surprise, she felt her Elphaba get hit from the back by the silhouette, shoving the Britannian Princess forward as she felt violent vibrations shaking her from inside the cockpit.
As Marrybell turned towards where the wolf silhouette came from, she sees Rayearth X appear from the smoke within the bleachers. In the next second, Selece X and Windam X have also appeared from behind Rayearth X.
"Well. Well. Well. If it isn't the snoobish Magic Knight Elevens from two months ago. Are you ready to face me again? Because, this will be your last!" Marrybell sneered as she glared at the Magic Knights' Rune Gods from the cockpit's interface.
"This is your last chance for you and the Demon Lelouch to surrender, Marrybell Mel Britannia!" Hikaru's voice boomed from her Rune God. "There is no where to run to. You've got nowhere to go anymore!"
"No shit, bitch!" Marrybell snarled as she aimed all of the Elphaba's weapons at the Magic Knights' Rune Gods. "Lady Debonair sends in her regards after all. I'll ensure that the Legend of the Magic Knights will never exist at all. In fact, I'll erase that legend in the face of the Earth right now!"
Once Emperor Lelouch sees the Magic Knights facing off Marrybell Mel Britannia, he smirked as he makes his way out of his seat while being escorted out of the bleachers along with a group of his Royal Guards.
"My lord, we have to get out of here, Zero is heading straight for us!" One of the Guards shouted, trying to get the Emperor's attention.
"Very well." Lelouch reluctantly said as he heads down to the exit.
"I'll still have the new Zero hailed as a hero, along with the Magic Knights because it is how I will end the curtains of this final stage."
In her first move against the Magic Knights, Marrybell charged her Elphaba straight at the three Rune Gods while firing a massive volley of plasma missiles coming out from the Knightmare's back. The three Rune Gods spread out, evading the exploding missiles as they returned fire with their magic.
"SEA HYDRA!"
"GRIFFON VORTEX!"
"MAGMA WOLVERINE!"
At the top of their thunderous voices, the Magic Knights let loose all three of their powerful spells at Marrybell's Elphaba in all three directions from the front, rear, and the left of her Knightmare.
The moment Marrybell sees the three spells heading towards her, she spun her Elphaba in a very fast 360 degree rotation while reaching its grappler arms out far and wide. In such a sudden speed, the Elphaba transformed into a giant spinning ball of blur as it whacked away all three of the Magic Knights' spells away from the pilot herself. In the ensuring parry, the spells struck the bleachers instead as the entire arena blew up into multiple combustions of red, blue, and green flashy explosions. Just like that, the execution arena turned into a complete, interior wreck while the Knightmares of all three factions were forced to take cover from the falling rubble that came from the wreckage caused by the explosions above them.
The Magic Knights still refuse to let up as they all drew out their swords before charging straight at Marrybell's Elphaba in a three-way assault.
While donning their Rune Gods, the female warriors flew towards the Britannian Knightmare in hopes of hacking it down with their escudo swords. Seeing them in all directions from the interfaces inside her cockpit, Marrybell gritted her teeth intensely as she spun her knightmare again. This time, she fired both of the Elphaba's grappler arms as they reached out all across the arena. With a huge whiplash, the long cables attaching the arms whacked all three Rune Gods with sudden ease, knocking them all down to the ground.
"You're all going to have to do better than that!" Marrybell howled as she fired another volley of plasma missiles heading directly at the Rune Gods below her.
As the missiles struck the ground, every explosion let out a tall bursting pillar of dirt, fire, and smoke. In the ensuing destruction, the Rune Gods were forced to retreat outside of the arena as they flew upwards above 300 feet of the entire stadium.
"We have to lure Marrybell away from this place!" Hikaru told Umi and Fuu as they were getting chased by a rampaging Elphaba.
"You won't get away that easily, foolish Elevens!" Marrybell said as she cackled horrendously like a banshee.
While pursuing the Magic Knights outside of the Arena, Marrybell aimed both of the Elphaba's grappler arms and the belly cannon as they laid down continous fire at the fleeing Rune Gods.
"WINGS OF PROTECTION!" Fuu bellowed as she turned around and raised her hand up towards the oncoming enemy fire.
With just one green flash, Fuu's magic let out a huge dome-like barrier that shielded herself and the other two Rune Gods only to be met with multiple, pressurizing explosions. In just a few impacts, the barrier started letting out longer streaks of cracks as Fuu struggled to hold on to her magic with both of her hands. Before she knew it, Fuu sees the Elphaba ram straight into her protective barrier while hammering it down with its grappler arms.
"Ms. Umi! Ms. Hikaru! Help me out!" Fuu cried as she gritted her teeth while straining herself against the Elphaba's advances.
As soon as Rayearth X and Selece X stopped while in mid-air, they charged once again at the advancing Elphaba as they flew above Windam X and dive bombed at the Giga Fortress with all their might.
Just as the two Rune Gods homed in on their target, Marrybell's Giga Fortress stopped advancing towards Windam X and backed away as she narrowly dodged them both 10 feet away from them.
After missing their target, Hikaru and Umi stopped in mid-air right below the Elphaba before they were met with another barrage of plasma missiles.
"WATER DRAGON!" Umi shouted as she hurled her spell at the missiles, making them collide into each other and exploded on impact.
Noticing that the Elphaba is distracted, Fuu disengaged her protective barrier spell and hurled another one at it.
"WINGS OF ADMONISHMENT!"
Caught off-guard, Marrybell screamed in a panic as she felt her Giga Fortress get wrapped around in a huge binding, gust of wind coming out of Windam X's green orb.
Before Marrybell could even react, the Magic Knights all charged at her once again. This time, there no escaping their might as the Massacre Princess was met with an endless torment of sword strikes and blows hammering down on her Giga Fortress. Worst of all, the Fortress is out of Energy fillers due to overusing the Blaze Luminous Shield earlier when facing the three Cephirian Knightmares.
In the next minute, the Giga Fortress immediately blew up. Just as the Magic Knights cheered in triumph, Marrybell immediately ejected from the Giga Fortress. This time, she is now piloting the Lancelot Chaos, surprising the Magic Knights in awe and horror.
The moment the Lancelot Chaos stopped several feet above the Rune Gods, its devilish wings revealed themselves as a huge, dark-red aura started glowing ominously. The Lancelot's wings are now seen spewing out dark-fireballs at the three Rune Gods, causing big black explosions all around them. In addition, the Lancelot Chaos also fired out dark energy beams from its huge left claw at the Magic Knights at the same time.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Umi shrieked in aghast as her Rune God started getting blasted by the fireballs and dark energy beams.
Fuu screamed in agony as she tried to fly backwards away from the barrage of fireballs and dark beams.
In hopes of trying to protect Umi and Fuu from the Fireballs heading straight at them, Hikaru swings her sword horizontally as she let loose a wide torrent of white flames towards the Lancelot Chaos. In the excruciating latter, the flames neutralized all of the fireballs and dark beams as they all dissipated.
"Nice try, Hikaru!" Marrybell cackled in a demonic voice. "I'm just warming up!"
As she continued to engaged the Magic Knights at will, her Lancelot Chaos drew out its three-way pointed jousting lance before Marrybell's Knightmare came charging head-on at the Rune Gods. Caught off-guard, Rayearth attempted to block the Lancelot's lance only for its tip to pierce his shield much to Hikaru's shock. Hikaru leaned her head backwards as the tip of the lance stopped by a mere inch from her face before she lifted her shield upwards she swung her sword in a horizontal arc at the Lancelot Chaos, forcing Marrybell to fly backwards, missing the blade by a inch of the Knightmare's lower torso.
In Marrybell's next attack with her lance, the Lancelot Chaos swung the huge long weapon across Rayearth's face only for the Knight of Fire to duck below as Hikaru whacked at the Massacre Princess with both her sword and shield upward. In fury, Marrybell felt her Knightmare get shoved up to the sky before she slammed the jousting lance on top of Rayearth's shield. Upon impact, Hikaru grunted in pain as she could feel the full, heavy brunt of the lance weighing down on her, nearly losing her grip on her shield. Marrybell then attempted to lunge the huge jousting lance at Hikaru only for the Fire Knight to turn her body to her right side, evading the pointed weapon.
Before Marrybell could continue to strike at Hikaru further, Umi's Rune God flew up above Rayearth X and her Lancelot Chaos and casted another spell at the Massacre Princess.
"OCEAN WYVERN!"
The moment Umi aimed her magic at the Lancelot Chaos, Marrybell steered her Knightmare backwards as she disengaged her fight with Hikaru only to attempt to jab it with her lance. As soon as the jousting lance struck at Umi's oncoming spell, it exploded into a combustion of water and ice before the Lancelot Chaos attempted to retaliate against Selece X. Once the Lancelot Chaos ascended up to Selece's height, Marrybell lunged her Knightmare and her jousting lance at the Knight of Water in snarling aggression. Seeing it coming, Umi lunged straight at the Lancelot Chaos' lance with her rapier, as her sword transformed into a huge, icicle shard that covered up her sword hand. Once both thrusting weapons collided into each other, Umi's icicle, bladed weapon started to chip of small pieces of ice shards as she could feel Marrybell's lance pushing her backwards.
"UGH! She's so strong!" Umi grunted in pain while struggling to hold her ground against Marrybell's pressurizing weapon.
Before long, Marrybell pulled her lance back only to swing its huge long weapon at Selece X. Umi makes a desperate counterattack by blocking the lance with her huge icicle encased sword before whacking it back at Marrybell, forcing the latter to block it as well. In just several loud slams and parries against their huge, long weapons, Rayearth X and Windam X ascended towards the Lancelot Chaos as they are charging up their Escudo Swords to the fullest.
"Let's all attack at once!" Hikaru shouted as her Escudo Broadsword started to get wrapped around in red and white serpentine flames.
"Good point, Ms. Hikaru. Ms. Umi back away!" Fuu acknowledged as her two-handed sword started to glow in a bright-green light with a small gust of wind flowing through its blade.
Upon hearing Fuu and Hikaru, Umi shoved the oncoming lance away from her face after struggling to keep her guard up with her Icicle encased rapier. As the Knight of Water backed away from the Lancelot Chaos, the Icicles encasing the rapier shattered immediately only to be replaced by swirling water wrapping around the blade of her weapon.
Just as the Lancelot Chaos aimed its huge jousting lance at the three Rune Gods, Marrybell charged straight at them with full speed only to be met with all three Magic Knights unleashing a triple, torrential magical attack coming out of their Escudo Swords.
Umi thrusted her powered up rapier at the charging Lancelot Chaos, unleashing a massive blue beam of water at Marrybell.
Fuu raised her sword up high above her head with both hands and slammed it downwards in a straight, vertical line as it fired a huge, green arc that is propelled by a powerful gust of wind.
Hikaru raised her broadsword from above her right shoulder before swinging it down to her lower left, letting loose a large red arc of massive flames heading towards the Lancelot Chaos.
With all three massive waves of magic coming out of their swords, they all struck at the Lancelot Chaos, forcing the Knightmare to block all of it with its huge jousting lance. Upon impact, the waves of magic exploded in a huge combustion which occurred a few inches in front of Marrybell's Knightmare, sending her flying backwards 30 yards away from the Magic Knights. For Marrybell, she screeched in fright as her cockpit started shaking violently with red flashes going on and off while still inside her Knightmare. Just as she came too, Marrybell sees that her Jousting Lance has disintegrated with nothing but only its handle remaining.
After seeing her jousting lance get destroyed by the combined powers of all three Escudo Swords of the Magic Knights, Marrybell's Knightmare threw it away and drew out two strange, black MVS' from its scabbards. The weapon lit up in a dark-flaming aura as purple streaks of lighting spewed out from it, the moment the Lancelot raised its sword up high above its head. At the same time, the Lancelot Chaos makes an automatic reload as an energy filler has been replaced with an in-built one from the inside. Once the energy filler has been recharged once more, the Lancelot Chaos unleashes a devastating torrential attack with its MVS's.
With just one zig-zag motion of the MVS, it let out an wide-arc beam of purple lighting and fire at the Rune Gods, striking them all in sheer velocity. As they fell the shock and burning erupt from within their Rune Gods, the girls screamed in pain as they struggled to hold their ground against the might of the Lancelot Chaos.
"Do not give them any quarter Marrybell. Now is the time to show them the power of my retribution."Debonair's voice bellowed as she spoke inside Marrybell's ears.
In a continuous effort, Marrybell let out more purple lighting, fiery arcs at the Rune Gods zealously with her empowered swords. Much to their annoyance, the Magic Knights both formed a powerful, bonding barrier of magic to form a huge shield dome both they used their willpower to merge as one.
All three of their Rune Gods disappeared into a unified flash as they converge into each other, form into Mega Rayearth once more before continuing their fight against the merciliess Britannian Princess.
Just as the Lancelot Chaos charged head-on, Mega Rayearth drew out its huge, lightforce sword and held back against the Lancelot's enhanced MVS.'
At the strike of their clash, both of their blades flashed in bright, electrical lights. The merged Rune God flies backwards with just one huge flap of its wings while lashing out a huge, horizontal sword swing as it lets out a wide lighting arc at the Lancelot Chaos. In response, the Lancelot Chaos raises both of its MVS up above its head and slammed them both downward, unleashing two vertical, bright red arcs at Rayearth's attack. Once the arcs struck each other, they all disappeared into a loud explosion of bright, orange red.
Ignoring the massive ray of light, Mega Rayearth swung around before lunging at the Lancelot Chaos in sheer might, slamming its sword towards the Knightmare's lower abdomen. However, Rayearth's flashing sword was immediately met with a dual parry by the Lancelot's MVS.' Before the merge Rune God could strike again, several dark purple tendrils came out from the Lancelot's back as they reached straight towards Rayearth in sheer precision. Again, Rayearth flew backwards in a furious motion while holding its shield upright against Lancelot's multiple tendrils.
With every tendril hitting Rayearth's shield, the Rune God was getting hammered while being shoved away from the Lancelot Chaos forcing the Magic Knights to hold back their might against Marrybell's enhanced Knightmare. As the hits kept pressurizing the merged Rune God, it flew upwards above several feet from right where the Lancelot Chaos is at before striking back at the Dark Knightmare.
"SPIRAL LIBERATOR!" The Magic Knights shouted in unison as they all aimed their magic at the Lancelot Chaos.
The moment she sees the multi-colored beam heading straight for her from above, Marrybell activated a dome-like, purple Blaze Luminous Shield in front of her Lancelot Chaos before flying upwards towards her target.
At 50 meters apart in a 45 degree angle, the massive beam-like spell slammed into the Lancelot's Shield as Marrybell struggled to push her knightmare closer but at a struggling, slow pace while firing the Knightmare's thrusters to the fullest.
From the Knightmare's back, shot out a barrage of black torpedo-like projectiles while holding back against the continous pressure of the magic beam. In their surprise, the Magic Knights felt the projectiles hit the Rune God's hands. The next thing that happen, more projectiles starting hitting the merged Rune God in all sides, making the Magic Knights scream again in agony before being forced to disengage with their spell.
Finally free from the spell's pressure, the Lancelot Chaos disengage its shields as it flew towards the Rune God in close proximity before slamming both of its black MVS' at it.
Barely had any time to react, Mega Rayearth raised its huge dark-red shield up above head, blocking the Lancelot's MVS' while holding onto its lightforce sword with its right hand.
Before Rayearth could strike back, the Magic Knights were met with a powerful kick in the stomach by a relentless Lancelot Chaos. The effects left the Magic Knights grunted in pain as they staggering backwards, struggling to maintain their altitude while in mid-air.
"You can't beat me you fools. I am Britannia's mightiest warrior princess in the Empire." Marrybell cackled in a boastful manner. "I'm nothing like Cornelia. You don't stand a chance against me in hell!"
Back in the Arena, Ferio, Clef, Kallen, and Lantis were all able to eject their hump-back cockpits from their wrecked Knightmares after taking a beating from Marrybell. Kallen and Ferio came out of their cockpits, still conscious before they drew out their weapons as they both faced the Britannian Royal Guard head on before reaching to the bleachers.
Up on the bleachers, Clef's cockpit is seen on top of the stairs a feet feet near the balcony. However, Clef is still unconscious while the Royal Guard are about to close in onto the Master Mage. However, before they could get the cockpit open, a torrent of white flames blasted them in an instant as the Royal Guard were sent flying off the balcony. The white flames came out of the Magic Swordsman's lighting blade. After the guards fell to their doom, Lantis appeared from above the bleachers and approached Clef's cockpit before opening it up.
"Clef, are you okay? WAKE UP!" Lantis shouted as he dragged the Master Mage's lifeless body out of the cockpit. In several shakes, Clef started coughing hoarsely as he woke up with his eyes widen open in shock.
"Lantis? Are you..?" Clef stuttered as he looked up to see the Magic Swordsman standing on top of him.
"We have to go help capture Emperor Lelouch. Our fight to liberate Pendragon isn't done yet!" Lantis said, reminding the Master Mage of their current mission.
As Clef got back up on his feet, he sees from the balcony that his fellow Cephirians are currently engaging the Britannians still loyal to the demon Emperor of Britannia. While the Cephirian Knightmares are keeping the Britannians preoccupied, Lantis and Clef their way through the bleachers to help Zero capture the Demon Emperor as they fought their way past several of his Royal Guards, shooting out magic spells and lashing out sword strikes left and right all at once.
For Ferio and Kallen, the Black Knight Ace was being forced to hide behind cover while the Royal Guards were aiming their Assault Rifles directly at her while the Cephirian Prince is locked in melee combat with three Britannian guards armed with halberds, holding up their blades against his crescent sword.
After taking cover behind several chairs on the bleachers, Kallen hurls a flashbang at the guards. Once the grenade exploded, flashing their eyes in oblivion, they were met with rapid-fire shots coming from Kallen's Assault Rifle, killing them all instantly. Kallen managed to get out of her cover before catching up to Ferio who is already a few meters ahead of her.
Ferio managed to break free with his sword as he slammed its huge blade on the bleachers, unleashing a vertical wave of destructive energy that exploded in front of the guards, sending them flying backwards along with several broken seats and arm rests.
After taking a few breathers, the Magic Knights resumed their intense fight against Marrybell Mel Britannia as their fused Rune God makes another aerial charge towards her Lancelot Chaos one again.
This time, the Magic Knights focused all of their energy and magic into the sword as three bright beams of red, blue, and green lights started to swirl from within the blade of the weapon itself.
Once fully charged, their Rune God makes a powerful strike against the Lancelot Chaos, who is readying both of its MVS as they are fully charged with bright purple and black streaks of lighting.
As soon as the blades collided into each other, a massive bright orb of red and black stretched out 50 meters all over. It was just as huge as the fleija blast with the Mega Rayearth and the Lancelot Chaos are both inside the huge orb. The fight still continued inside the orb as Marrybell's Knightmare and the merge Rune God hammered against each other with intense, powerful sword strikes both left and right.
Eventually, the Lancelot Chaos holds both of its blades up to Rayearth's throat as Marrybell is about to deliver the final blow againt the Magic Knights.
"THIS IS THE END MAGIC KNIGHTS!" Marrybell shouted in overconfidence as she put more pressure onto her blades, getting closer to Rayearth's neck.
At the same time, Rayearth held his huge lightforce sword with both of his hands while struggling to hold back against the Lancelot's MVS.
"NO! WE WILL NOT LOSE!" The Magic Knights shouted back in unison.
Suddenly, in a surprising reaction, the Rune God spewed out jet flames coming out from its wings as it slowly is pushing the Lancelot's MVS' away from its neck.
"Uh Oh!" Marrybell muttered upon noticing that the tide is slowly turning against her. "It can't be..."
With a sudden reaction, Mega Rayearth slammed his sword downward with a powerful, swift force of reckoning. As a result, his sword broke down both of the Lancelot's MVS.' In a split-second move, Rayearth lowered his sword to its right side and with one wide slash, he let loose a huge white arc as it dissected the Lancelot Chaos' legs, blowing it up in the process.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Marrybell screamed as she felt her cockpit shake violently after her Knightmare is suffering heavy damage.
However, Marrybell's Knightmare is still flying above with a few more tricks up her sleeve. As the Magic Knights looked up, they see the Lancelot Chaos spew out its energy wings before firing back at them.
"YOU BITCHES HAVE MADE ME MAD!" Marrybell snarled as she fired another volley of fireballs coming from her Knightmare's Energy Wings.
Not a moment too soon, Rayearth already could see the fireballs heading his way so, with all of the combined might of the Magic Knights, the Rune God swung his huge lightforce sword in a upper, 180 degree arc that spewed out a massive torrent of white magic waves. The blind flash of the effects of the wave attack illuminated the Lancelot Chaos as Marrybell screamed as she forced her eyes shut, unable to look at it while the wave disintegrated all of the fireballs with one swoop.
Just as the blinding light screen faded, Marrybell opened up her eyes again only to see the Mega Rayearth appear in front of her with horrified looks on her face. In a sudden swift movement, the Mega Rayearth slammed its right fist into the face of the Lancelot Chaos. The full brunt of the physical force was so immensive, that the Lancelot Chaos' head blew up in a small wreck in which destroyed all of the interface screens inside the Knightmare's cockpit.
Marrybell screamed in pain as electrical currents were lashing out, zapping both of her bare shoulders while holding onto her controls. Right after the Knightmare's head ripped apart from Rayearth's fist, the top of her cockpit is now exposed as Marrybell sees Rayearth above her as it continues to hover in the bright, blue sky.
"It's over Marrybell Mel Britannia. Your's and Lelouch's Empire is now finished." Hikaru's bellowing voice spoke from inside Mega Rayearth.
"IT WILL NEVER BE OVER, MAGIC KNIGHTS!" Debonair's demonic voice bellowed as it came from inside Marrybell. Before any of the girls even saw it, the Massacre Princess started screeching in pain as she started to suffer from convulsions all over her body. In such horror, Marrybell turned to face the Magic Knights as her eyes turned black as dark cracks came down from her pupils. After that, Marrybell shut her eyes while holding onto her stomach in pain as a black huge essence came out of her body. In an instant, the essence lunged at the Magic Knights, delivering an endless barrage of strikes with its tendrils.
Startled, the Magic Knights and their Rune God get struck on all fronts by the dark tendrils as the black essence emerged from the wrecked, hovering Knightmare, forming into the dark entity of Lady Debonair herself. At the same time, Debonair glared at the Magic Knights with her ominious red eyes.
In a few seconds after getting pummeled, Mega Rayearth eventually grabbed one of the dark tendrils with his left hand and pulled the evil spirit towards him, surprising Debonair in an alamring rate. Hikaru glared back at the dark lady as she hurled a massive punch at Debonair using Rayearth's huge fist at her face.
"BLURRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Debonair grunted in pain as she was sent reeling backwards a few feet from the Rune God.
Groaning in agony, Debonair held her face with both of her hands before looking back at the advancing Rune God. In her sub-conscious mind, Debonair sees an illusion of an angry Nova and then her Regalia appear before her with vendetta in her eyes.
"I hope your proud of yourself, Mother Debonair." Nova snarled. "Now that I am one with Hikaru, consider this as my way of payback for turning your back on me."
Before Debonair could say anything, Rayearth, who is accumulating power from Nova and Regalia, raised both of his hands towards the dark witch as they both conjure an enlarging, yellow orb swirling with blue, green, and red strands of power coming from the Rune God's body. In a sudden act, Rayearth fired the huge orb at Debonair, showering the dark spirit with a massive light screen of all four colors. In the ensuring effects, Debonair screamed in pain as she felt her pale skin burning from the inside while covering her face with both of her huge hands.
Rayearth pulled back his right hand as he uses the orb to absorb all of Debonair's evil essence into it, imprisoning the witch within. Just like that, Debonair's spirit disappears into the orb, as the Magic Knights could hear the dark lady's muffled curses from inside. As they looked at the orb for a few seconds, the Magic Knights have achived victory against the darkness corrupting the Britannian country from within as well as liberating the city of Pendragon from its inner corruption.
As for Marrybell, she blinked for a few times before realizing that she is now under the mercy of the Magic Knights and their allies. While still inside her wrecked, hovering knightmare, Marrybell sees Mega Rayearth holding her and her machine at the tip of his lightforce sword.
"Please. I-I-I I SURRENDER!" Marrybell screamed as she raised both of her hands up in defeat.
Right after Debonair's evil essence is sealed away inside the orb, all of her demonic minions have disintegrated all over Pendragon and the darkness that the evil lady spread has dissipated. As a result, all of the Britannians were left totally confused over what just happened. They came to as they see that they're no longer under the control of Debonair's dark powers. However, it still didn't change the fact that there are some Britannians who are under the influence of Lelouch's Geass. No matter, the darkness that Lelouch and Debonair spread several months ago in Pendragon is slowly melting away in a gradual manner.
The moment the Magic Knights turned towards Marrybell, they casted another spell that summons a huge, cage ensnaring the Massacre Princess in the process. With no other Britannian knight to turn to for aid, Marrybell slumped on her seat inside her wrecked knightmare for she can no longer fight the Magic Knights anymore. The battle is lost for Marrybell.
Outside of the arena, Emperor Lelouch, who is now piloting the Shinkiro, while being escorted by his remaining Britannian Vincent Wards, attempted to establish contact with the Avalon. However, before Lelouch had the chance to speak to his helmsman, the Mega Rayearth appeared before him with Zero standing on top of its left pauldron. In just less than a minute, all of the Vincent Wards escorting Lelouch are cut down in an instant by Rayearth's sword.
"Give it up, Lelouch!" Hikaru's voice hissed as Rayearth drew out his huge lightforce sword. "You've got nowhere to run!"
"YOU WISH, IMPUDENT FOOL!" Lelouch roared as he opened fire with his Knightmare's phase transition cannon. "I'll take you down with me!"
Before the Shinkiro had a chance to fire the chest-mounted weapon, Rayearth sliced the barrel with its lightforce sword with just one sweep of its blade.
Upon seeing the main weapon disabled, Lelouch grunted in agony before firing the rest of the Shinkiro's weapons at Rayearth. Then again, his efforts are futile as Rayearth clenched its fist while it lit up in a yellow hue for Hikaru used her telekinesis powers to cripple the Shinkiro's wrist-mounted Hadron Cannons and its knee-mounted slash harkens without breaking a sweat. As the Shinkiro's wrists and knees started to crumple under the will of Hikaru's magic, they all explode at the same time before the Knightmare gets crippled while hovering in mid-air.
After feeling his cockpit shake violently from the impeding damage all over his Knightmare, Lelouch looked up and smiled at Rayearth and Hikaru despite that she is going in for the kill at last with Zero watching from on top of Rayearth's back.
As for Hikaru, she still recounted over Suzaku's decision to make up for the mistakes he made in the past by facing against the one who is willing to betray the world only to restore it anew. The moment Hikaru came closer to finishing off Emperor Lelouch, she couldn't help but feel tears coming down her eyes while preparing to strike at the him with all her might.
Flashback:
Back at the brig, when Hikaru comes face to face with her long-time friend and nemesis...
"Suzaku, you still have a choice to make." Hikaru said as she showed him the mask of Zero. "You can still do your part as a hero too, helping me take down Lelouch together, or you can face execution and be done with it."
"I still want to change the world from the inside!" Suzaku replied as he holds Zero's mask with both of his hands. "Come to think of it, did you think Lelouch really did the right thing despite how we both came down different paths that led us all the way here?"
"I don't know anymore. I really wanted to believe in Lelouch's ideal of justice. I really do!" Hikaru replied hesitantly. "Viletta was right about one thing, I really should've thought twice before fighting for someone's selfish glory."
"If that's the case, do you think his Geass really is a curse or a blessing?" Suzaku asked further as he looked at the mask of Zero before looking back at Hikaru.
"He may have abused his powers in the end. His Geass may be a curse that became his undoing as well as everyone's undoing. However, I still don't think Lelouch really is a bad guy, not after all the good times we all spent together as friends before Britannia took over Japan, not after how he introduced me and my friends to the Black Knights as allies of Cephiro forming a new bond of friendship with them. The entire world may depise him because of how he acted like a demon, despicable, cowardly, and cruel but he already mentioned to me his reasons." Hikaru said before explaining more about Lelouch through her point of view. "In fact, he did left me this voicemail message in my phone inbox after the battle in Korea..."
The moment Hikaru took out her cellphone, she was able to find Lelouch's recorded message in her message inbox before replaying it so that Suzaku can hear the young Britannian Emperor's speech from it.
Hikaru felt a bit angry for being tricked by Lelouch in the end, forcing herself to reconsider her loyalties to her very first friends she made when she was still a child back then. Her days of friendship with Lelouch are over. As of now, because she is a young warrior woman fighting for Japan and for Cephiro, Hikaru has to do her best to stand tough against every odd that is likely going to stand in her way, whether it is from the Britannian Empire or from against the demons that threaten to tear her apart. So, she took a deep breath pressing onto the replay button for Lelouch's voicemail message.
"Lady Hikaru if you are listenting to this message, I want to say thank you for everything and that I will apologize for disappointing you for the last time, even if you can't forgive me." Lelouch's voice spoke from Hikaru's phone. At the same time, Suzaku paid close attention to what Lelouch has to say as he leaned closer to Hikaru's phone while she is holding it with her right hand.
"Ever since me and Nunnally have been exiled from the Britannian Empire as political hostages, I knew I should've asked for help first before vowing to obliterate Britannia. Instead, I let my own grudge against my own family get a hold of me. Of course, it isn't until C.C gave me the power of Geass to change the world all around us. From what C.C said about my Geass, it is known as the power of the Kings that has been bestowed upon a few worthy individuals like myself only to leave me astray to a life of solitude. Although my actions of using Geass has caused people like you and Suzaku to hate me in the end, I only did what I had to do in the end to make my way down to the path where I help recreate the world anew when it is destroyed by others. Geass may be a curse, but it is also a wish that allows you to gain the power to achieve what you can't on your own. Of course, you may not believe that since you already possessed better powers to fulfill your achievements. So by participating in the battle of Korea and the final battle in Pendragon, your main objective right now is to put me out of my misery to end the cycle of hate after defeating Suzaku. Don't feel bad, Hikaru. You, me, and Suzaku have all came a very long way to help change the world from both inside and outside. Of course, there will always be enemies that will threaten to tear away the peace that the Cephirians, Japanese, the Britannians, and every other allied nation fought so hard for. No matter, you did managed to help protect your friends from suffering, such as Princess Euphemia. With Lady Debonair's forces aiding my Britannian forces, consider the last two battles as your biggest test in saving Japan from the forces of darkness. It may be wrong to kill innocent people just to change the world like Princess Emeraude of Cephiro for instance, but it is necessary because the sins that they commit always comes with a price in which you are here to collect. I have no intention of letting Lady Debonair infect this world either; I'm only using her as leverage so that you and your friends will put an end to the tyranny that is infecting the Holy Britannian Empire and the rest of the world, caused by me. So, you might as well help Zero take her down along with me and Marrybell Mel Britannia for it is the only way for all of your friends, your family, and all of mankind to move forward into the future of peace. Of course, you may not forgive me after I used you and your friends from Japan and from Cephiro to fulfill my life's purpose. However, I'll still make up to you by carrying out the Zero Requiem; meaning that by doing me in, I'll become a martyr for a whole new world where everyone that you loved will live happily regardless of race and nationality. I already learned from C's world that everyone is longing for a better future and I am that person who will grant you that future where your family and the families of your friends can make amends with those that trampled their freedom in the end; this is what Zero would really want. Zero is not just one person, it is an honorable symbol of heroism, honor, and the power that will grant the weak and helpless the wish to achieve harmony. And the legacy of Zero is within those that fight for humility, for friendship, and for beliefs. So you might as well end my tyranny for the sake of your friends. Therefore, this will be my last wish to show all of Britannia the error of their ways and for that. Since you and Zero are heroes of Japan, please apologize to the rest of my former friends and my sisters for me when I'm gone. Farewell, Hikaru Shidou."
After ending Lelouch's voicemail message, Suzaku felt anxious to think that Lelouch will be asking himself to be sacrificed for the satisfaction of the entire world. As for Hikaru, she started to become teary-eyed over the fact that she is slowly about to lose one of her childhood friends because of such a personal habit. Wiping her eyes for a moment, Hikaru looks up to face Suzaku again.
"It's a shame that Lelouch never understood how I was able to live my life in this world. Since he couldn't really do what I did, I might as well say goodbye to him as soon as the time comes, wouldn't you say?!" Hikaru said, feeling guilty on what she is going to do as soon as she faces Lelouch again.
"I wish there was another way for Lelouch to come to his senses, but I'm afraid it is us that never understood Lelouch." Suzaku retorted as he looked down at Zero's mask. "So, we might as well bring down Lelouch together!"
"So, you're going to do your part as the new Zero?!" Hikaru asked.
"Yes, but you still need to make up for letting Lelouch take advantage of you from the start. After all, he and I both planned this ever since Lelouch took control of the Britannian Empire." Suzaku continued.
"I understand." Hikaru said, feeling a bit relieved before Suzaku got up on his feet. "Let's end this together."
End of Flashback...
As Lelouch smiled at seeing Mega Rayearth going in for the final blow against him and the Shinkiro, he is well-prepared to be killed in order to be free from the hatred that he created when moving against Britannia.
"Suzaku. Hikaru. I may not be as bright as either of you but since I gave you both the opportunity to shine forth into this world, you will all do your part as heroes ridding your beloved lands of its enemies such as Emperor Lelouch of Britannia!"
Just like that, Mega Rayearth stabbed its lightforce sword straight into Shinkiro's waist with its blade missing the Knightmare's humpback cockpit by a mere inch under it. After that, Rayearth jerked his sword to his right, cutting the Knightmare in two.
When his Knightmare gets cut in two, Lelouch loses control of the Shinkiro as the main screen on the interface disappears. The next thing he knew is that, electrical sparks started spewing out a few inches above his face. As the Shinkiro's waist becomes dissected away from its upper torso, the waist exploded below the Knightmare before Lelouch gets showered by small exploding parts the punctured his arms and legs. As a result, Lelouch receives burns and flesh wounds before losing consciousness.
"Some sins may not be forgivable, but for every sin committed, you will move on for your journey to protect the world is just beginning." Lelouch muttered as he felt excruciating pain underneath his breath. "Take care of Euphy and Nunnally for me."
It was the last thing Lelouch said before he gets knocked out cold by the damages caused by Mega Rayearth.
"Lelouch, please forgive me!" Hikaru cried as she closed her eyes in grief, not looking at the dissected Shinkiro anymore.
Now that the Shinkiro is heavily damaged beyond repair, its upper half fell backwards as it comes crashing straight into the ground. As soon as it landed on the earth, the Knightmare exploded into a mushroom cloud of gas and fire.
Upon seeing that the Emperor has fallen, all of the remaining Britannian Forces have stand down from their fight against the remaining Knightmares of Cephiro and of the Black Knights. As for Clef, Ferio, Kallen, Lantis, and Viletta Nu, they all came out of the execution stadium before bearing witness to the fall of the Demon Emperor of Britannia.
With Debonair, Lelouch, and Marrybell all defeated in Pendragon, the darkness flowing across the skies of Pendragon have now faded away as it disappeared into a massive ray of light showering the entire city of Britannia.
Back on the Ikarugi, Cornelia, Euphy, and Nunnally have also beared witness to Mega Rayearth striking down on Marrybell's Knightmare and Lelouch's Knightmare from inside the command bridge, much to their relief. However, Nunnally and Euphy felt sad at the same time due to the fact that they had to see their brother and their half-sister go. It may be heartbreaking, but since Lelouch has turned into a demon, they just couldn't bear seeing his face again.
As for Cornelia, she did feel resentful when Lelouch used his Geass on Euphy to trick the Japanese into believing that her sister is a genocidal witch when it was all a lie. She did felt pity for Marrybell to think that she would make a much bigger mistake in challenging the Magic Knights in battle, especially with the use of Marrybell's Geass. When Cornelia faced Hikaru in battle, that only occurred because of what Lelouch did to Euphy that led the Knight of Fire to kidnap the 3rd Britannian Princess right off the bat. Actually, it won't really matter if it was Lelouch's fault or not that Cornelia fought with Hikaru in Area 11 because she does have to pay the price for enslaving Hikaru's parents sooner or later. Now that the demon Lelouch is dead, Cornelia and Euphy can finally both obtain a brighter future for their friends.
Although Euphy felt pitied when Lelouch accidentally used his Geass on her, she still hoped to continue pursuing her path of happiness with Suzaku Kururugi. In fact, since Hikaru spared Suzaku, it may be her only chance to be reunited with her one true love. She took a deep breath before making her remark in her mind.
"Goodbye, my brothers." Euphy whimpered as she closed her eyes, letting tears go down her face.
On her right, Euphy sees Nunnally shiveling as she covered her face with both of her hands while still sitting on her hovering wheelchair. Euphy embraced her little half-sister telling her that its alright. Earlier, when Hikaru relayed Lelouch's voicemail to Nunnally, the young Britannian Princess couldn't help but sob in the Fire Knight's chest begging for her to spare Lelouch. Even though what Lelouch did was wrong, Hikaru made sure to fake Lelouch's death so that everyone will be satisfied not to mention his name ever again; its just like what she did to Euphy in order to spare her from being lynched by Hikaru's own people from doing something she didn't meant to do.
"Helmsman, take us to the palace of Pendragon!" Cornelia ordered as she raised her hand out towards the command bridge of the Ikarugi.
"Yes, your highness!" The helmsman acknowledged as he steered the ship, aiming directly at the Britannian Palace in front of them.
Back at Ashford Academy, Shirley and Rivalz are both watching the news on TV in their dorms only to learn of Lelouch's death during the incursion back at Pendragon. While Rivalz stared at the TV with shocked looks in his eyes, Shirley broke down onto her knees as she sobbed silently unable to face Lelouch again for forgiveness.
"Oh Lelouch! Why?" Shirley whimpered.
"God Lelouch. I guess this is the end for him." Rivalz muttered to himself.
It's bad enough that when taking the Britannian Throne, Rivalz feared that Lelouch would control the entire world under his grip. However, upon hearing the news of how Hikaru and the Magic Knights defended the borderlines protecting the Tokyo Settlement, Lelouch's massive military might has been reduced down to 25% left of his remaining forces which are holding up back at Pendragon. Now that the Emperor is finally defeated at last, Rivalz felt satisfied for a bit, though it will be the last time he will hear from Lelouch since he used to be one of his friends in school back then.
As Shirley sniffed, she immediately received a phone call on her cellphone. The moment she took it out from her school uniform, Shirley sees that the phone call is coming from C.C. When she turned to see Rivalz, Shirley notices that he is still starting at the TV for a moment giving her the chance to leave the dorm to respond to C.C's call.
Once outside of the dorms, Shirley holds her phone up to her ears to hear C.C's voice.
"Shirley, are you there?" C.C asked in a whispered tone.
"Yes, I am. Why?"
"I do have to tell you something about Lelouch!" C.C said informing the anxious Britannian female student. "So, please don't mention this to anyone else, okay?!"
Back at the Palace of Pendragon, the Ikarugi has arrived in front of the regal structure as they are preparing to land at port, with Rayearth X, Selece X, and Windam X flying alongside the ship as their escorts.
For the Black Knights' and the Cephirians' Knightmares that survived their battle at Pendragon's arena, they rounded up all of the Britannian soldiers that have surrendered. As for Marrybell, who is now put in a straitjacket by the Black Knights, Clef raised his staff up high as its orb lits up in a bright white flash. Before she knew it, Clef's staff fired a beam at Marrybell in the face, stripping her of her Geass power in the process. She started to wallow in self-pity for she lost most of her powers and her military command in Britannia's armies all at once. Now under the mercy of both the Magic Knights and their friends and allies, Marrybell is now sent straight to temple tower to spend the rest of her life in its prison complex.
Once Marrybell is taken care of, the Black Knights and the Cephirians have all make their towards the Pendragon palace to meet up with the Magic Knights as they are eager to depart onboard the Ikarugi before flying back to Japan, with Viletta, Clef, Ferio, Lantis, and Kallen in tow. At the same time, the Black Knights have loaded the remains of their fallen knightmares on their loading trucks before proceeding towards their huge ship. Unbeknownst to them, C.C hauled the unconsious Lelouch onto her truck after seeing them leave. She planned to take Lelouch away from Pendragon so that no one will ever hear from the sinful Britannian ever again.
In just a one hour later, the Ikarugi arrives at port in front of the palace before it safely landed. After that, Euphy, Cornelia, and Nunnally have all disembarked from the ship, feeling relieved that they are now home at last. As for the Magic Knights piloting their Rune Gods, they all landed on their feet before they all disembarked.
Once the Magic Knights appeared before the Ikarugi, they turned to see the three Britannian Princesses one last time. For Zero, he appeared from behind Rayearth and jumped onto the ground safely the moment the Rune God landed.
"So Nunnally, did you miss this place?" Euphy asked the disabled Britannian princess.
"I do, Euphy. If only we can all go back home together." Nunnally whimpered, realizing that she can no longer be with Lelouch at home. "Clovis, Schneizel, Marrybell, Lelouch. Why can't we get along with each other anymore? Why do they have to leave me?"
"It's okay, Nunnally. I know, I should've felt bad seeing Lelouch leave this place with you but we can't do anything about it. What's done is done after all." Cornelia said, feeling pitied by Lelouch's exile. "I'll still miss Schneizel and Clovis. They may be ambitious like Lelouch, they may have their own inner demons, but if they're willing to sacrifice themselves just to free others from grief or from their own sins, so be it. For me, I only did what I had to do to get here. Now that I finally paid the toll completely, I'd say it is time for the Japanese to recreate their world anew while we have to start over again in rebuilding Britannia from scratch. Don't you agree, Hikaru?!"
As Hikaru and her two friends and Zero appeared behind the Britannian Royals, they stood a couple of feet away from them before she makes an answer to the 2nd Princess of Britannia. Zero stayed silent as he listened to what they all had to say.
"I do, Cornelia. I only wish there was another way to free Lelouch from his own inner demons." Hikaru said, feeling anxious over the defeat of the Britannian Emperor.
"Well, we may not be able to change the past anymore. But since you and your friends are able to free me from my own inner demons, you all have my thanks." Cornelia replied with a smile on her face. "I do regret what I had done when I first reached out to Japan, but since you all saved me from my ambition, I will do my best to change myself first before I present myself again. So, you all might as well apologize to your parents for me once you head back to the Tokyo Settlement."
"One other thing, Hikaru. Even though not everyone can live in happiness, we can only hope that we will do it for them instead." Euphy said, cheerfully.
"Thanks, Euphy." Hikaru replied in a confident tone.
"And for you girls, consider your reinstatement in your current school as my way of apologizing for everything that happened until now." Cornelia said as she faced both Umi and Fuu. "Before all of this, I never admitted it but you all have my thanks for showing me how wrong I was when I had too much pride in being better than anyone."
"It's nothing, Ms. Cornelia. We all did our best to aim for a better future even if we had to put up with mistakes that are beyond recovery." Fuu said in a calm manner.
"If you need us for any help, you know where to find us!" Umi grinned cheerfully.
Before long, the rest of the Cephirians and the Black Knights have finally showed up at port as they proceeded onto the Ikarugi. After Kallen, Ferio, Lantis, and Viletta disappeared onto the ship, Clef went up to the Magic Knights before making his statement.
"Everyone, it's time to leave. It may be sudden but now that the Demon Lelouch and Lady Debonair are both taken care of, we'll leave the rest of the future of Britannia in their hands from here on out!"
"Understood, Clef!" The Magic Knights all replied in unison.
As Umi and Fuu disappeared onto the Ikarugi, along with Clef, Hikaru was the last to proceed onto the ship only for Euphy and Nunnally to make their final remark for everything that she'd done to help the two female Britannians find their inner peace.
"Hikaru, please. I don't blame you for what happened to Lelouch, but is Lelouch really dead?" Nunnally asked in a whispered tone as she was the first to come up to the Fire Knight before Euphy.
As Hikaru turned to face Nunnally, she took a deep breath before coming closer to whisper back into the Britannian Princess in the ear.
While Hikaru replied in a whispered tone, Euphy and Cornelia couldn't understand what she is saying to Nunnally. However, for some reason, Nunnally felt half-relieved before she started crying on Hikaru's chest.
Whatever Hikaru said to Nunnally, it is a mystery. Though if it is about Lelouch, they can only hope that they'll never see him again for awhile since his foolish actions with his Geass nearly tore Euphy and Cornelia apart. At least Hikaru and her friends are able to bring them back together in order to make up for their sins in Area 11. As of now, this will be the time to say goodbye to Hikaru and the heroes of Cephiro and Japan.
"Do you think we'll be able to see Lelouch again?" Nunnally hesitantly said to Hikaru while shaking hands with her.
"Who knows? But may be not until the world has settled down from their hate upon him. Only the gods will know." Hikaru said, feeling skeptical in facing Lelouch vi Britannia. "For now, we might as well forget about him since it will just make everyone else feel uncomfortable."
"I understand. Thank you for everything, Hikaru." Nunnally replied with a smile before Hikaru pulls her hand away from hers softly before
As she looked to face Cornelia and Euphy one more time, Hikaru has one last thing to say to both of them.
"Cornelia, Euphy it's been an honor trying to understand each other in the end. I may still bear sins too but I won't regret doing the right thing for others whether or not they are from enemy countries. After all, we all have something that is worth fighting for. Farewell everyone." Hikaru smiled waved goodbye to the two Britannian Princesses. "Also, you may not forgive him, but Lelouch does want to apologize to both of you for his foolish sins in the end one last time."
After that, Hikaru turned towards the Ikarugi as she proceeded onto the Black Knights ship but not before facing Zero again. The moment Hikaru approached Zero, she nodded towards the masked hero before disappearing into the Black Knights ship.
Just when Zero approached Euphy and Nunnally, the Ikarugi took off to the skies before it flew away from Pendragon. At the same time, Euphy and Nunnally watched the Black Knights ship disappeared towards the horizon as a few tears fell from their eyes seeing their friends leave after their victory against the Demon Emperor of Britannia.
For Zero, he turned to face Euphy as she smiled at him.
"Thanks for helping Hikaru, Suzaku!" Euphy whispered to the masked hero, knowing that Suzaku is the new Zero now.
Before long, Lord Guilford, Claudio, and Darlton appeared from Euphy's side as they all see the Ikarugi depart from Pendragon, with the Magic knights and their followers in tow.
Once the Ikarugi vanishes from the sky, all of the Britannian commanders and Royals went back into the palace to help recreate their nation starting in Pendragon.
Inside Euphy's private room, she and Zero are both alone again. This time, Euphy smiled with joy when Zero takes off his mask, revealing himself to be Suzaku Kururugi.
"Oh Euphy, I'm so glad you're okay!" Suzaku sniffed, as tears came down his eyes. "I'm sorry for everything. I didn't mean to..."
Before Suzaku could say anything else, Euphy held her finger up to his lips.
"It's okay, Suzaku. Hikaru told me everything when I was away. Thankfully, Darlton took care of me during my time away from here." Euphy said, sympathizing with the distraught Knight of Britannia. "You should be grateful that Hikaru gave you another chance to start over again too after this war, right?!"
"Though, its a shame we didn't get the chance to capture Lelouch together." Suzaku muttered in self-pity. "He was hopeless."
"Actually, I think its better that we don't have Lelouch in chains since Clef told me that he had other plans for him." Euphy said, reconsidering her suggestion to Hikaru before the battle in Fort Nirvara. "Besides, I know Lelouch deserves a second chance even if he pushed his luck."
"You mean, you're letting Lelouch go after everything he did to all of us?" Suzaku asked, clarifying over the fate of his former friend.
"It may not be easy but we might as well just leave him be until he can find a way to redeem himself." Euphy added in. "I love you Suzaku. So please, I want to be with you for real this time, since you're the only person that I care about the most along with the remains of my family."
"I love you too, Euphy. I-I guess we both finally understood each other in the end." Suzaku said, as his face lightly blushed.
Just like that, Euphy immediately kissed Suzaku on the lips before they embraced each other as they collapsed on top of their bed in front of them.
Onboard the Ikarugi, with the ship flying away from Pendragon, Hikaru was at her guest quarters where Mokona was waiting for her. As it bounced up and down in a happy mood, the white furball landed into Hikaru's arms much to her glee before looking out to the window.
In a few minutes of looking towards the clouds from the window inside her guest room, Hikaru remembered seeing C.C before escorting the Ikarugi to the palace in Pendragon.
Flashback:
After seeing Lelouch's Shinkiro go down in flames, Hikaru hears her phone beeping inside her right pocket of her Magic Knight armor. As soon as she held it up to her ear, Hikaru hears C.C's voice.
"Good work, Hikaru. Now its time to me to clean Lelouch's mess up." C.C's voice spoke from Hikaru's phone.
"What are you going to do to him?" Hikaru asked, feeling concerned over the fate of Lelouch.
"I'll be sending him far away from Pendragon to help start over again. He'll still be hated by the entire world for the rest of his life, but since he and I are the same, I'll take care of him from now on. You have my word. This will be the last time I will make contact with you. So please, let Nunnally know that he has fulfilled her wish in living in a world of happiness at last. Also, please tell Nunnally goodbye for Lelouch and for me."
"You mean you won't see us again after all this?" Hikaru asked further.
"Not for awhile. But I will be watching you and your friends from afar. After all, you pretty much saved the entire world similiar to what Zero did. So, it is the least you can do in which Lelouch could not. Farewell Lady Hikaru."
It was the last thing C.C said to her before Hikaru's phone call ended. After that, Hikaru looks back at the Shinkiro to see that Clef raised his staff up above Lelouch who is seen still unconscious as the Knightmare's humpback cockpit is exposed on its right due to the damage caused by the Magic Knights' merged Rune God. Clef's staff showered a cone flash on Lelouch's face. However, his staff did not drain Lelouch of his Geass but rather, Clef only casted another spell upon the Britannian that Hikaru and the Magic Knights aren't able to comprehend, at least until Clef explains to them what he just did.
"Girls, I've managed to place a lock spell on his Geass so that Lelouch will no use it anymore, not until I say so."
"Are you sure that's going to work, Clef?!" Umi asked, feeling aghast over such an unexpected twist.
"I still have yet to understand if the power of Geass really is evil or not." Clef added in. "He might as well start over again without using his Geass on innocent people first."
"I see." Hikaru acknowledged Clef's suggestion. "Well, he be better off not around people for awhile since his Geass is what made our war with Britannia worse, at least not until he can learn to control it properly."
"Point taken, Hikaru." Clef replied, in a serious tone. "I'll keep a watch on Lelouch from afar with my visionary spells everyday so that he doesn't try anything to break free from my lock spell. In the mean time, let's met up with the Ikarugi at the rendezvous."
After finishing Clef's sentence, he went on top of the merged Rune God as he held onto its pauldrons before it flew towards the Britannian Palace.
End of Flashback...
Upon remembering what C.C said to Hikaru, the Fire Knight smiled as she felt happy that the war with Cephiro and Britannia is finally over. Not a moment too soon, Lantis appeared from the corridors to see how his girlfriend is doing. When Hikaru turned to face the Magic Swordsman, she smiled as she looked up to see him smile back at her.
"So Hikaru, did you regret what you did to Lelouch?" Lantis asked.
"Maybe so. Well, I never wanted to think that he really is a bad guy. However, everything that he did to make Nunnally happy, he was pretty selfish halfway. It's a shame I can't change him of the way he is. Thankfully, he already did his part to help me change Britannia and Japan where no one needs to suffer anymore." Hikaru said, feeling shaken over what she did to Lelouch.
"I guess there is always a way to make a good start. Of course, we always have to make sacrifices in this war and there is little chance to avoid it." Lantis summarized.
"Actually, I didn't regret teaching Lelouch a lesson since he used us for several controversial reasons. I felt a bit overwhelmed over how he gave Japan a better future in the end. At least we both are happy to start a new life in our world, both of our worlds."
"Well, I guess we can finally start again together if that's okay with you." Lantis smiled as he sat next to Hikaru.
"Sure thing, Lantis." Hikaru said as she giggled at the Magic Swordsman.
Just like that, Lantis and Hikaru both shared a kiss to each other while the Ikarugi continues its course back to Japan..
One Month Later after the battle at Pendragon...
Somewhere in the outskirts outside of the Capital City of Britannia, C.C's truck was heading down a bumby dirt road that led to an abandoned house that was left ruined during the conquest of Emperor Lelouch's reign. It now was seen as a concrete structure with broken glass windows, wooden doors, and the wooden roof still intact.
As soon as the truck stopped, C.C came out only to bring a distraught Lelouch into the house for him to recover. Since C.C is the only person left as Lelouch's ally, it is her job to keep him safe from all the hate that is directly pointed at him. However, C.C still did her best to stay in contact with Shirley Fennette for she is the only person that can keep her and Lelouch informed of the ever-changing world around them.
For Shirley, who is still attending high school back in the Tokyo Settlement, she was able to see Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, and Kallen go back to school with her as they continued to finish up where they left off at Ashford Academy before they graduated with honors, the moment they returned from Pendragon. Apparently, most of the Britannian students still felt nervous in seeing most of them again since they already fought together during the war with Britannia. Not that it matters, the girls are able to settle down peacefully before they start over again with Rivalz, Nina, and Shirley.
Most of the Britannians living in the Tokyo Settlement are now instated to follow new peaceful laws with the Japanese and the Cephirians. Princess Euphemia, who is now Chancellor of the newly formed Britannian Republic, has signed in a peace treaty to Lady Kaguya of Japan, Empress Tianzi of China, and to Ferio and Clef of Cephiro. With all three leaders able to come to an understanding, they mostly focused on finding ways to resolve any political and economic disputes. For Nunnally and Cornelia, they both did their best to carry out Euphy's wish to maintain their peaceful relationships with their neighbors during their constructive reformation in the Republic, with Nunnally as the Senator of the Republic.
After Ohgi married Viletta, he became the new Prime Minister of Japan aiding Lady Kaguya in negotiating peace treaties with the reformed Britannian Republic.
For Magic Knight's friends and allies, the Fahrenians, Chizetians, and the Autozamians went back to their respective homelands via Sakuradite Gateway at the Tokyo Settlement while the some of the Cephirians stayed in Area 11 to help the Japanese and the reformed Britannians rebuild what was destroyed during their foolish war; this is already decided after Euphy signed in the peace treaty. Back in Cephiro, most of the inhabitants there are rejoicing in another celebration at their castle as they once again honored the Magic Knights and the Black Knights of their heroic deeds in defeating the demons of Britannia.
As for the Black Knights, they all retired from the war before Tamaki and his friends are able to settle down in opening up several restaurants and bars to honor their savior Zero. Ever since Hikaru told them about the true virtue of Zero, they know now that Zero's legacy will live on in all of their hearts. Of course, they rather not bother with how Lelouch posed as Zero since he made himself a bad example of. Not that it matters, the Black Knights still regarded Hikaru and the Cephirians as inspiring heroes too. In fact, the true purpose of Zero is still carried out to Cephiro and its allied countries. There may be difficulties on portraying who will be a better hero than Zero himself but Tamaki and Kallen both understood one thing, every world has heroes that will always rise from the ashes no matter how grim or how deceiving things can get.
At the memorial site, Hikaru was seen standing in front of a tall grave. She is now wearing a red tank top with a medium-sized black skirt and orange tennis shoes. However, because she is no longer fighting anyone in Area 11 during the days of peace, Hikaru has put her magic glove away back in her dorm and away from everyone's reach, considering herself unarmed for now. As of today, Hikaru resumes living her life as an ordinary student in Ashford Academy once again.
After looking down at the gravestones in front of her feet, Hikaru felt a bit anxious on what will ever become of the world she is living in. She may have helped her friends bring down the Demon Emperor of Britannia, she may have saved Japan from Britannia as well as reforming the latter from their fight against Hikaru and her friends. However, it is just like when Hikaru abolished the pillar system from Cephiro after defeating Lady Debonair, she can only hope to hearing the stories of how Britannia will change after learning how their power will destroy themselves from the inside when the dark witch and Lelouch took over their Empire.
Before she can make statements, Suzaku made his appearance from behind the Fire Knight. As Hikaru turned towards him, he was seen wearing a dark-blue sweater, a green T-shirt, and brown pants. Even as Euphy's Knight, he still drops by via Shuttle in the Tokyo Settlement every month to see how Hikaru and her friends at school are doing. When he approached to the tall grave, he stood there in a blank expression on his face. Just like Hikaru, Suzaku is also unarmed since he is just only taking a detour around the memorial site, off-duty for the moment.
"So Hikaru, do you think Lelouch really learned his lesson?" Suzaku hesitantly asked.
"Who can say. Since Clef locked sealed his Geass away, Lelouch can never hurt anyone ever again." Hikaru replied reluctantly as she looked at the grave too. "But I still think that because of him, we both are able to free Japan from the corrupted Empire of Britannia."
"Yet, you still spared me and the rest of those that tried to hurt you in the end?" Suzaku said, trying to point out Hikaru's actions.
"Suzaku, we can never live happily if we keep hurting each other back and forth. The war with Britannia, Cephiro, and Japan does have to stop somewhere after all. From what Schneizel told me, me and my friends only did what we had to do to show them what will happen if they keep abusing their power. In fact, it is all part of Lelouch's plan since they almost did what Lady Debonair did. You know what I mean, right?!" Hikaru continued on.
"Yeah, I know. I don't trust Lady Debonair either. Ever since I met her in-person, she was even more crazier than Marrybell Mel Britannia. I only went with Lelouch's plan because the only way to bring down the Britannian Empire is by giving them a taste of their own medicine." Suzaku said, showing his true colors over the evil witch. "What did you guys do after dealing with Debonair?"
"Clef sealed away her evil spiritual essence inside an orb, imprisoning Debonair forever before sending it into the void where she will never reach her hand towards Cephiro or our world ever again. In fact, I was able to help Clef lock Debonair into the void permanently. There, Debonair will not use her dark magic to break herself free anymore; she is stuck there for life."
"Now that we are able to defeat both Lelouch and Debonair, we both might as well start our friendship all over again." Hikaru said as she smiled at the Honorable Britannian.
"I'm still skeptical over Lelouch's future after his defeat, though."
"Let's not give it another thought, Suzaku. He's already done enough." Hikaru retorted. "Not that it matters, I'll still pray that one day he will find a way to more good than bad. Anyway, what you going to do from here on out?"
"I'll do my best to protect Euphy and Nunnally at Princess Cornelia's request. And by the way, she wanted me to give you this!" Suzaku said as he handed Hikaru a purple, rectangular case.
Upon seeing it, Hikaru took the case before opening it up. Inside it, Hikaru sees a small picture of Euphemia smiling with joy, along with her Knight badge. Before she knew it, Hikaru sees some writing at the back of Euphy's picture.
"Hikaru, please regard these as a token of your honorable deeds to me and my sister. It may not be what you'd expect since my sister had a bad start with you years ago. However, your efforts of bringing Cornelia to her senses has actually paid off. As a representative of the Britannian Republic, she swore an oath to me to serve and protect those regardless of cultural background. We'll only keep Pendragon as part of our main territory. For the rest of the lands that used to be occupied by our brethren, we'll let them go free without anymore charges. We'll make sure that Japan and Cephiro stay independent from here on out since we will do our best to protect both nations under our banner of friendship. Godspeed, my friend. I'll stay in touch with you in case anything happens out there. Thank you for accepting me as my friend."
After reading Euphy's writing, Hikaru smiled as a tear fell from her eye. As she wiped her tear drop away, Hikaru turned to look back to see Suzaku only to realize that he was no where to be seen anymore. Its as if he disappeared like a ghost after giving Hikaru that case. Either way, Hikaru felt relieved that she is finally able to live in a world of peace with Japan, Britannia, and Cephiro. In her final moments in the memorial site, Hikaru looks up to the sky as she smiled while seeing the birds fly above her before they disappear into the distance.
"Lelouch Lamperouge, I know you're still out there." Hikaru thought to herself. "I can't say I was happy with what you did to me and my friends during our fight to defend Cephiro and Japan from Britannia. However, all I can say is you have already done more than enough to pay for the debts in making both our worlds a better place to live in. As a Knight fighting for Cephiro and for Japan, it is my duty to protect those that wished for happiness and for peace while fighting against my country's enemies at the battlefront. So, if you had any reason to be a hero again, I can only hope you'd try harder not to disappoint me again the next we meet. With that said, goodbye Lelouch."
In taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment, Hikaru opened her eyes as she smiled and walked out of the memorial site before triumphantly making her way towards the exit, disappearing into the bright sunlight...
The End...
*Author's Note: This may be the only ending I can think of after going over everything that I went through to post this story. It couldn've been better but it's just a work in progress. So, if you're not satisfied on where this headed, then know this: The real reason why I posted Knight's Battlefront parts 1 and 2 is because I wanted to do my best to create a better ending apart from the Canon Code Geass. Also, its just only an experimental story that includes a scenario of what will happen if the Magic Knights intercepted the forces of Britannia as heroes instead of just Zero himself. For Euphy and Shirley, the reason why I spared them from death is because they all deserve to live happy above the sins that their loved ones committed when achieving their goals in changing the world. For the Magic Knights, I hoped that they will put their well-being to good use in protecting their world from those that threaten to tear their loved ones apart in Japan.
I may have some flaws in posting these stories, but I was imagining all of this in my head ever since I finished watching Code Geass and Rayearth. So, please regard me kindly for doing so. Anyway, thanks for reading Knights' Battlefront.*