Chapter 19: "Transgression" V – The Collapsing Stage I
Cornelia and her men lined up Tokyo Settlement's city perimeter in preparation to go on direct confrontation with the Black Knights. "I'll have vengeance for my sister Euphemia, and I'll take it right here and now, Zero!" Cornelia snarls with a beautiful yet dangerous smirk on her face, fury burning her soul, "Fairly, out in the open, and face to face!"
Sadly, vastly different from Cornelia's pursuit for a fair and square battle on the battlefield, Lelouch was a man who only cared about the result and nothing about the means to achieve it. As he continued to broadcast his ultimatum to Britannia through the open channel, a group of selected underground control room operators across Tokyo Settlement were possessed by Lelouch's Geass power upon hearing the phrase "surrender to me": they started to input commands into their computers.
"Hey, what're you doing?! Stop it! You know what'll happen if you do that?" Another operator was surprised by what the geassed operator was doing, trying to stop him.
"Would you please not interfere?" the geassed operator demanded.
The normal operator exclaimed, "This is no time to be screwing around! If you don't stop it…"
BANG!
The geassed operator said nothing more but immediately pulled out a gun and shot the normal operator in the head, instantly killing him. In another control room, another geassed operator gunned down all of her other colleagues and was punching the commands into the computer as instructed by Lelouch.
Not knowing any of this happening, Cornelia ordered her army to assume position to fire. She was ready to tear the Gawain into pieces and drag Zero out to have him to answer to his crimes, ranging from his insurgence against Britannia to committing regicide against the 3rd Prince and 3rd Princess of the Empire.
"Wait, why were those operators affected by Geass even though he was not there?" Chiba is surprised, "Lelouch could geass people from a distance?"
"Those are probably delayed or latent commands cast on those operators," Rakshata observes, "recall when Lelouch was discussing with Diethard about getting collaborators within the Government of Area 11 during the Ashford School festival? He said he got 72% of it completed and we didn't know what he meant back then. Now we know."
"He had been working behind the scene even before the announcement of the founding of the SAZ?" Kallen has long known that Lelouch is smart, but she is still stunned by the length Lelouch went into. After the "Euphemia shock", Kallen has calmed down a bit and while she still blames herself for blindly trusting Zero and wronged Euphemia to the point where she almost killed the Princess out of false fury, the Red Lotus of the Black Knights has reluctantly come to terms that from the Black Knights' point of view, what Lelouch did after his gigantic hiccup was indeed the best course of action in terms of achieving their overall objective of liberating Japan from Britannia, however morally incomprehensible and regrettable it was to stomp on Euphemia's dead body in doing so. At the same time, however, she is also sad that Lelouch kept so many secrets behind everyone in the Black Knights, fully showing how distrustful he was to his comrades-in-arm: not even the Captain of the Zero Squad, who led Zero's "Imperial Guard" as Lelouch had described it during the reorganization meeting inside the submarine, knew anything about his plan.
Cornelia stares at the screen as it confirms her guess earlier when she saw that conversation between Diethard and Lelouch. She wouldn't mind being defeated by Lelouch if he did prevail as the smarter and more capable military leader between the two, but to lose her men to a cheating supernatural power that also corrupted her dearest Euphemia and her trusted general Darlton is simply something that she cannot accept.
Seeing his liege tenses up upon the scene, Guilford whispers into Cornelia's ears, "Your Highness, the fact that Lelouch had to resort to the evil power of Geass to fight us actually indicates that even he himself admitted that you are the better military general, and he could not have dealt any effective damage to us without that supernatural power of his."
Cornelia sighs and nods to her knight, giving him a smile to show her appreciation for the consolation even though she is not entirely sure whether Guilford is right on that, seeing how Lelouch had actually, from a military tactical point of view, perfectly utilized Euphemia's massacre against the Japanese to its fullest effect despite his own emotional struggles in doing so.
The clock hit midnight, and all the geassed operators turn the switches in their respective control rooms, opening the covering pieces of the Tokyo Settlement and causing a large part of it to collapse, dragging Cornelia's army down in the process.
"What?" Cornelia was shocked as her Gloucester started to free-falling down the collapsing settlement. Her army free-fell with her, the climbing VTOLs destroyed as they crashed into some rising structure, and buildings across the settlement plunged to the ground, paralyzing the core part of the Britannian settlement in Area 11.
Ashford Academy was one of the few places not affected by the collapsing operation that Lelouch had instigated, but the students there can still feel the ground shaking. Shirley and Rivalz both knelt down and stayed beside the table; Milly went down on both of her knees and hugged a frightened Nunnally; Authur the cat stayed alert to the surroundings.
"A layered structure, built to be earthquake resistant," Lelouch smirked sinisterly, "However, if you demolish all of the floor sections simultaneously, you won't find anything to be more fragile. By lining up the city's perimeter to engage the Black Knights, you sealed your fate."
"I'm not beaten yet!" Cornelia bellowed, sweat appeared on her angered face. She quickly fired the slash harkens towards the nearest stable structure and stabilized her Gloucester, though it became unavoidable that her army's formation was falling apart and lost their ability to launch any assault at the invading Black Knights.
"Zero, you are amazing...!" Tamaki was in awe of what happened before his very eyes.
"Wow, did they destroy the entire settlement?" Kaguya was also amazed by what she saw as she sat on the throne of the G1.
"I heard only the outer perimeter was affected," Diethard answered as he stood besides Kaguya, "There are some facilities in it we're going to need later." The renegade Britannian journalist then thought to himself, 'Still, how did Zero succeed in getting the underground collaborators to cooperate with us? Was it true that the real identity of Zero was that man abandoned by the Empire?' he then smirked in excitement, 'That's just fantastic! He would definitely create a new world in place!'
"Muhahahahahaha…" inside the Gawain, Lelouch was pleased to see how Cornelia's defence line crumbled so easily and laughed sinisterly, "That will do. Once we broadcast images to the world of their Government Palace falling to us, along with our Declaration of Independence, then he'll be forced to face me." 'And if I can get him… get the Britannian Emperor to face me one-on-one... no one can resist my Geass power!'
The former Black Knight members look at the screen and finally gets to know what was behind that miraculous collapse of the outer perimeter of the Britannian settlement in Tokyo.
"Tsch, so it was just the power of Geass that made that happen," Tamaki spats. The contrast of his reaction to the "miracle" on-screen and off-screen is pretty much like the reaction when one uncovers the real trick behind a seemingly impossible magic show.
"Still, it was pretty impressive that Lelouch had it so well-planned and executed," Kallen comments and tries to dispel the negative feelings towards Lelouch by praising how well-thought out Lelouch was in initiating the Black Rebellion, though she also has complicated feelings about it after learning the truth behind it, and frustrated at her past self for never questioning how Zero achieved what he achieved, but only blindly following his lead without even knowing who he was or what his real objective was.
Tohdoh, however, catches something else. 'Lelouch's real objective was not Japan's independence or freedom, but to use it as a means to force the Britannian Emperor to face him off. That means even if the Black Rebellion was a success, instead of regaining its independence, Japan would still be a pawn to someone else, and what's worse, that "someone else" would still be a member of the Britannian Imperial Family…' Todoh muses. Unlike his anti-Britannian wife, Tohdoh may feel that his personal honour was scarred by unwittingly aiding Lelouch to wrong an innocent young girl who genuinely wanted to help the Japanese, he nevertheless acknowledges the fact that Lelouch's military strategy to exploit Euphemia's massacre was unquestionably the most appropriate and to-the-point act for the Black Knights to achieve what they wanted at that point of time – there was simply no better way to go by. Nevertheless, the esteemed Japanese general still tightens his fists as he realizes that no matter the outcome of the failed Rebellion, his countrymen would still be hostages to someone who cared nothing about their welfare.
On the other side of the auditorium, Rivalz is once again shocked by the audacity of his friend. "He actually wanted to directly fight the Emperor? That's insane!" the blue-haired boy exclaimed.
"Did you forget he publicly proclaimed he killed the Emperor in front of international broadcast?" Milly reminds her friend.
"Well, I guess you're right…" Rivalz mutters.
Lelouch started to give out orders to the Black Knights, a notable one being the Zero Squad was to take over Ashford Academy and made it its command centre, with Ohgi to coordinate things there. Kallen was surprised and shocked by such decision, worrying about the safety of her friends in the student council, while Ohgi seemed distracted as he was dialing his phone and did not respond until Zero called his name again.
The screen then cut to Ohgi's apartment, where three Japanese rioters who broke into Ohgi's apartment were shown being killed and laid on the floor, and a phone was left ringing on the floor. Villetta was seen walking out of the apartment.
"You killed the Japanese?" Tamaki barks at Villetta.
"I…" Villetta does not have a good answer to that; back then, she was simply a loyal Britannian soldier who just got back her memory, and it was the most natural thing for her to do, especially when those rioters were clearly ready to assault her.
"Please! Tamaki!" Ohgi jumps in the conversation to defend his wife, "Those people were trying to hurt Chigusa! It was self-defence!"
As Ohgi and Tamaki are still arguing, Kallen recalls that part of her memory and finally understands why Lelouch sent the Zero Squad to Ashford Academy. 'It was all to protect Nunnally, right?' she muses with a tint of sadness as she is once again reminded about the real worth of the Black Knights and Japan's independence in Lelouch's mind.
Nunnally also looks at the scene where her elder brother ordered the Zero Squad to take over Ashford Academy as its command centre, and she immediately knows why her brother issued such an order. 'Big Brother wanted to protect me with his own force…' she muses with the same complex emotion she has just experienced during the scene when Lelouch was wallowing in remorse after he had done all those hideous things to Euphemia, Nunnally's favourite sister. Knowing what Lelouch did towards the end of his life, Nunnally still loves her only full-blooded elder brother dearly, but that doesn't mean she can forgive what he had done to the young Empress' favourite sister. 'I see… this must be the strong contradictory feelings that went through Big Brother's mind back then…' Nunnally muses with sadness.
The Gawain took out a large chunk of Britannian air forces, and Lelouch started to issue the next set of orders. The senior officers of the Black Knights moved accordingly.
Meanwhile, the Britannian Cabinet convened to discuss the insurgence in Area 11, chaired by First Prince Odysseus eu Britannia on behalf of the Emperor. The situation was getting worse by minute as the intelligence confirmed that the Chinese Federation also got involved by sending their navy across the East China Sea.
"Even the Chinese Federation is involved…" Odysseus was getting more and more worried about the situation, "and His Majesty is not around in these trying times…"
Schneizel, hearing his elder brother's complaint, looked down at the table with a serious facial expression.
"Your Highness, our troops are standing by ready for deployment. Please select a commander to lead the troops," the Secretary of State for War stood up and advised Odysseus.
However, Odysseus was hesitant. "We mustn't be too hasty here. What Euphemia did was clearly an abominable blunder. Handle this rashly, and it may spread to every Area," the Frist Prince stuttered.
"Your Highness, we must go to help Princess Cornelia…" the War Secretary insisted, but before he could finish his sentence, Schneizel interjected, "Big Brother, I will go."
"You will go? Splendid!" Odysseus said with joy.
"Doesn't it sadden you to see people killing each other?" Schneizel responded.
"Tsch! As if he really cared about seeing the Japanese being killed!" Tamaki spats at Schneizel's words. What a hypocrite he was, the Prime Minister of Britannia, to say that?
"Wait, Tamaki, Prince Schneizel isn't…" Ohgi tries to defend who he thinks to be the only good man in Britannia, but he is cut off before he can finish his sentence.
"He probably meant to say that it saddened him to see Britannians being killed," Chiba cuts in with a sarcastic tone.
"I ask that you would refrain from further insulting His Highness," Guilford voices out against the two Japanese who kept berating a current living member of the Imperial Family. Even though Guilford does not hold Schneizel with high regard after learning from Nonette Enneagram, the then Knight of Nine, of how Schneizel had gunned Cornelia down in the Damocles, his secondary loyalty to Britannia still propels him to defend the honour of the 2nd Prince of Britannia in face of unworthy assaults from someone like Tamaki.
"What? We're just speaking the truth…" Tamaki insists, trying to finally look cool in front of everyone else. However, his effort is in vain when Zero steps in.
"That's quite enough. We shouldn't drag on it and instead focus on the discs. After all, it's better to watch the truth than to guess it from thin air," Zero asserts.
Tamaki hisses, but keeps quiet and lets everyone focuses back onto the screen.
The Black Knights gradually took control of all TV stations, key transport junctures and, most importantly, Ashford Academy. Tamaki led his group into the Ashford Academy Student Council room, holding Milly, Rivalz, Shirley, Nunnally and Authur at gunpoint. "Hands up and turn around!" Tamaki exclaimed with a big smile, finally feeling himself important, "The Black Knights control the school. All of you are now our hostages!"
"Low… lower the guns!" Rivalz cried out as he stood before the other three girls and extended his arms, protecting them from Tamaki. On the bench, Arthur crouched and hissed, its tail tucked high up, ready to strike Tamaki if he hurt his human friends.
Tamaki sneered, "Huh? That's a hell of a thing to say in this situation?"
"Rivalz…" Milly whispers, trying her best as President of the Student Council to protect her blue-haired friend.
"C'mon, let me be cool for once, okay?" Rivalz muttered back before he once again turn his head to Tamaki, "I'll protect everyone!"
"Oh, is that so?" Tamaki yelled with excitement, raising his gun and ready to strike at Rivalz's head. Rivalz closed his eyes and turned his head away.
"Stop it!" a commanding, metallic voice rang from behind the room, catching everyone's attention. It was Zero accompanied by a red-haired female soldier of the Black Knights whose face was covered. "I expressly told you to avoid violence," the masked terrorist reprimanded Tamaki.
"Yeah, but you also told us this is going to be our command centre, didn't you?" Tamaki lowered his gun as he questioned Zero's decision not to be violent to some measly Britannian students. This shocked Milly and Rivalz.
"I shall guarantee that none of you will be harmed," Zero explained to the Student Council President.
"How… how can we believe you? You are at war with us Britannians! We're enemies, remember?" Rivalz exclaimed, questioning the trustworthiness of Zero's words.
Seeing things had come to a stalemate, the red-haired female solder decided to act up. "Rivalz, please, do what he says," she said as she took off the face coverer, revealing her true face.
"Kallen?" Shirley exclaimed, shocking all other Student Council members. "That means… Lulu was indeed a member of the Black Knights?" she mutters in shock realization.
"You were such an asshole, Tamaki," Rakshata chides, "threatening a group of armless students."
"What? No! I was cool as hell!" Tamaki yells. That's the few scenes where he speaks so much and so confidently by himself!
"The real cool guy was that young school boy, who despite lacking any weapons, physique or supernatural power, was still willing to stand up and protect his friends," Rakshata ignores Tamaki and turns her head to the blue-haired boy, "Mr Cardemonde, isn't it?"
"Yes, ma'am," Rivalz responds to the Indian scientist.
"Good job there. I applaud you," Rakshata is straightforward in her compliment to the young man.
"Geez… thanks," Rivalz scratches his head and blushes a bit, which earns some chuckling from the tall Indian scientist.
Separately, Gino is surprised to see that Kallen was so willing to sacrifice everything for Zero. "Kallen, you were willing to sacrifice your friendship with the Student Council members just for a man whose identity was not known to you?" Gino asks incredulously.
"Uh… I… I…" Kallen stutters. 'How blind was I to Zero? Geez!' Kallen is embarrassed by her past self. She really wasn't thinking straight back then…
"Shirley, why would you deduce that Lelouch was a member of the Black Knights simply because you saw Kallen was one of them?" Milly finds an interesting point to poke fun of her orange-haired friend.
"Eh… I observed that both Kallen and Lulu were often absent from school at the same time, so I thought that if Kallen was a member of the Black Knights, than Lulu must be one of them as well. I just wasn't imaginative enough to think that Lulu was actually Zero…" Shirley says weakly.
"…recorded," Anya takes a photo of a timid Shirley with her camera.
At the front row, Nunnally frowns as she sees the scene she was not able to back then. 'I had a feeling that the sound of the footsteps was familiar, but I refused to believe my perception back then. Would things have turned out better if I could stop him right there?'
In a separate room, the Black Knights were having a videoconference with Xingke Li, Xianglin Zhou and Gu Hong, representatives of the Chinese Federation. Xingke, a tall and incredibly handsome man with long black hair, informed the Black Knights that Hai Gao, one of the eight High Eunuchs, had promised that as long as the Black Knights could occupy the Area 11 Government Palace, the Chinese Federation would back the Black Knights up as agreed previously. This got the members of the Black Knights excited, and they cheered at the good news. Ohgi bowed and thanked Xingke for the support.
"Xingke…" Tianzi looks at the image of her deceased most trusted and closest general and felt sad. If it wasn't for his effort to overthrow the High Eunuchs, Tianzi would have been married off to Britannian 1st Prince Odysseus as a political hostage, and would never have obtained the freedom she now thoroughly enjoys. Kaguya notices that her young friend is saddened upon seeing the image of the young Chinese girl's favourite deceased Chinese general, and she gently hugs Tianzi to comfort her.
Guilford watches the scene and finally understands what happened after the Black Rebellion. 'No wonder the Black Knights were able to retreat that fast into the Chinese Federation after their failure in assaulting the Tokyo Settlement, avoiding being caught and tried by us.'
Meanwhile, an enraged Suzaku was piloting his Lancelot and eliminating his enemies one by one, this time without the usual mercy he displayed to his opponents.
"Where is Zero? I am going to kill Zero!" he yelled furiously as he recalled what he had been told back on the Britannian airship.
-Flashback on the Brtiannian airship-
"Geass?" Suzaku stood up and asked incredulously. He was still trying to rein in his greatly shaken emotion right after witnessing Euphemia dying before him, but what he had been told shocked him to the core, his reflexively stood up upon hearing it from the little boy with long blond hair who named himself V.V.
"That's right. Zero possesses a supernatural power," V.V. told Suzaku in a matter-of-fact voice, but he somehow displayed a sadistic smile while talking.
"It can't be…" Suzaku couldn't believe it. What nonsense was this little boy talking about?
"Then how do you explain Princess Euphemia's sudden and drastic change?" V.V. continued, "What about you, a man who always follows the rules? How'd you account for your actions on Shikine Island? In short…"
-End of Flashback-
'The power to control people and erase their memories… When you think about it, it makes sense and explains everything that's happened till now,' a furious Villetta was navigating herself across the remains of the crumbled parts of the Tokyo Settlement, remembering what happened to her so far. 'And as a result of its aftereffects, I fell in love with a damned Eleven! That student, Lelouch Lamperouge, he's responsible for all of it!'
"Villetta, you already knew about the power of Geass all the way back then?" Kallen asks curiously.
"Not entirely, I didn't know the name of that power," Villetta answers, "but I deduced how that power works once I regained my memories."
"AHA! It seems your views about the Prime Minister has changed drastically since then," Lloyd quips, causing the former Britannian baroness and current First Lady of Japan to blush hard. "I… I had just had my memory recovered, so I was in a stage of strong self-denial…" Villetta stutters.
"At least it turns out to be on the good side of things eventually," Cornelia comments, smiling at Villetta. "After all, there is simply much more in life than nobility and occupational rank." The purple princess adds.
Villetta still blushes, but nods and thanks the warrior princess for being so understanding to her relationship with Ohgi.
Meanwhile, Guilford is perplexed as to why V.V. told Suzaku everything about Geass, since his princess has just informed the group not long ago that V.V. was the mastermind behind the evil power of Geass. It didn't make sense to him that the mastermind behind the evil power of Geass would be so frank in telling Suzaku about Lelouch's evil power and, remarkably, did not lie. "Your Highness, I don't understand why this V.V. told Suzaku about the whole truth about the Geass power. If he was the mastermind behind the Geass power, wouldn't it be a problem for someone like Kururugi to learn about a supposedly secret supernatural power? And why would Kururugi be so trusting to a stranger like V.V.?"
Cornelia thinks for a bit before she replies, "I have no idea why V.V. would have done that either, but I'd say that he's very persuasive in his description of the Geass power that it would be difficult for Kururugi to refute it, since Kururugi himself experienced the power firsthand when he was in Shikine Island. Also, what happened to… to Euphy had probably greatly shaken his mind as well, making him prone to accepting arguments that one would be sceptical of under normal circumstance."
The Lancelot kept rushing across the battlefield, but was eventually stopped by the Guren.
"We meet in battle once again! I'm sorry, but this time you're going to die!" Kallen bellowed. She wanted to settle the score with Suzaku once and for all.
"Everyone's fooled! You, the Japanese… he's lying to all of you!" Suzaku, now knowing the power the masked terrorist possessed, bellowed back.
Unfortunately, Suzaku, owing to his allegiance to the wrongly accused "Princess Massacre", had zero credibility to persuade a zealous Zero loyalist such as Kallen. "I can't put up with that ignorant dribble, and what do you even know about Zero anyway?" Kallen scowled.
"Well, tell me what you know about him, then!" Suzaku finally lost his patience and started attacking the Guren as he went on, "tell me, where is Zero now!"
The Guren, lacking a floating device and in face of Suzaku's wrath, was at a disadvantage when battling the Lancelot. However, Kallen was as adamant to protect Zero as Suzaku was to kill Zero to avenge his wronged princess, and so she simply snarled, "Like I'd tell that to a filthy traitor like you!"
"Then you shall be finished here!" Suzaku exclaimed. He piloted the Lancelot to take a dive and hit the Guren to the ground, fully utilizing his machine's airborne ability. However, Kallen, being an ace pilot herself, smartly used the Radiant Wave Surger to hop the Guren out of the Lancelot's attack range, catching the Lancelot's left arm in the process.
"I've got you," Kallen was ready to microwave Suzaku into a chicken nugget and pressed the button. "Die!"
However, Suzaku, also being an ace pilot, quickly disarmed the Lancelot's left arm and swung the right, firing the MVS at the Guren's giant metallic right claw and destroyed it. Kallen suffered from the shock and screamed in pain.
"Now tell me, where is Zero?" Suzaku kept asking the same question and would not stop until he got an answer.
"I hate pushy men, you know," Kallen hissed.
"I see," Suzaku finally lost all his patience for Kallen and pointed his MVS at the disabled Guren, "Say your last words now."
"Wait!" Zero's voice suddenly rang across the battlefield; the Gawain was floating not far from both the Lancelot and the Guren. Kallen was surprised to see its presence.
"Suzaku Kururugi, I was too naive to have insisted you could be my ally. To resolve this once and for all, I propose a one-on-one duel," Zero declared.
"No qualms from me," Suzaku bellowed.
The present Kallen watches this segment with great embarrassment and shame. Once again, her past self was so ready to throw away her life for someone she didn't even know. What's worse, Suzaku was right this one time – she was being lied to and used by the man she was protecting!
"How ironic, the 'Knight of Error' was actually right this time," Rakshata comments, "it's just that the guy had zero credibility that no one would believe him."
"What were you thinking, Kallen?" Milly scolds, "Why were you so willing to throw away your life like that, especially you didn't know for whom your life was to be thrown away?"
"We would be so sad if you were dead! You are our friend!" Shirley exclaims as well, still can't believe her friend and schoolmate was so close to death. She is not happy to see how Kallen wanted to kill Suzaku either, but that takes a back seat when the final result of the battle is shown to be Suzaku on the verge of killing Kallen, only to be stopped by Zero.
"I… I wasn't thinking straight back then, sorry guys," Kallen is again embarrassed.
"Well, Kallen, you really oughta…" Gino is going to lecture Kallen again for her blind loyalty to Lelouch.
"I…" Kallen has no words to say. It is one thing for her to overcome the "Euphemia shock" and acknowledge Lelouch's decision post-SAZ massacre as the most appropriate one despite swallowing a large moral guilt pill down the throat for knowingly and despicably wronging an innocent girl in doing so; it is another thing to reconcile her thoughts about Lelouch when on the one hand, she has been suffering the question of what she actually meant to Lelouch, while on the other hand, somewhere deep in her heart, she still loves the enigmatic raven-haired boy who is so difficult to understand.
Behind Nunnally, Zero is also reflecting upon seeing the scene from a third person perspective. 'Credibility is like cash; it is king. I must always keep in mind that credibility is and always will be the most important asset for me to fulfill my duty as the faceless avatar of justice.'
Meanwhile, Cornelia was back in the Area 11 Government Palace, redeploying her troops to fend off the Black Knights.
"Instruct Lord Crane to fall back. Set up a defence line on the railway station grounds," Cornelia ordered, and an officer took the order and ran off to execute it.
"Princess Cornelia," Guilford's image appeared on a big screen, showing him in front of a group of Knightmare Frames on the battlefield, "I've completed our formation. How should we proceed with the line of defence around the Government Palace?"
"You are to hold your position, Guilford," Cornelia instructed her knight, "If we can just drag this battle out, it'll only go badly for the Black Knights."
"Yes, Your Highness," Guilford saluted as the screen went off.
Cornelia then turned to the Glaston Knights. "Did my elder brother mention anything?"
"His Highness said the Pacific Fleet should arrive in approximately 75 hours," one of the knights said.
"Also, the Sado and Torishima Air Divisions have already been deployed within Area 11," another knight reported.
"Meaning that they should be here in about 30 minutes…" Cornelia narrowed her eyes to consider her options, and quickly made up her mind. "Leak this information to the Black Knights!" she ordered, surprising the Glaston Knights.
"After that, you'll join Guilford in the defence line protecting the Government Palace," Cornelia continued as she turned towards the corridor.
"Your Highness, what about you?" a knight asked.
Cornelia narrowed her eyes dangerously and smirked, "Oh, I'll be preparing a 'party'."
Nunnally is a bit shocked at Cornelia's last expression on the screen. 'I have never seen Big Sister smirked like that before…'
Guilford suddenly has a bad feeling about the "party" Cornelia was talking about, since the videoconference was the last time he saw his liege before they finally met again on Horai Island more than a year later. "Your Highness, what did you mean when you said 'prepare a party'?"
"You'll see," Cornelia knows where Guilford is coming from, but to avoid giving lengthy explanation, she chooses to leave it to the discs to show her knight what exactly happened after their last formal meeting in the Tokyo Settlement.
Tohdoh watches how Cornelia deployed her troops and nods inwardly. 'She is indeed a competent military leader who's able to see the big picture and make good use of her troops. Now that Britannia is no longer a threat to the world, it would be wonderful if she could join the Black Knights and help with our operations, training our troops and grooming future military leaders.'
Meanwhile, Bartley and his team was trying their best to subjugate the berserk Jeremiah, but to no avail. At the same time, the VTOL carrying Darlton's Knightmare Frame dropped the general's Gloucester on some nicely laid out ground, presumably inside the Government Palace. Darlton groaned in pain as he used his left hand to press against the wound to prevent blood from oozing out.
'Darlton… damn you Lelouch!' Cornelia feels sad for her loyal friend and angry towards how malicious Lelouch was in exploiting and humiliating the distinguished general.
In Ashford Academy, Ohgi was coordinating logistics for the Black Knights. Suddenly, some foot soldiers came and reported that they have apprehended someone suspicious.
"Is it one of the students? Don't worry, let him go. We haven't got a reason to hold him here," Ohgi said.
"No, this one was caught sneaking in through the rear gate," answered the foot soldier.
"Sneaking in… huh?" Ohgi turned around and was shocked by what he saw. It was Villetta fixing a stern stare at him!
'Chigusa…' Ohgi mused. He decided to take her out from the rest of the Black Knights and bring her under his protection. "She… she's a collaborator who reports directly to me," he started to lie to his comrades to protect the woman he fell in love with, "Take her into one of the unoccupied rooms, and I'll hear her report there."
"AHA! You really love your future husband I see!" Lloyd quips at the sight of Villetta fixing a stern stare at Ohgi on the screen.
"Such passionate optic beams emitting to the man of your dreams," Rakshata joins the fun.
"…" Villetta's face reddens quickly, not knowing what to say. 'This is so embarrassing…!' she screams inwardly. Next to her, Ohgi isn't doing much better either and he opts to stay quiet because he simply doesn't know what to say to the scene.
Meanwhile, Milly, Rivalz, Shirley and Nunnally were house arrested inside the Student Council Room, Milly and Rivalz worrying about Nina and Kallen.
"We should be fine," Shirley uncharacteristically sank into deep thought, surprising Milly and Rivalz, "The Black Knights — or Zero, rather — they absolutely won't do anything to harm us," the orange-haired girl continued in a serious tone.
"But how can you be so sure of that?" Rivalz asked incredulously.
"Coward!" Before Shirley could have answered, Suzaku's voice came through his speaker on the Lancelot, drawing the attention of the Student Council members to outside the window. What they saw shocked them – the Gawain was right outside the window, aiming its slash harkens directly at them!
"You take them as your hostages? What sort of one-on-one fight is this?" Suzaku was infuriated at how Zero casually used his innocent friends as his meat shield.
"Sadly, I don't have any aesthetical sense in terms of morals," Lelouch shot back as he stared at his monitor intently, timing his words as he confirmed Sayako's position, "Now, surrender to me, Lord Kururugi!"
"Hey! Isn't that the black Knightmare Frame that's been all over the news lately?" Rivalz looked scared at the sight of seeing a Knightmare Frame taking aim at them.
"No way… Zero's targeting at us…?" Shirley is aghast as well. "It can't be! It can't be! If that's the case, then…!" she screamed.
"First, he killed his innocent sister in cold blood and exploited her to a tee, and now he's using his own friends as hostages?" Gino exclaims. He knows Lelouch was ruthless, but he'd never thought that the raven-haired boy would have stooped this low. "What a coward!"
Milly, Rivalz and Shirley all recall what happened back then as they see this scene being shown on the screen. Now that they know Zero's true identity was Lelouch, it chills their spines, especially Shirley's, to realize that they were as sacrificial to Lelouch as any other pawns he had sacrificed. "How could he do that to us? How could he?" Shirley screams as tears come out of her eyes. She has been Lelouch's staunchest supporter until now, but even she can't take it anymore. Milly immediately tends to her orange-haired friend, though the blonde herself was also shocked by the revelation on how cruel and heartless her friend and secret love interest really was.
"Tsch! What a scumbag!" Villetta snorts, equally shocked by Lelouch's callousness in taking her students as hostages. Sure, she was a Britannian military woman and by no means a saint, but what Lelouch did was simply deplorable by any acceptable standards.
Cornelia and Nunnally both frown as well. Nunnally was blind back then and didn't get to see what happened exactly, but now that she has regained her vision, it deeply shocks her to see just how casually her supposedly kind Big Brother was in taking their mutual friends as hostages for his own goals. 'Big Brother, did your kindness vanish the moment you had killed Sister Euphy? How can you be so cold-blooded?' Even though she knows what her elder brother did at the end for the world, the young Empress is still both saddened and angered at this very instant as she sees how low her beloved Big Brother had once sunk to.
Cornelia, however, being the elder sister of Lelouch, an accomplished military tactician and having seen the story behind Lelouch killing Euphemia, is able to see through Lelouch's thinking. 'You're using your friends as hostages because you knew Kururugi wouldn't hurt them, and so as a result, your friends were simply a bluff and they would be left unharmed at the end, the same reasoning you used when taking Britannian civilians as hostages when confronting Gottwald in rescuing Kururugi at your debut as Zero,' Cornelia thinks inwardly. 'I would admit that such a move was well reasoned from a logical standpoint and I agree it was a very good strategy. However, how would that make you, who despised father's ruthless rule and merciless treatment to Nunnally and hence started your rebellion against Britannia, be any different from the very man you despised and rebelled against if you, too, were so willing to use your friends and family in such callous ways to achieve your goals as well?'
Suzaku sweated as he was considering his options to get out of such sticky situation. 'If I can get close enough to him to use the slash harkens…' Suzaku completed his thought process and made a swift decision. "Zero!" he yelled as he piloted his Lancelot to take a dive onto the ground, dodging the Gawain's Hadron Cannon shot and getting into a better position to destroy the Gawain with the Lancelot's slash harkens.
Sadly, all was within Zero's plan and Suzaku fell right into where Zero wanted him to be: Zero had had a Gefjun Disturber encirclement trap set up along the way the Lancelot was going to pass through, and as soon as the Lancelot entered the trap, C.C. instructed Sayako to activate the Gefjun Disturbers and disabled the Lancelot.
"Grrr!" Suzaku was taken by surprised. "This is…!"
Not far away, Rakshata and her two research assistants were watching Suzaku falling into the trap with excitement. "Zero, remember your promise," Rakshata reminded Zero about their deal on the Lancelot.
"Sure, you may do whatever you wish with that machine," Zero reaffirmed his promise to the Indian scientist and archrival of the creator of the Lancelot.
Suzaku seethed. "Zero! How dare you deceive and betray all others to the very end!"
Sadly, that did not move Lelouch by an inch. "Hmph, I have no time to sully myself into such hypocritical nonsense with you. Farewell, Suzaku Kururugi," Lelouch said as he and C.C. piloted the Gawain away from Ashford Academy.
"Damn you to hell!" Suzaku slammed the cockpit panel with burning rage and frustration.
"For some reason, I am on Kururugi's side this time, and I am still no fan of him and would kill him with no hesitation if he stood right before me," Chiba hisses.
"He was living up to his reputation as the Treacherous Emperor even before him officially became one, wasn't he?" Rakshata chuckles a bit, but this time she does so in a not-so-sarcastic way, "but I shall have no qualms for this one, since he did promise me the Lancelot for me to play with."
"AHA! Good that we stopped you later from messing with my Lancelot!" Lloyd interjects.
"Too bad, the Lancelot would have been a much better machine if I had enough time to do something about it," Rakshata sighs in an exaggerating way.
"No way, you will never be able to do something like how we did on the Gu … Grrr!" Lloyd is trying to retort his rival, but Cecile quickly pulls his ears and prevents him from continuing, not wanting to cause another havoc in the scientist corner of the auditorium.
Meanwhile, Kallen feels complicated as she sees how Lelouch so comfortably deceived and coldly treated his best friend like any other of his expendable pawns. 'This was so different from how he treated Suzaku when we saved him from certain death under the Pureblood Faction's rule, but it also showed that no matter how close you were to Lelouch, once you did not bow to his desire, he would have eventually given up on you and treated you as a pawn on his chessboard.' Kallen tightens her fists as she realizes just that before she thinks back to her original question. 'What did I mean to you, Lelouch?' she screams inside her head.
The unmoved Lelouch informed Tohdoh that he was on his way to the rooftop of the Government Palace, planning to wipe out the incoming Britannian reinforcements.
"This place is so similar to…" Lelouch muttered as the Gawain landed on the rooftop of the Government Palace of Area 11.
"Yes, the Aries Villa," C.C. continued before Lelouch could finish his sentence, taking Lelouch by surprise. "How do you know that?" Lelouch demanded.
However, C.C. was completely unmoved by Lelouch's threatening tone. "I'll tell you some day, when the time comes," she teased, infuriating Lelouch.
"Welcome, Zero!" Suddenly, a female alto voice came through the open channel. It was Cornelia in her Gloucester. "I figured you would show up here as soon as you learned about the air raid." Then, Cornelia's beautiful face, while still smiling, started to twist by anger and hatred, "Now… join us for your welcome soirée! Care for a dance?"
Cornelia notices some vital information from the conversation between Lelouch and C.C. just shown. 'C.C. knew about the Aries Villa? She had been there?'
Tianzi is shivering as she sees how angry Cornelia was. Her shoulders are shaking in fear, despite the fact that she has already seen how angry Cornelia can get not long ago during the scene where Lelouch pointed the ceramic and bamboo gun at Euphemia.
"It's alright, Tianzi," Kaguya gently pats Tianzi's back to calm her down, even though Kaguya, having been a generally gentle and non-combative girl so far, is also a little surprised at the extent that a beautiful face such as Cornelia's could have twisted by burning hatred and fury. 'And to think that such hatred and fury was actually perfectly justified…' Kaguya mentally adds.
Nunnally is worried upon seeing Cornelia being consumed by hatred and fury. "Big Sister, that's…" she asks worriedly. She has already lost her favourite brother and sister to hatred and fury, and to lose yet another loving sibling of hers to hatred and fury again is the last thing she wants.
Seeing her younger sister getting worried, Cornelia decides that the question of why C.C. knew about the Aries Villa could come later. "Don't worry, Nunnally, that was in the past already," contrary to the twisted smirk on the screen, the present Cornelia smiles gently to her last remaining younger sister as she whispers into Nunnally's ear, "I have undoubtedly suffered from it and learnt my lessons already. I am certainly a better woman than I was in the past."
"Big Sister…" Nunnally buries herself into Cornelia's enormous chest, hugging her elder sister tightly.
Cornelia smiles, closes her eyes and gentling pats the young Empress of Britannia.
Back at Ashford Academy, Villetta and Ohgi were in a separate room alone.
"Chigusa, why did you come to this battlefield?" Ohgi asked worriedly, trying to hug Villetta. "We need to find someplace safe for you. Stay with me for now…"
However, Villetta stared at Ohgi intently and dodged Ohgi's hug. Ohgi thought Villetta might have discovered that he lied to her about him working in Shizuoka, so he apologized, "Look… I'm sorry I hid this from you, but everything I'm doing is for the sake of peace. If Zero succeeds in freeing Japan from Britannia, then we can finally be together…"
"Stop saying such ridiculous things before I puke!" Villetta bellowed as she got behind Oghi, took his gun in his pocket and pointed it at his back.
"Wha…!" Ohgi was taking by surprise. Why was Chigusa doing that?
"Me together with an Eleven like you? What a horrible thought," Villetta spat out each word with contempt and disgust, "My name is Villetta Nu, and I am a Knight of Honour of Britannia."
"What…?" Ohgi immediately turned around, but it was too late: Villetta opened fire and shot Ohgi right at his abdomen.
The tall Japanese men collapsed and knelt down before Villetta. "I see… Chigusa… you've got your memory back…" Ohgi uttered before he blacked out.
Villetta's amber eyes stared at the collapsed Ohgi. However, instead of the hatred she initially displayed, she was looking at the Japanese man with a tint of sorrow.
"Lady Ohgi, you were quite the black rose with thorns all over the stem, weren't you?" Gino teases as he sees how Villetta seemingly shot down Ohgi in cold blood, but actually felt sad about it.
"I… uhm… that is… oh my God…!" the present day Villetta is embarrassed by what is shown on the screen. She blushes hard, and covers her reddened face with both of her hands while leaning forward to the back rest of the row in front of her. Why is the disc showing such embarrassing footage that she wants to bury and never let out forever?
"AHA! That was some tough love for Prime Minister Ohgi!" Lloyd laughs cheerfully and claps his hand at the scene, showing no decency to the embarrassed Villetta. Cecile quickly intervenes by pulling Lloyd's ear hard enough to make him stop laughing.
"Hey! How can you do that to Ohgi-san?" Tamaki yells at the embarrassed Villetta.
"Tamaki's right! How can you shoot down Ohgi-san like that?" Chiba spats. She may be on better terms with Villetta now since they sometimes hang out as wives of important people in Japan / Black Knights, but that doesn't mean she can look past to such egregious behaviour that Villetta had done to a Japanese!
"Tough love or not, it's good that Naoto didn't come and watch this, otherwise he may get the wrong idea about love," Kallen quips, joking at the expense of the First Lady of Japan and as a little revenge to Villetta for her calling Ohgi an Eleven back then.
"That's quite enough!" Ohgi immediately jumps in to save his wife from embarrassment, "Chigusa has changed already! That's all in the past!"
"Ohgi, she shot you in your abdomen! How can you still defend her…" Tamaki insists.
"I said enough!" Ohgi yells at Tamaki in a way atypical to the otherwise docile nature of the Prime Minister of Japan, stunning Tamaki and Chiba. "No matter what, I will always love Chigusa as my wife!" the tall Japanese man proclaims.
"Kaname…" Villetta looks at her husband gratefully. That's right, she was willing to look past the racial divide and abandoned her hard-earned barony to be with Ohgi because…
"Chigusa, no matter what, I always love you," Ohgi stares into Villetta's amber eyes and declares his love to her once again. Villetta is touched and she kisses Ohgi in the mouth. The Ashford students look at their swimming coach warmly as they are slowly getting over the initial shock and sadness when they see how Lelouch had used them as hostages to fight Suzaku, while the rest of the audience smile understandably and look at the Villetta and Ohgi with warm gazes.
"…recorded," Anya dutifully takes a photo of the romantic moment between the First Couple of Japan.
Meanwhile, a heated battle was taking place at the rooftop of the Government Palace of Area 11. A furious Cornelia released all her rage and piloted her Gloucester to attack the Gawain from every direction.
"Euphy will be avenged!" Cornelia roared as she unleashed her fury onto the culprit who took her darling younger sister's life and ruined her reputation.
The Gawain, while being a more advanced Knightmare Frame and possessed better specs than Cornelia's Gloucester, was embattled due to the considerable difference in pilot's ability: Cornelia, an ace pilot herself who had fought countless battles across the world, easily outmanoeuvred Lelouch and C.C., who only recently got a hold of their gigantic Knightmare Frame.
"Grrr… the specs of my Knightmare Frame should be much better than hers, yet…!" Zero growled in frustration. Apparently, he has not fully taken his elder sister's superior piloting skills into account. Lelouch punched into the controlling panel to have the Gawain started floating, trying to reestablish himself by utilizing its airborne ability that the Gloucester didn't have.
However, that posed no challenge to an experienced Knightmare Frame pilot such as Cornelia. She fired the slash harkens onto the Gawain and pulled her Gloucester onto the much larger black Knightmare Frame.
"You weakling!" Cornelia roared like an enraged lioness with a sadistic smile never have emerged on her face prior to this, "I have caught you! I have you– I have you right where I wanted you! You are now at my mercy!"
"I am sorry, Nunnally and Guilford, for being so unsightly," the present Cornelia face-palms herself and quietly apologizes to both her younger sister and her knight for them to see a crazed version of her. Now that she is looking at it from a third-person perspective, even she feels a bit uncomfortable as she sees that sadistic expression on her face, twisted by rage. She inwardly swears that she will never be so consumed by hatred ever again for the sake of Nunnally and Guilford.
"It's alright, Big Sister, I understand," Nunnally smiles gently to her elder sister. The past few scenes since the "Euphemia shock" has caused a series of ups and downs in Nunnally's thought about her elder brother: right after seeing Lelouch ordered the Black Knights to find and kill Euphemia, the initial shock image has led her to see such action as unforgivable even though she can understand Lelouch's logic; next, after seeing Lelouch wallowed in remorse in private, while still being shocked at seeing how Lelouch ruthlessly shot Euphemia to death and knowingly fanned public hatred against her, Nunnally feels the pain her elder brother had experienced in forcing himself through the horrible things he executed after Euphemia had ordered the Britannians to shoot down every walking Japanese, and the question that she needs to answer becomes whether it would be fair to Euphemia, her favourite sister, if Nunnally were to forgive Lelouch for what he did to Euphemia; Then, as she sees how Lelouch still put her safety as top priority when he led the Black Knights to assault the Tokyo Settlement, she gradually pulls herself out of the initial "Euphemia shock" and recalls Lelouch's final sacrifice to give the world a fresh start from past hatred, and that moment when she realized the whole truth and cried hysterically during Lelouch's final moments, her deeply buried love for her elder brother once again erupted after two months of imprisonment. 'The brother that I loved the most killed the sister that I loved the most, yet it was all due to an accident… Big Brother, you have thrown at me an extremely difficult dilemma to decide on,' the 100th Britannian Empress sighs. Now that she is looking at the scene when Cornelia unleashed her fury against the man who killed Euphemia, she can see how Lelouch would do the same if she were to be gunned down. 'If Big Brother would do that in the event that I was gunned down, then I suppose there is no reason for me to think that Big Sister couldn't do the same when Sister Euphy had been gunned down,' Nunnally reasons in her head.
"Your Highness, your rage was totally justified, I don't think anyone in their sane mind would have doubted that," Guilford assures his liege, "in fact, I venture to go as far as to say that you have handled your rage extremely well already, only unleashing it on Zero himself but not on all the Japanese. I am pretty sure that if the situation was reverse and, god forbid, Her Majesty was killed, Lelouch would probably unleash his rage not only on you, but on every walking Britannian he saw on his way."
At the back row, Kallen is also watching the battle between Cornelia and Lelouch intently, and to her utter surprise, she is actually rooting for Cornelia instead of Lelouch. 'Why? I should be rooting for Lelouch, yet I…' Kallen can't understand why she feels that way: Cornelia was her enemy, and she should root for Lelouch, her leader instead!
"Argh, for some strange reason, I simply can't support Lelouch this time," Rivalz grunts in frustration, catching Kallen's attention. She is not the only person who feels that way?
"Don't blame yourself, Rivalz," Milly chips in, "it's natural to root for Her Highness instead; it's Lelouch who's been doing wrong things."
"Wow, you feel that way too, Prez?" Rivalz asks curiously.
"Why wouldn't I? After seeing how Lelouch killed his younger sister in cold blood, however necessary or logical that was, and how he used us as hostages to lure Suzaku into a trap while lying to him that it was a one-on-one duel, can you still rally behind Lelouch's actions?" Milly asks with a stern look on her face. A row in front of Rivalz, Shirley bites her lip tight, saying nothing as she listens to Milly's reasoning. Deep in her heart, she still wants to defend Lelouch, but what Lelouch did to her and her friends when fighting Suzaku was simply too much for Shirley to overlook and shrugs as if nothing happened.
Kallen then finally realizes what has happened to her. 'I see… my blind loyalty to Lelouch has clouded my judgement, but the fact is cracking it hard that I am finally seeing the truth. The fact here is simple: Lelouch may be tactically and strategically right in the things he did, but he's morally wrong to use his friends as hostages to trick his best friend into his trap and in killing and exploiting his innocent younger half-sister, while Cornelia's morally right to avenge her fallen and wronged sister, especially when she was doing it in such a controlled manner as Lord Guilford has pointed out.'
"Face your judgement!" Cornelia had her Gloucester to point its machine gun at the Gawain's cockpit, ready to shoot down Zero.
Suddenly, a large Knightmare Lance pierced through the cockpit of Cornelia's Gloucester, severely damaging it. Cornelia screamed in pain and shock.
"No...! Huh? Big Sister?" "Lulu...! Huh?" "Princess!" Nunnally, Shirley and Guilford shout at the scene. Guilford is shocked to see his princess suffering a sudden attack out of nowhere; Shirley is shocked to see how her beloved Lulu, despite her feelings is hurt by learning that Lelouch had treated her as a sacrificial pawn when threatening Suzaku, about to be stabbed by Cornelia's Gloucester, but then seeing Cornelia's Gloucester was stabbed by something else instead; and Nunnally is shocked by both, neither Lelouch getting stabbed by Cornelia or Cornelia getting stabbed by someone else is something that Nunnally wants to see. She may understand Cornelia's rage and finds it difficult to refute the justification for her rage, but that doesn't mean she wants to see her elder brother, whom she now knows what he did to the world at last, to be hurt or killed in such a sad and unfortunate conflict between siblings.
"Shh… I am here, alive and well," Cornelia puts her hand over Nunnally's and Guilford's, calming them down. Inwardly, however, she feels happy that both of them care about her so much; she has never expected that she would still be loved by someone even since her mother and her other relatives at Pendragon were wiped out by the F.L.E.I.J.A. that Schneizel had ordered to launch, leaving her as the lone member of the li Britannia House. She may have lost her dearest full-blooded sister and her trusted advisor, but she still has her favourite younger half-sister and her loyal knight and lover by her side.
Kallen also bites her lip and tightens her fists upon seeing how Lelouch was so close to being stabbed, and how the Princess suffered from a surprise attack. 'Princess…' the red-haired girl quietly muses.
Just as Cornelia was confused and shocked, her monitor showed another Gloucester under and behind her. "Your Highness, this is Darlton," the general's voice came through the communication system.
Cornelia was shocked. Utterly shocked. Why would Darlton attack her? "Why…" she stuttered incredulously.
Darlton, now controlled by Geass with red rings surrounding his pupils, ignored Cornelia's question and continued, "Please rest assured, I won't take your life, so that I can present you to Zero."
Contrary to Cornelia's shock and confusion, Lelouch smirked sinisterly. "Huh, so he made it on time…"
Once Darlton had completed the Geass order placed on him, he regained his conscious. The first thing he saw was a Knightmare Lance-pierced Gloucester falling from the air, crashing into the ground.
"What the…? Your Highness!" Darlton couldn't believe his eyes. Why had his Knightmare Lance pierced through Cornelia's Knightmare Frame cockpit?
Amidst the confusion, Lelouch sarcastically remarked, "I thank you, Darlton." He then had the Gawain's Hadron Cannons to shoot at Darlton's Gloucester, causing it to explode.
"Princess…!" Darlton exclaimed in a mixture of confusion, shame, anger and physical pain as he was engulfed by the burning flame of the explosion.
"How dare him!" Guilford slams the armrest as he finally realizes that Darlton was forced to act under Lelouch's Geass orders all this time. "General Darlton, I shall…!" Guilford is going to say that he will avenge Darlton, but then he realizes that Lelouch is dead and there is nothing he could do for his fallen comrade. "Damnation!" Guilford exclaims as he slams the armrest of his chair again.
'Darlton…' Cornelia muses with both sadness and anger as she gets to see how his closest military advisor met his cruel end. 'You were controlled by Geass, there was nothing you could do about it. I don't blame you for one bit and please do not blame yourself as well. May you rest in peace, my friend,' the warrior princess muses.
BANG!
Suddenly, someone else slams the armrest hard, catching everyone's attention. Surprisingly, it is Tohdoh.
"How unsightly!" the Japanese general bellows as the scene of Darlton's painful end reminds him of how JLF Major General Takewaki Katase, the true liege Tohdoh has sworn his loyalty to, was also blown up by Lelouch in a similar fashion when he and some fellow JLF soldiers were trying to escape from Port Yokosuka.
"What's wrong, General Tohdoh?" Tamaki is confused, "It's just a Brit dying, why are you…"
"General Darlton was severely injured, and then he was controlled by the power of Geass," Tohdoh seethes as he explains, "he was forced to betray his liege while enduring great physical pain for a long period of time while doing it. And what's even worse, he was forced to be made aware of what he did to his liege, but not enough time to understand why he did that before he was killed. In short, he was subject to utter insult on his honour and loyalty while not having a clue on why he did that before he met his painful end!"
"But isn't inciting defection a common tactic?" Ohgi asks. Why is Tohdoh that irritated?
"It is true that inciting defection is a common tactic used in warfare, a tactic almost as old as war itself," Tohdoh explains, "and the act itself is done by underhanded means such as bribery or even threat. In the case of betrayal due to bribery, the defected person shoulders the blame because it is his choice to abandon his loyalty in exchange for something else; in the case of betrayal under threat, the instigator of such threat is obviously the one to take the blame, but if the threatened one is smart enough, he could still have subtly hinted his liege to take measures against the betrayal. However, in this case, General Darlton's mind was twisted and he had no way to resist against the betrayal command, nor was he able to give subtle hints to his liege to negate the betrayal act simply because the general could not fight against an absolute order from Lelouch. In short, Lelouch had shamelessly forced a loyal general to betray his liege for nothing and with no ways to resist, stripping away his honour and savagely leaving the general in utter confusion and dread of his forced betrayal before killing him off with a cold smirk. I am not denying Lelouch's tactical genius here and the fact that General Darlton was our enemy at the time, but that doesn't mean I would acknowledge and approve of such despicable ways to use him for our own cause!"
Kallen, Ohgi, Chiba and Tamaki are all stunned. They now realize why Tohdoh is irritated by the scene, and after processing what Tohdoh has said, they also feel bad to see Darlton's honour had been utterly humiliated by Lelouch in such a deplorable way even thought Darlton was their enemy.
"General Tohdoh, I thank you on behalf of General Darlton," Guilford stands up and salutes to the esteemed Japanese general, thanking for his understanding and willingness to call out Lelouch for stomping Darlton's honour and dignity in such a cruel way. Cornelia also nods to Tohdoh to express her gratitude to him on behalf of Darlton.
Tohdoh simply nods back to both Cornelia and Guilford in acknowledgement as he inwardly apologizes to Katase once again for having unknowingly sworn his loyalty to the man who killed the JLF major general.
Back at the Student Council room, Nunnally was sitting on her wheelchair alone. Suddenly, the doors opened, and someone came in.
"Hmm?" Nunnally jerked back and turned to the door, fearing that some terrorists may have barged into the room. And then, thanks to her perceptiveness to sound, she realized the person entering the room was someone else. "Is that you, C.C.?" the blind and crippled young girl asked.
"No, I am not," to her surprise, it was a boy's voice responding her. It's V.V.
"Huh?" Nunnally was confused.
"Nunnally, I am here to welcome you back," V.V. smiled.
"Wait, how did this V.V. know Nunnally?" Milly is confused.
"Who's this boy anyway? How did he move across the battlefield without being noticed by any of us?" Chiba asks incredulously.
Nunnally frowns as she watches the scene, now that she has regained her vision. 'So it was this Mr V.V. who brought me back to father…'
Cornelia also frowns. 'Nunnally was sent away from Britannia when she was six, and had since been hidden in Ashford Academy and made no public appearance, so the only ones who know about her in her teenage form would be the few friends Nunnally has as a student in Ashford Academy.' Cornelia then asks her younger sister, "Nunnally, was this V.V. your classmate or a friend of yours at Ashford Academy?"
Nunnally shakes her head. "No, Big Sister, I have never met Mr V.V. prior to that."
Cornelia then turns to Milly. "Lady Ashford, was this V.V. ever enrolled in Ashford Academy? Perhaps under an alias?"
Milly shakes her head as well. "No, Your Highness, Ashford Academy has never had this V.V. on the roster, and I am not aware of him enrolling as one of our students in disguise or under an alias."
Cornelia then ponders inwardly after confirming that V.V. was not a friend nor classmate to Nunnally. 'V.V. was in the secret underground Geass facility in the Chinese Federation, he appeared at a Britannian airship without anyone noticing, and he did it again at Ashford Academy. Nunnally has never met him before and he had never enrolled in Ashford, at least not noticed by Lady Ashford. And according to his stature and look, he was a Britannian and should be no more than 12 years old at that time. Nunnally has never had her imperial court debut and had never been exposed to the public before, and so for him to able to call out Nunnally's name with such ease, he must have known Nunnally through internal sources of the Imperial Family. Could he be a son of a high-ranking noble family?' And then, a crazy thought came to Cornelia's mind. 'Could he be… father's son, my younger half-brother?' She then noticed the boy's purple pupils, the exact same colour as her father's and Lelouch's. 'No, it can't be…!'
Just as Cornelia was doing her detective work inside her head, Zero also stares at the screen intently. 'V.V., I see that you were also motivated by your own objectives to make contact with me…' he tightens his fists and growls inwardly, angered by the thought that V.V. has exploited his emotion due to Euphemia's death to achieve the young-looking boy's own objective, which means V.V. had used Euphemia, just like how Lelouch did to initiate the Black Rebellion. 'Damnit!' Zero curses.
