Chapter 26: "Glorification" I – The Taste of Humiliation

-Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion-

-"Glorification"-

"Hey, the movie title looks like…" Tamaki exclaims. However, he is not able to finish his sentence this time.

"Please, just shut up, Tamaki, we all know what you're gonna say," Kallen hisses.

The scene starts with showing two books among the many on the bookshelves in Lelouch's room inside the Ikaruga, titled "Ubi spiritus est cantus est" and "Timendi causa est nescire" respectively. C.C. slowly walked towards the bookshelves as she was reading a magazine, but tripped herself over the table and fell onto a bench next to it. She moaned adorably as she sat right back up, innocently rubbing her knee that got hit by the corner of the table.

'Damnit, C.C. abused her power of editing the footage!' Kallen snarls inwardly, 'presenting herself as a cute, defenceless and innocent teenage girl to the audience…!'

"What the hell do those book titles mean?" Tamaki yells, "I am a master of English, but even I can't understand what they mean!"

'Master of English…' everybody else in the auditorium ridicules Tamaki's bold and shameless claim inwardly without saying anything out loud – to state the obvious is cool, but to state the too-obvious would just make one looks stupider than the red-haired man himself.

"Those are Latin," Cornelia, being the only one among the audience to have received a complete Britannian Imperial Family education that included Latin lessons in its curriculum, decides to take the onus of explaining to the audience after a brief pause at Tamaki's "Master of English" claim, "the first one, 'Ubi spiritus est cantus est', means 'where there is spirit, there is song'; the second one, 'Timendi causa est nescire', means 'Ignorance is the cause of fear'."

"Ha! I knew those were Latin!" Tamaki yells immediately after Cornelia has finished her explanation, "Hell, I just know so much stuff, it scares me to know that I'm such a clever man!"

"…" the rest of the audience doesn't know what to say. Why is Tamaki so damn insistent in making a fool of himself when everyone in the room knows that he is already?

"Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses," Cornelia suddenly says to the pompous Japanese man.

"What the hell's that?" Tamaki is perplexed. Why is Cornelia suddenly speaking riddles to him?

"If you'd keep your mouth shut, we might have thought you were clever," Cornelia spells out the English translation to Tamaki.

"I knew it was something like that… Huh?" Tamaki tries to pretend that he knows what Cornelia was saying in Latin, but then realizes the meaning of the phrase is taking aim at him personally and yells, "Hold on! How dare you say that to this great Shinichirou Tamaki?"

Cornelia simply shrugs, turns back to the screen and pays no more attention to him, and no one in the audience, not even Chiba, says anything more on the matter despite Tamaki grunting in frustration.

On the other side of the auditorium, Kaguya thinks inwardly upon learning the meaning of the Latin phrases, '"Ubi spiritus est cantus est"... I see. It was precisely because Lelouch's rebellion had uplifted the spirits of my countrymen that they were willing to sing the song of praise to him even though knowing nothing about his ulterior motive in doing so…'

Meanwhile, Lelouch and Jeremiah were inside the cockpit of the Shinkirou in its submarine form, crossing the East China Sea as they approached Japan quickly.

"I see, so Lady C.C. is staying onboard the Ikaruga," Jeremiah said.

"That's right," Lelouch answered, "I'm not sure whether it was memory loss or memory regression, but she is in a state that makes taking her on mission quite difficult."

"What about Lord Guilford?" Jeremiah asked.

"There's a lot of ways we can use him, so let's just leave him as is at the moment," Lelouch replied, before asking Jeremiah back while typing on Shinkirou's control panel, "As for Xingke, do you think he's an ambitious man?"

"He's a loyal knight, so I surmise that he would not leave Her Majesty Tianzi, his liege, to participate in a coup d'état," Jeremiah replied and advised.

Cornelia frowns and grits her teeth upon hearing Lelouch so offhandedly mentioned to exploit her knight for some unknown purpose, but refrains from commenting further as after she has watched the last part of the last disc and saw how Lelouch suffered from PTSD due to his traumatic experience, she understands how Lelouch came to be a person that had no empathy for most other people. She also internally understands the fact that he was her enemy, and there was nothing wrong for an enemy to exploit her troops, her knight or even herself to achieve their strategic objectives; it's just the nature of war. The only unsettling thing to her is that she's almost sure that Lelouch had once again used the cursed mind-twisting power that ultimately led to Euphemia and Darlton's death to cheat his way through and exploited her knight to do something against his will.

"No!" Tianzi is frightened by how Lelouch seemed to want to do horrible things to her favourite general, "Kaguya, he is going to do bad things to Xingke!"

"It's okay, Tianzi, I am sure General Li had ensured his loyalty to you," Kaguya tries to comfort her frightened young friend.

Lelouch finished typing in the commands and took off his helmet. "Very well, then we shall adopt Diethard's strategy and have Xingke and Tohdoh's forces to advance separately to get back Japan!"

"Understood," Jeremiah replied and then jumped away from the Shinkirou, which then submerged into the water quickly. Jeremiah landed on a nearby ship, standing besides Rolo and Sayako.

"Why is Master Lelouch going alone?" Sayako asked Jeremiah, not understanding why Lelouch, the commander of the Black Knights and the brain of the entire army, would enter Japan alone instead of staying at the back to direct and coordinate the operations of the forces.

"That's because the defence line surrounding the perimeter of the Tokyo Settlement can be easily punctured through using Geass," Jeremiah answered.

"Jeremiah, Big Brother intends to bring Nunnally to this side, right?" Rolo lowered his head and asked the tall, teal-haired man next to him with an insecure tone.

"That's the reason why the Black Knights and the UFN exists," Jeremiah answered before instructing both Rolo and Sayako, "During critical moments, you two would intrude the Area 11 Government Palace to establish rescue routes to ensure Her Highness' safety."

Rolo further lowered his head and stared downwards, a thin veil of tear starting to cover his violet eyes.

"Poor boy, still not realizing his dear 'Big Brother' cared nothing about him but only about the Viceroy of Area 11 who happened to be his 'Big Brother's' full-blooded younger sister," Rakshata comments with a lazy tone.

"Rolo seems to be upset about Lelouch trying to get Her Majesty to his side. I wonder why?" Rivalz scratches his head, not understanding why the young boy seemed upset about it.

"That's probably sibling jealousy," Milly observes, "Rolo might not look like it, but from his facial expression just now, I can tell that he's extremely possessive of Lelouch as his 'Big Brother' and didn't want to share him with anyone else."

"I don't know why, but that sounds a bit scary though…" Shirley shivers at the thought of Rolo being jealous about Nunnally, "what if he's also jealous about Lelouch's girlfriend…"

Milly immediately taps on Shirley's shoulder, "STOP! All was in the past already, don't think too much about it, okay?"

"Okay…" Shirley answers weakly.

On the other side of the auditorium, the Black Knights Group is not pleased to hear what Jeremiah has just said on the screen.

"What the hell? No! The Black Knights exist for justice, not for a Britannian Princess!" Tamaki yells. While he has no ill feelings against Nunnally, he cannot accept the idea that the Black Knights, an organization that had been fighting against the Britannians until very recently, exists for the sake of a Britannian Empress.

Chiba is irritated by what Jeremiah had suggested as well, her small traces of maternal instinct towards Lelouch activated by the shocking scene of children Lelouch, Suzaku and Nunnally walking through a piece of wasteland filled with dead bodies quickly vanishes. "How dare he thought of us like that? We fought for the independence of Japan and we fight for the maintenance of world peace and the well-being of all, not for your own younger sister!" Chiba hisses. Next to her, Tohdoh scowls at Jeremiah's suggestion as well, not happy to hear how the teal-haired man had diminished an honourable global peace-keeping force into a personal security unit.

"Lord Gottwald had changed so much…" Villetta feels strange to see her once capable superior being converted into a Lelouch-maniac just because of his unwavering loyalty to Lelouch's deceased mother, but then promptly notices that she, too, has changed a lot since two years ago, from a Britannian military officer with a peerage to a wife happily married to a Japanese while serving as the first First Lady of the United States of Japan. 'I guess things do change a lot even in a relatively short period of time,' she realizes.

In the front row of the auditorium, Nunnally is both happy and sad upon hearing what Jeremiah had just said on the screen. 'The Black Knights and the UFN… they exist for my sake…? No, they should exist for the people. Big Brother, I am glad that you thought so much for me, but it's wrong to exploit all others just for my sake – such love, while sweet to me, was twisted and wrong. I shall pick up from where you have left me with to do good to the people, now that you have put me at the helm.'

-Headquarter of the Black Knights – Horai Island-

As the various divisions of the Black Knights were getting ready to assault Area 11, Xingke Li, the General Commander of the Black Knights, also got into his Shenhu, a blue 7th generation Knightmare Frame equipped with a powerful Baryon Cannon, which was similar to the Hadron Cannon used by the Shinkirou. At the expense of putting health-damaging strain on the pilot, the Baryon Cannon, at 40% power output, would be able to match the full force of the Guren Flight-Enabled Version's improved Radiant Wave Surger.

"General Li, the special operations team is ready," Xianglin Zhou, the Deputy Chief of the Black Knights and right-hand woman of Xingke, reported.

"Very well," Xingke responded as he was doing final adjustments to the Shenhu, "The main team will take out the Britannian forces on the East China Sea and land on Kyushu. I will leave the assisting work to you, Xianglin."

"Understood!" Xianglin responded.

"Xingke! Xianglin!" Tianzi is excited to see two familiar faces on the screen. While Xingke has unfortunately left her permanently and prematurely due to his chronic illness, Xianglin has persevered in the Battle of Mt Fuji, escaped from Lelouch's persecution and emerged as one of the members of Cornelia's resistance cell that helped to rescue the young Chinese girl and many others from imminent execution in Japan nine months ago. The capable and loyal woman now serves as Tianzi's private secretary, assisting Tianzi to handle all affairs of state of the United States of China.

"Secretary Zhou is indeed a capable lady," Kaguya looks at the image of Xianglin on the screen approvingly, "No wonder General Li trusted her as his deputy back then. I am so glad that we have someone as capable and trustworthy as her to assist Tianzi in fulfilling her role as the Symbol of Unity of China and one of the leaders of the world."

-Atami Bayside, Area 11-

In an empty warehouse, Guilford was standing at the entrance. "As promised, I have come here alone. What is the meaning of this, Lord Gottwald?" Guilford asked puzzlingly, "You said you know the whereabouts of Princess Cornelia, and I am the only person you would tell?"

Cornelia frowns and holds her fists tight. 'A deceiving truth plus a remarkable use of my knight's loyalty to me, I see…'

-Kagoshima Settlement, Kyushu Block, Area 11-

As planned, the Black Knights started their assault at the defence perimeter around the Kagoshima Settlement, a strategic Britannian settlement on the Kyushu Island.

"The enemy has fallen for our plan, and they should be shorthanded towards the south. Get our forces to start landing!" Xingke ordered his troops.

On the other side, the Britannian military officers inside the G-1 were scrambling to devise a new plan to halt the Black Knights' advance. "Damn the Black Knights to hell! How could they have gathered so many forces to attack us like this?" one military officer cursed.

"After what General Li did to us in the battle on the East China Sea, we can no longer hold on to the absolute defence line," another staff officer was worried that the Britannian forces would not be able to hold on to Kyushu any longer.

"Don't panic!" a man with his left eye sewn shut exclaimed while sitting on the commander seat. It was Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One. "As long as we can defend Area 11, the armies led by all members of the Imperial Family, starting from Prince Odysseus, will proceed to attack all UFN member nations, and all Knights of the Round will be deployed to the frontlines as well!"

At the same time, Kaguya and Tianzi were sitting on their thrones in the mobile fortress Dalongdan, observing the fight between the Black Knights and Britannia. "If Japan is liberated, all other Britannian Areas will rise up one after the other, and this will redraw the world map," Kaguya said, "which means this battle will be a decisive turning point of history!"

"That was indeed a turning point of history, though not quite as I have originally thought of it to be," the present Kaguya says upon seeing this moment on the screen.

"Yea, who would have thought Tokyo Settlement would be bombed like that," Rivalz remarks with tint of fear as he recalls how 25 million lives evaporated just like they have never existed.

"…!" Nina tenses up at Rivalz's indirect mentioning of the creation that she regrets heavily. Cecile quickly pulls Nina into her embrace to comfort her and whispers into the dark green-haired bespectacled girl, "it's alright, we've been through this and you have done all you could to remedy the situation."

"Ms Croomy…" Nina still fidgets in fear and regret in Cecile's embrace. Cecile simply keeps patting Nina to calm her down.

Back in the main battlefield in Kyushu, Xingke was destroying Britannian units in the Shenhu like chopping some tofu on the cutting board while directing his forces at the same time. Suddenly, the Galahad quickly approached and punched onto the Shenhu.

"Would you be General Li?" Bismarck spoke through the open channel as the Shenhu was blocking the Galahad's punch, "I heard that you are a gifted prodigy."

"Knight of One…!" Xingke bellowed, "very well, I shall take you on!" He then piloted the Shenhu to shoot its slash harken at the Galahad, which the latter easily dodged. Xingke used this opportunity to have four of the Black Knights' air units to sneak behind Galahad's back, and blasted its Baryon Cannon to the Knight of One's Knightmare Frame just as four of Xingke's ally air units tried to outflank the Galahad from the back .

However, Bismarck easily saw through Xingke's strategy and smirked. He piloted his Galahad to draw out a large sword from its back, and slashed right at Baryon Cannon blast in such a way that the energy got deflected and destroyed all four air units of the Black Knights behind the Galahad. Xingke was shocked.

"Behold Excalibur, the holy sword named by His Majesty himself!" Bismarck exclaimed proudly.

As the battle between the Black Knights and Britannia was going on, Lelouch was in his Ashford school uniform, standing face to face with Suzaku, also in his school uniform, on the grounds of the long abandoned Kururugi Shrine, the place where the two first met seven years ago.

"Go! Xingke, go!" Tianzi cheers for her favourite general. In Tianzi's mind, Xingke is the strongest man in the world who could never lose to some middle-aged man with one eye sewn shut!

Sadly, comments on the other side of the auditorium is not as innocent or light-hearted as Tianzi's. "We were fighting our asses off, and Lelouch once again abandoned his responsibility as leader just to meet with that Kururugi traitor?" Chiba spats.

"We all know him well enough by now that he didn't care about anything except Her Majesty," Villetta says before continuing, "I am more surprised that he actually went ahead to meet Kururugi one-on-one without anyone accompanying him. Even if his PTSD suffering had made him to put all his trust and attention to Kururugi and Her Majesty only, hadn't he ever worried about the possibility of Kururugi seizing the opportunity and took him back to His Majesty by force?"

"He seemed pretty sincere when he was speaking on the phone with Suzaku," Rivalz points out, "I guess he's for real this time round."

"No, I think he must have some sort of backup plan ready in case things go wrong," Gino disagrees, "I mean, we have all seen until now how paranoid and distrustful Lelouch could be, right?"

"But who could Lelouch use to protect him?" Milly is perplexed, "We have just seen now that he had sent basically everyone out to fight against the Britannian army, while Ms C.C., the only one who hadn't been sent out, was still in the Ikaruga because she had lost her memory and couldn't do much."

"Perhaps this time Lulu's being genuine," Shirley says with a tint of hope. Now knowing that Lelouch suffered from PTSD and had been focusing his attention on Suzaku and Nunnally, Shirley is hopeful that unlike how he lied about dealing with Suzaku one-on-one during the Black Rebellion, Lelouch was genuine this time to meet with Suzaku one-on-one to sort out their differences and rescue Nunnally from the Emperor's hands.

On the other hand, Tohdoh is impressed by the fight between Xingke and Bismarck. "General Li was an exceptionally talented pilot and strategist, on par with Suzaku-kun in terms of the brawn and Lelouch in terms of the brain. To think that the Knight of One could've just used General Li's attack against his own ally units… that was impressive," the eminent Japanese general remarks as he gave praise to his enemy, "Lord Waldstein was indeed the Knight of One in name and in deed."

"Did you come alone?" Suzaku asked calmly.

"That's because I've made that promise," Lelouch answered calmly as well.

"I'm surprised you are here," Suzaku continued.

"In this particular situation, there were 31 routes I could take. Especially with Britannia being so loose with the routes…" Lelouch explained, but was interjected by Suzaku.

"That's not what I meant, Lelouch. 'I'm surprised you are here to show your face to me' is what I meant," Suzaku interjected with a stern tone, stunning Lelouch.

Suzaku continued. "'Because you've made a promise'? Why would anyone believe in your promise anymore?"

Having no better words to defend himself, Lelouch once again employed his best trick up his sleeve: to answer a question with a question. "Then why did you come here alone as well? After what you've done to me…"

"…that's because I don't want to lie anymore," Suzaku answered, "lie to Nunnally about Geass and Zero!" Suzaku then turned to the right and hissed, "You are the worst! How could you call yourself my 'friend' when you keep betraying me? No, it is not just me who were kept in the dark about your true identity as Zero, but the student council members, Nunnally, and… and Euphy as well!" Suzaku then turned back and stared at Lelouch angrily, holding up the badge he received from Euphemia during his knighting ceremony on his left hand and showed it to Lelouch.

"…haven't I saved you when you were being transported to the court?" Lelouch couldn't deny the fact that he had lied to all the people Suzaku had just mentioned, so he switched the topic by mentioning what happened back when Suzaku was still the suspect of Clovis' murderer and how Lelouch saved him from certain death, "If you were to become my ally back then, I'd have told you everything already! However…"

Suzaku's eyes narrowed at what Lelouch was implying.

"…and he lied to the Black Knights as well!" Ohgi hisses at the man who threatened his wife into submission and ignored his plead for honesty back on the Ikaruga during the confrontation, "He lied to everyone!"

"The Emperor was right on this: Lelouch was a child who's wrapped himself in lies," Rakshata ridicules.

"It pains me much to say, but Suzaku couldn't be more right this time," Rivalz says, "Lelouch did hide the truth from us."

"Yet, Lelouch still wanted to shift the blame to Suzaku for not joining him in the first place," Gino observes.

'Lelouch lied to Suzaku, he lied to me, and he even lied to Nunnally… C.C. was about the only person Lelouch hadn't lied to…' Kallen muses as her face expression turns sad. Knowing Lelouch suffered from PTSD that made him who he was is one thing, accepting that fact is another. Kallen is simply sad, on an emotional level, that she could not have made the connection she desired with the man she has fallen in love with as deep as she wanted it to be.

Under the ocean, Tohdoh, Chiba and Asahina were on standby inside a submarine. Asahina and Chiba, however, were not happy with the arrangement and questioned Tohdoh whether it was the right decision to just stay idle in the sea, to which Tohdoh insisted they shouldn't move until Zero had contacted him.

"But now that the Knights of the Round have joined the battle already, and even General Commander Li is no match to them," Chiba tried to reason Tohdoh through.

"Have faith in Zero," was Tohdoh's reply.

However, neither Asahina nor Chiba were convinced: they both thought that Zero had kept too many secrets from the Black Knights, ranging from suddenly bringing Britannians such as Rolo and Orange into the ranks of the Black Knights, to sending out selected troops to a clandestine mission in the Chinese Federation. It was also during the rescuing mission of Lelouch and the abducting mission of Viceroy Nunnally of Area 11 that had claimed Urabe and Senba's lives respectively, which deepened their distrust against the masked leader who had abandoned them once during the Black Rebellion.

Tohdoh, however, had it enough. "We need Zero's abilities now more than ever. Haven't we discussed this many times with Ohgi and the others already?"

"So what after Japan is liberated?" Asahina shot back.

Tohdoh fell into deep thought. Asahina actually had a point – what should the Black Knights do with Zero after Japan was liberated?

"I was too blind in my trust in Zero," the present day Tohdoh admits, "his tactics that brought us victory were too dazzling and effective for me to give up."

"Kyoshirou…" Chiba is happy that her husband had finally accepted her views on Zero, but at the same time, she doesn't want to embarrass her beloved husband in front of the audience, "we have just seen that Zero's an exceptional liar who would not hesitate to lie to even his closest friends and family. It wasn't your fault to have trusted him," she says.

"She's right, it's not your responsibility, General Tohdoh," Kaguya chimes in, "and you were not wrong either, we did need Zero's tactical genius to help us to fight against Britannia and glue the UFN together."

Tohdoh nods to express his appreciation to his wife and Kaguya's understanding.

Kallen looks at the scene and listens to the conversation among her comrades. 'C.C. was right, we couldn't have won without Lelouch as our leader. If only that he wasn't so affected by his PTSD and would trust us a bit more, things would have got much better than they turned out to be…'

Back at the Kururugi Shrine, the confrontation between Suzaku and Lelouch continued.

"I need to confirm this," Suzaku raised his badge to Lelouch again, "Did you cast Geass on Euphy?"

Lelouch stared at the badge for a moment and looked away. "Yes, I have."

"You made her to massacre the Japanese?" Suzaku asked incredulously.

"… I ordered it," Lelouch answered after another brief pause.

"Why would you cast such Geass? Answer me!" Suzaku demanded.

"It was to ignite the flames for the Japanese to rise up and fight Britannia. Had SAZ been established, the Black Knights would have crumbled!" Lelouch continued.

Suzaku drew back his left hand, tears swelled up his eyes and asked incredulously, "…all for such nonsense? Are you saying that everyone was merely a chess piece for you to achieve your ambition?"

"That's right! The fault is entirely mine…" Lelouch immediately answered, still staring at the ground.

Rather than being angered by revisiting the atrocities Lelouch had done to Euphemia, most in the audience are perplexed by Lelouch's answer in two ways: first, he admitted his wrongdoing directly, unlike how he would wriggle himself out of a perilous situation in the past by keeping asking questions in answering other's questions to him; and two, he did not mention that the Geass command was cast mistakenly, not intentionally.

"Even in times such as this, he still wouldn't tell the whole truth…" Kallen is frustrated by Lelouch's strange insistence in lying to others. Why was he so damn set on lying to everyone around him, especially when he was on a quest for truth behind what happened to his mother and sister?

"I don't understand. Why didn't Lelouch mention to Suzaku that it was just a mistake?" Rivalz asks incredulously, "after all, he did try to stop it before it became too late!"

Kaguya thinks for a moment and she has a clue on what Lelouch was actually thinking. "Lelouch did not intend to tell the truth; he intend to tell what Suzaku wanted to hear."

"Huh?" Ohgi is perplexed at what Kaguya has just said, "but Kaguya-sama, wasn't the truth what Kururugi wanted to hear?"

"Yes… and no," Kaguya answers, "Suzaku wanted to hear the truth, but only the truth that would see Lelouch taking responsibility of Princess Euphemia's death."

"What do you mean?" Tamaki exclaims with a tone filled with confusion, "it can only be either a yes or a no, how come it could be both?"

"AHA! I see it now," Lloyd suddenly chimes in as he clicks on what Kaguya has observed from the scene, "His Majesty predicted that Suzaku would not accept that the SAZ incident was an unfortunate mistake, and would desire to see someone taking responsibility for it, so His Majesty told Suzaku the version that would satisfy his desire?"

"But why? I am sure that if His Majesty had explained himself fully, Suzaku would have understood…" Cecile is perplexed as to why Lelouch chose not to tell the truth when he was willing to meet Suzaku without bringing anyone to protect him. Next to the blue-haired beauty, Nina is also perplexed about Lloyd's hypothesis on why Lelouch insisted on lying, or to be more precise in this case, not telling the truth to Suzaku.

"That's because Lelouch's objective was not to seek forgiveness from Suzaku or tell the truth to him; his objective was to persuade Suzaku to save Nunnally," Kaguya continues to analyze the situation, "therefore, it would make more sense for Lelouch to simply satisfy Suzaku's thirst to see someone taking responsibility for Princess Euphemia's death by saying the things he wanted to hear, rather than telling him the truth that he might possibly refuse to accept and thus not helping Lelouch to save Nunnally."

Almost everyone is aghast at Kaguya's deduction. "Kaguya-sama, so you are saying that Lelouch's meeting with Suzaku-kun was not driven by a genuine sense of guilt and the desire to repent for his sins, but by callous calculation to achieve his own objective instead?" Tohdoh asks with a stern face.

"I think that's basically it. I do think Lelouch did genuinely believe that it was his fault that Princess Euphemia had lost her life, but rather than being his intention to admit his wrongdoing and apologize for it, it was more like a result, a by-product of pursuing his primary objective, which was to persuade Suzaku to help save Nunnally," Kaguya elaborates her deduction on Lelouch's true intention of not telling the whole truth about Euphemia's death to Suzaku.

"…!" Kaguya's observation reminds Kallen of what Lelouch told her when she confronted and questioned him at Kamine Island on whether he was exploiting the Japanese and herself: 'And as a result, Japan will be liberated! Why would you complain about that?' the red-haired girl grits her teeth and holds her fists tight as she sees the parallel between her experience with Lelouch at Kamine Island and Kaguya's analysis. 'So it's the ends justifying the means again… how convenient…' she muses with frustration, and sadness fills her mind.

'"The ends justify the means", huh…' Zero holds tight his fists as well after he has listened to Kaguya's analysis, realizing the deeper thought of his friend that he had not realized back then.

"…however, that has nothing to do with Nunnally!" after admitting his callousness in killing Euphemia to Suzaku and thus getting the largest weakness to his arguments out of the way, Lelouch suddenly became assertive and held up his head to stare right into Suzaku's eyes.

"You coward! How could you hide behind Nunnally's name like that…? Huh?" Suzaku exclaimed, but was shocked by what he saw next: Lelouch knelt down before him.

"Suzaku, I'm sorry!" Lelouch closed his eyes and apologized in a traditional Japanese way and continued, "I don't mind to be shameful and I don't care about my pride anymore. Apart from rescuing Nunnally, I desire nothing else! Even Geass! Therefore, please save Nunnally! Please…! Ugh!" Suddenly, Lelouch groaned in pain. It was Suzaku: he stepped on Lelouch's head and pushed his face onto the floor laid by oval-shaped white stones.

The audience is divided on this scene. A good portion of them would have had some sympathy for Lelouch had Kaguya not analyzed the raven-haired boy's thoughts and ultimate objective of meeting Suzaku at the Kururugi Shrine. Now that it was clear to everyone that Lelouch did not come to apologize because he wanted to repent his sins but because he was, to put it in transactional terms, to trade his pride for something he deemed more important, the aforesaid good portion of audience actually felt that Suzaku was the one who could best represent their current feelings towards Lelouch.

"That's right, Kururugi! Step on him! Step on that cursed demon!" Tamaki cheers for Suzaku, notably for the very first time.

"I still won't forgive what that Kururugi bastard had done to us Japanese, but I'd accept that he'd finally done a good thing for our fallen countrymen!" Chiba also cheers for Suzaku, her maternal instinct activated during the children Lelouch, Suzaku and Nunnally walking pass a piece of wasteland scene completely vanishes, at least that portion for Lelouch.

"Well, as much as I pity my 'old man' for suffering from serious PTSD, his numerous crimes against members of the Imperial Family and my fellow countrymen were simply unforgivable," Gino remarks.

Another portion of the audience, however, feels quite complicated at the scene.

"That's… sad," Rivalz can't think of much to say to the scene. On the one hand, after listening to Kaguya's analysis, the blue-haired boy does not sit well with how Lelouch didn't go to apologize to Suzaku for what he had done to Euphemia out of the goodness of his heart, but out of cold calculation; on the other hand, now knowing that Lelouch suffered from PTSD after an extremely traumatic past, he just doesn't feel right that Lelouch should have been stepped on and humiliated by Suzaku like this, as it was ultimately the Emperor's fault that Lelouch had come to be such a callous person void of empathy to most others, his two closest half-sisters, both innocent of Marianne's death and the rough life that Lelouch had been put into, included.

"Lulu…" Shirley is utterly saddened to see the scene of her beloved Lulu being treated like this. How could Suzaku do that to his friend? Hadn't Suzaku gone through that piece of wasteland together with Lelouch and understood that he suffered from that tragic experience as well?

Milly frowns at the scene. Logically, she understands what Kaguya has just said, but emotionally, it is still hard for her to see Lelouch being humiliated like this. 'This is not the "troubled Lelouch" I had been hoping to see... how sad things had become,' the blonde-haired K-TV anchor muses in her mind with nothing but sadness.

"…" Kallen doesn't know what to say. Emotionally, she feels repulsive to see Suzaku stepping on Lelouch, but logically she understands Suzaku's fury, for she had gone through a similar humiliating and hurtful encounter with Lelouch back at the cave on Kamine Island as well. The logical and emotional parts of her mind clashes so violently, she simply feels the headache getting stronger and stronger that she has to turn away from the screen and take a mental break from it and let her mind to relax.

In the front row, Cornelia keeps her mouth shut and says nothing, but a part of her also feels mollified by seeing that damned younger half-brother of hers finally got some form of punishment for his crime against Euphemia, Darlton and Clovis, however insufficient the punishment was. Nevertheless, there is still another part of her that feels bad for Lelouch not only because she now knows that Lelouch suffered from a horrific PTSD that had shaped him in an unfortunate way, but also because Cornelia herself is a rare breed in the Imperial Family who loves all of her siblings, and however Lelouch had wronged Euphemia, Darlton, Clovis and even Cornelia herself, she still feels a tint of sadness when seeing her half-brother being subjected to pain and humiliation like that.

Nunnally, on the other hand, is simply shocked and devastated about what is happening on screen. 'Why? Big Brother and Suzaku used to be the best of friends. Why did things have to turn out like that because of me? Why?' She recalls how Cornelia told her not to take away the cross Lelouch was supposed to bear, but to hear her Big Brother frankly admitting that he did all those horrid things that killed and hurt numerous innocent people across the world just for her sake severely burdens her mind with guilt and regret. 'Am I really guiltless for my Big Brother's crime that was all done in my name?' the young Empress is forced to reconsider this question once again.

"What you have done are not something forgivable!" Suzaku exclaimed angrily, "Why do you think you will be forgiven just because you threw away your pride and bowed?"

"I have never thought so! But… if I want to save Nunnally, this is about the only thing I could do… to ask for your help!" Lelouch replied while still groaning in pain as his head was being pressed against the abrasive white stones on the floor by Suzaku's right foot.

Tears continue to fall down Suzaku's eyes. "Do you think that I will forgive you? That everyone will forgive you?" he then applied even greater pressure onto Lelouch's head, "those who were lied to by you, those who have lost their lives because of you?"

Suzaku tightened his grip on his badge and gritted his teeth. "If you are willing to apologize now, then bring Euphy back to life, now! Use your malice to save the world! Now! You are Zero, the man of miracles, right?" the knight of the pink princess exclaimed in fury.

"There is no miracle," Lelouch responded in pain, "everything's a result of calculation and performance! 'Zero' is just an avatar, a device created to allow me to lie easily!"

"Device? Do you think such an excuse would give you a 'get out of jail free' card?" Suzaku then knelt down and pulled Lelouch's collar and lifted him back up, "If you lied, then see it through to the very end!"

Lelouch's right cheek was left with scratches due to being pressed down to the ground with a layer of stones. He hesitated for a brief moment before replying, "…but the past won't come back. There is no way to redo everything!"

Quite expectedly, Lelouch's logical answer did not placate Suzaku. The son of the former Prime Minister of Japan and current Knight of Seven of Britannia gritted his teeth, seething as he bellowed, "Answer me, Lelouch!" he then tossed Lelouch down to the floor, "why did you cast a 'live' Geass command on me?"

"Huh…?" Lelouch sat himself up from the floor, confused at why his best friend brought this up at this juncture instead of keep pressing Lelouch about his crime against Euphemia.

Nevertheless, Suzaku continued. "That 'live' Geass has twisted my belief. Why did you cast such a curse on me…?" the white knight demanded.

"That's because… I wanted to live," Lelouch slowly answered, referring to that time when Schneizel was about to have Anya to shoot and kill both of them on Shikine Island.

"That's a lie," Suzaku saw right through Lelouch's lie: it's true that Lelouch wanted to live and got out of that dire situation, but Suzaku knew that deep down, Lelouch saw him as a friend and wanted him to live, just like how he took the hassle to bring him out of the battlefield with Nunnally back when there were mere children eight years ago.

The white knight regained his composure. "Lelouch, there is one way for you to make up for your lies: make them real."

"Huh…?" Lelouch was perplexed. How to make his lies real? Make lies real was simply contradiction in terms, wasn't it?

Suzaku continued as he gazed at the sky. "You lied that you are a knight of justice, correct? Then become a real one! See your lies through to the very end!" He then stared at Lelouch sternly.

Lelouch looked back at Suzaku for a brief moment. Make his lies real? "But… how?" he asked, puzzled.

"End this war," Suzaku took a step forward and knelt down before Lelouch, "If you are Zero… no, this is something that only Zero can do. Use a method that would make the world a peaceful place, and where people can pursue happiness. If you do that, I'll help you to save Nunnally."

"You will… save Nunnally?" Lelouch muttered.

"For Nunnally, I'll once again work with you," Suzaku offered his right hand to Lelouch.

Lelouch was moved. He also reached out his right hand to Suzaku, "…thank you. With you, there is nothing we can't achieve…"

"Big Brother… Suzaku…" Nunnally is glad to see that the two finally mended fences. She was particularly thankful to Suzaku, who was willing to work with Lelouch for her sake despite his anger and hatred against Lelouch for killing Euphemia.

"Man, Kururugi's really a good guy," Tamaki sighs. As simplistic as he is, Tamaki does not shy from expressing his most immediate reactions to each scene he feels critical enough for him to speak out, and what Suzaku had just displayed touches him as a man who treasures his friendship with others.

Chiba snarls at Tamaki's comment, but even she has to admit that it was noble for Suzaku to be willing to put aside his deep grudge against Lelouch and worked with him together to save Nunnally. Had Chiba been in Suzaku's place and Tohdoh was killed by Lelouch like how Euphemia died in Lelouch's hands, she would have sworn vengeance to Lelouch and under no circumstance would she put it aside like Suzaku did.

"That's true friendship," Milly comments as well, "Suzaku's a true friend. Lelouch was lucky to have him." Next to her, Kallen also reluctantly agrees. For Suzaku to put aside his grudge against the one who killed Suzaku's one true love requires an enormous amount of magnanimity, and that was something Kallen can respect.

"Such great contrast in character when you compared this to how Lelouch treated Her Highness," Guilford comments, drawing comparison between how Suzaku chose to put aside the difference and worked with Lelouch for the sake of Nunnally, versus how Lelouch exploited Cornelia at the rooftop of Area 11 Government Palace and, even after finding out that she has nothing to do with his mother's death, still ill-treated her out of pettiness and a complete lack of empathy to someone who was severely injured, who had just lost a sister and a close friend and who was his half-sister.

Cornelia, however, is concerned on another matter. 'I see, so that's when Kururugi had decided to work with Lelouch? But then how could Lelouch's reign be considered as 'a method that would make the world a peaceful place, and where people can pursue happiness'? Or did Lelouch renege on his promise after Kururugi was KIA by Lady Kouzuki, allowing Lelouch to do whatever he pleased? Alternatively, if what Lelouch intended to do was something that Kururugi had accepted to be in accordance to 'a method that would make the world a peaceful place, and where people can pursue happiness', why would they fight against the Black Knights and the UFN in the first place? Things just didn't add up!'

Just as Lelouch was about to hold Suzaku's extended hand, a bullet shot through right in between, stopping Lelouch from reaching Suzaku's hand. Suddenly, three Gareth Knightmare Frames descended from the sky, surrounding Suzaku and Lelouch.

"This is the end for you, Zero!" Edgar Darlton, one of the Glaston Knights and adoptive sons of the deceased General Andreas Darlton, exclaimed, "We now know your true identity!"

"Wha…?" Lelouch was shocked. What's happening? Why were Britannian soldiers appearing at the Kururugi Shrine?

"Are you alright, Lord Kururugi?" several Britannian foot soldiers rushed out from the bush and stood in between Suzaku and Lelouch. Suzaku, however, looked perplexed at the appearance of these soldiers.

"Suzaku… it can't be that right from the start, you…!" Lelouch seethed as two foot soldiers were apprehending him.

"Wait!" Suzaku yelled at the Britannian soldiers, but then there was a light pat on his right shoulder, causing the Honorary Britannian to turn his head to the back. It was Earl Kanon Maldini, Schneizel's aide-de-camp.

"You've done a great job, Lord Kururugi," Kanon spoke with a calm facial expression without any sign of actually being congratulatory to Suzaku, "this marks the end of the war."

Lelouch stared at Suzaku in disbelief, before fury and tears took over his violet eyes. "I see… you planned to sell me out again… You betrayed me, Suzaku. You betrayed me…!" the raven-haired boy screamed to the blue sky.

"Did Suzaku really betray Lelouch, though?" Rivalz asks unsurely, "somehow, it seems to me that Suzaku didn't know about those soldiers suddenly appearing from nowhere."

The audience falls into temporary silence as they are pondering the question. Zero, being Suzaku himself and knows the answer, is interested to hear what the audience has to say.

"I'd say no," Gino is the first to offer his view on this, "Suzaku's too stubborn and clumsy to use such sophisticated tricks as luring Lelouch into a trap."

"I agree with Gino," Kallen concurs, "Suzaku's a muscle head, he didn't have the necessary amount of brain cells to cook up such a complicated plan."

Tohdoh nods his head as well. "Suzaku-kun was a straightforward boy. If he was going to betray Lelouch, he would have simply piloted his Lancelot and took Lelouch back to the Emperor by force. Not in a million years would he do something as complex and acrobatic as setting up a trap – that's too demanding on his head."

Zero rolls his eyes inside his helmet. 'Why does everyone think that I am incapable of thinking and strategizing?'

"Well, putting whether Kururugi did intend to betray Lelouch aside, did Lelouch really have the right to complain about being betrayed by someone else, when all he did along his way was to betray people left, right and centre?" Chiba sneers, "I'm sorry, but he's a demon beyond redemption, and a demon has no right to complain about being betrayed by someone he'd betray first."

"Well, we know that he could be selfish and self-centred, to the point where he had decided to conquer the world and rule over everyone in fear," Rakshata ridicules with her usual carefree smirk.

Shirley bites her lip at Chiba and Rakshata's comment. 'Lulu…' the orange-haired girl calls her love interest's name in her troubled mind with a sad tone. Knowing that Lelouch had suffered greatly from PTSD, she can imagine how sensitive Lelouch's mentality actually was underneath his mask of indifference as Lelouch Lamperouge, hence his vigorous reaction when Kanon made the situation seemed like Suzaku had betrayed Lelouch's trust in his best friend, causing his intellectual self be overwhelmed by his overflowing emotion.

'It seems that despite what has been shown in the last disc, the surviving members of the Black Knights still harbour great grudge against him,' Milly observes, 'Suzaku suddenly being extremely magnanimous and willing to drop his grudge against Lelouch to work with him to rescue Nunnally contrasted greatly with how Lelouch calculated his meeting with Suzaku and immediately lost it when he thought Suzaku betrayed him due to Earl Maldini's splendid performance...'

"…recorded," Anya takes a photo of a saddened Shirley and the various expressions that the audience has just shown when reacting to the scene.

Meanwhile, at the specifically designed prison space for Kallen in the Area 11 Government Palace, Gino was showing Kallen, through the glass wall, an album containing photos of the members of the Ashford Student Council. There were photos including the welcome party for Arthur the cat, where the members dressed up as various types of felines; daily photos such as Milly riding on Rivalz's motorbike, Kallen biting on a sandwich, Lelouch falling down on the basketball court, Nina looking back at the camera while doing her research in her usual spot in the student council room, etc.

"It's still hard to believe that the ace of the Black Knights went to a Britannian school," Gino said as he kept flipping the pages.

"Did you find this in the student council room?" Kallen asked.

"That's right, it's been kept inside Suzaku's locker like some sort of treasure, though a lot of the pages have been removed… well, the ones showing close relationship with you, well… a terrorist, wouldn't be such a great idea to be seen by others, right?" Gino continued.

Kallen looked at the photos with a smile on her face, reminiscing all the good times she had with her friends at Ashford Academy. Suddenly, she noticed a photo of Suzaku and Lelouch wearing apron, getting ready to cook. Suzaku showed a genuine smile on his face, enjoying his time with Lelouch at the cooking event.

"I see… so even that guy could…" Kallen murmured.

"…could show such a smile on his face you mean?" Gino finished Kallen's thought, taking Kallen by a bit of a surprise. The tall blond man continued, "I've never seen Suzaku smiled like that before."

"Hmph…" Kallen turned away from the album and looked to the right side of the floor. What was this tall guy trying to get at?

"Hey, you are half Britannian and Eleven, aren't you?" Gino closed the album and asked intently, catching Kallen's attention, "if you have chosen to live as a Stadtfeld instead of Kouzuki, you could have lived a comfortable life, couldn't you? If you have the will to do it, you could even have been a Knight of the Round…"

"What are you trying to say?" Kallen demanded.

Gino then switched back to his usual jolly self and smiled, "that is, I'm asking whether you have the intention to come back to our side?"

"I miss those simpler times…" Nina murmurs as she sees the photos of her time as a member of the student council. She hasn't thought much about it until she had made the biggest mistake in her life so far.

"It's alright, as long as you have thoroughly enjoyed your time at school with your friends," Cecile hugs the dark green-haired girl gently, "we all have to move on at some point, so the most important thing is that you treasure your memories in the past while continuing to strive for a better future."

"Ms Croomy…" Nina weeps in Cecile's embrace.

On the other side of the auditorium, the present day Gino asks the red-haired girl once again, "It's a moot question now, but if we were to be back in time with all the knowledge we've got from this screening so far, what would your answer to my question be, Kallen? Would you come back to the Britannian side?"

Kallen considers for a moment. 'Which side would I have chosen? I don't want to abandon my Japanese friends, but now that I know Lelouch was simply going after his own goals and cared nothing about the welfare of the Japanese, fighting for the Black Knights simply doesn't seem appealing to me as much as it did in the past… but I don't want to work for that bastard of an Emperor with his invasion and oppression schemes against non-Britannians either, that would simply be wrong. I'd love to work with Princess Euphemia though, now that I know she's a genuinely kind and caring person who'd sacrificed herself for the Japanese. Or I could…' the red-haired girl gazes at Cornelia for a split second, but immediately shakes her head mentally and shoots down the idea, 'no, while Her Highness is a great person and leader to follow and work with, she is too Britannian-centric to make Japanese welfare high on her to-do list, and she would probably not allow me to help the Japanese as much as I would like to… I guess it would still have to be Princess Euphemia, then. But if that's the case, that means I would become Suzaku…? No, if I use my Stadtfeld name cleverly, things would be much easier, and I don't think that glory-seeking bitch would oppose me working for an Imperial Princess… but be that as it may, would I be able to stop Lelouch from accidentally casting his Geass on Princess Euphemia? Could I stop the SAZ Massacre? Would I be on the same path as Suzaku had been eventually? And I wouldn't be able to get to know Lelouch… well, maybe I still could since I would likely still be attending Ashford Academy, but then he would probably geass me into doing something horrible because I would be his enemy, and if that's the case, then…'

"Well, you said it yourself, Gino, that's a moot question, so let's just look over it and continue to work for a better future using what we have now, shall we?" seeing her red-haired friend getting lost in her thought, Milly chimes in to help to get Kallen out of the difficult question, turning the audience's attention back to the screen.

"Ugh!" Back at the Kururugi Shrine, Lelouch got thrown into a transport unit by Guilford. "To think that Zero is a student," Guilford hissed as he slammed the door shut and walked away. Lelouch got up and put his hand on his collar, but for some reason, he seemed pissed that Guilford didn't see his pose, and he hissed at that.

"How sad," a voice suddenly came through the communication system, shocking Lelouch. He turned to the monitor and saw the image of Schneizel el Britannia, 2nd Prince of Britannia, Prime Minister and Lelouch's elder half-brother.

"…that the true identity of Zero, who has killed members of the Imperial Family, turns out to be my younger brother. What a tragedy," Schneizel continued with a stern face.

"…Big Brother," Lelouch snorted at the sight of his elder brother whom he had never beaten in a chess game.

"However, Lelouch, I shall work and intercede His Majesty on your behalf, and I may be able to save your life," Schneizel continued.

"Are you pitying me?" Lelouch narrowed his eyes and snorted.

Schneizel smirked.

"What a troublesome child Lelouch was!" Rakshata comments, "when he was confronting Prince Clovis, he accused his imperial relatives of holding his mother in contempt and none of them had helped him and Nunnally; yet, when he was confronting Princess Euphemia and Prince Schneizel, he snorted at any help offered to him by his siblings and accused them of pitying him. So no matter what his siblings did, Lelouch would still complain about it and tried to either kill or subdue them out of spite or pride."

"AHA! So there's simply no way for His Majesty's brothers and sisters to placate his rage against them!" Lloyd succinctly concludes what Rakshata is getting at.

"See, I was right about Prince Schneizel being a good person," Ohgi comments, "despite the tragedy Lelouch had brought to his family, His Highness was still willing to work and try to save him from the Emperor. Perhaps Lelouch should have accepted his offer right there and then."

Ohgi's rather naive comment has earned frowns from the Britannia sisters in the front row. Nunnally, for one, doesn't have a problem with Lelouch not trusting Schneizel: upon her ascension to the throne, she found out what horrible things Schneizel had done to her and all the dwellers of Pendragon, including their extended family resided at the Imperial Palace in Pendragon. However, the young, crippled girl's emotion is agitated by Rakshata's comment that none of their siblings' effort would appease Lelouch's rage against them, and that he murdered two of Nunnally's closest half siblings either at free will or being forced by the situation. 'Big Brother, I don't really want to say this, but… your arrogance and unnecessary pride had caused a lot of tragedies to our family,' the 100th Empress muses with sadness.

Cornelia, who also frowns at Ohgi's comment, recalls a similar smirk she saw on Schneizel's face before and thinks inwardly, 'No, Schneizel knew full well how prideful and egoistical Lelouch was, and he's intentionally stepping on it to provoke Lelouch into doing something. Lelouch might have wronged Clovis and Euphy due to his gigantic ego, but he's not wrong to be suspicious to Schneizel's help. After all, Schneizel only said that he might be able to save Lelouch's life, which was basically an empty promise that meant nothing because the pardoning power was entirely in father's hands. But why? Why would Schneizel provoke Lelouch when he's got him in the bag?'

Back at the Kururugi Shrine, Suzaku was still reeling from the shock of the sudden appearance of the Britannian troops and Kanon to apprehend Lelouch.

"Then…" Suzaku asked incredulously.

"That's right, all were orders issued by His Highness," Kanon answered, "he said as long as we tag along you, we could find Zero with ease."

Suzaku was appalled. How did Schneizel…

"His Highness is well aware of your relationship with Zero," Kanon explained, "as well as matters related to Geass and Code-R."

"I see… so it was Prince Schneizel's orders that those soldiers appeared and apprehended Lelouch," Villetta observes, "Kururugi didn't betray him."

"Ha! I knew that Kururugi guy was too dumb to trap Zero!" Tamaki yells, but nobody pays any attention to him.

Zero watches the scene with apparent calm on the exterior, but inside his mind, he is seething at how Schneizel had ruined the chance for Suzaku to mend fences with Lelouch before it was too late to do so, ultimately causing him to fire a F.L.E.I.J.A. at Tokyo Settlement and killed 25 million people. 'It's actually quite out of Lelouch's character to keep Schneizel alive; I guess Lelouch had really grown from the confrontation with Emperor Charles and Lady Marianne,' the masked hero of justice muses as he thinks back how Lelouch turned from being so determined to kill him during the 2nd Assault at Tokyo Settlement, to executing a plan that would keep Schneizel, who caused so much misery to him by hiding and misleading Nunnally to confront him, alive while sacrificing the raven-haired boy himself for the world instead.

Guilford was on his Knightmare Frame, staring sternly at Lelouch's image through the monitor in front of his pilot seat. Meanwhile, Schneizel continued to speak to his estranged younger brother. "Lelouch, I won't do harm to you. Could you trust me?"

"Trust you?" Lelouch asked mockingly.

"That's right, trust your own Big Brother," Schneizel replied in his completely calmed tone.

"Regrettably, I'm done with trusting anyone, Big Brother, because I've just been sold out by my friend," Lelouch sneered as he slowly put his hand on his collar.

"Huh?" Suddenly, Guilford's eyes were caught by red rings.

'I knew it…!' Cornelia snarls inwardly, 'but how? There's no direct eye contact between Lelouch and Guilford at that instant, was there?'

-Flash Back at Atami Bayside, Area 11-

Right after Guilford had raised his question to Jeremiah, he stood at the entrance of the empty warehouse, expecting to see the disgraced Margrave appearing before him. However, someone else was there instead.

"Lord Guilford," a young, male voice called him.

"Who are you? You are not Orange!" Guilford immediately pulled out his gun and took aim at the unknown young man standing in the shadow.

"Hold on just a moment, I'm here to ask you for a favour," suddenly, a strange red light glowed from the unknown person's left eye. It was Geass.

Guilford's neural system was immediately rewired. "Alright. What should I do?" he asked as his eyes were encircled by red rings.

"Nothing difficult," the unknown person walked out from the shadow, showing himself to be Lelouch as he put his right hand on his collar and continued, "whenever I put up this pose, you will recognize me as Cornelia, and then…"

-End of Flash Back-

"Prin… Princess Cornelia!" Guilford exclaimed as Geass took effect on him.

"Guilford, my knight! Rescue me!" "Cornelia" ordered the geassed Guilford.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Guilford responded as he started to attack the Britannian soldiers on guard next to the transport Lelouch was locked in, destroying the lock of the transport.

Lelouch smirked. "Thank God you took notice of me, Guilford!" he muttered with a sinister yet relieved tone.

"Lord Guilford, what are you…?" Claudio Darlton was surprised at Guilford's sudden attack. Why would the Spear of the Empire suddenly attacking his own comrades?

"It's what you are doing that I should be questioning!" Guilford exclaimed, "to apprehend Her Highness, what sort of madness is this?" Amidst the confusion and chaos the Glaston Knights and other Britannian units were suffering from, Lelouch immediately grabbed the opportunity to get out of the transport and climbed onto Guilford's Knightmare Frame's right palm.

Back in his room, Schneizel looked at what happened and said in realization, "I see, so that's the power of Geass…"

"Your Highness, we should leave here as soon as possible!" Guilford advised "Cornelia" as he piloted his Vincent Commander Model Knightmare Frame to take off from the ground.

"Lelouch!" Suzaku screamed at Lelouch as he saw Lelouch sat on the palm of the Vincent Commander Model, but Lelouch simply returned a cold stare to the tricked white knight as Guilford piloted his Vincent Commander Model Knightmare Frame away from the Kururugi Shrine.

"How dare he…!" Cornelia slams the armrest of her chair hard with considerably fury. She thought she is done with getting infuriated by Lelouch: him geassing and killing Euphemia was, although unforgivable, a mistake and arguably the only feasible way to stop Euphemia from committing more sins; him geassing and killing Darlton, while also unforgivable, was an act of war that was still borderline justifiable; him geassing her to seek the truth about Marianne's death, she does not really hold grudge to that as it was understandable. But to take advantage of Guilford's loyalty to her and tricked him into mistaken Lelouch as her was simply too low of a blow that Cornelia has no reason to forgive, and suffering from PTSD is not an excuse for doing such a despicable act. "How dare he impersonated me and forced Guilford to…!"

"Your Highness, I'm sorry I…" Guilford feels utterly ashamed that he fell for Lelouch's trap. He still feels the effect of the Geass cast on him whenever he sees Lelouch in that particular pose on screen, but that does not matter now because C.C. has edited the video footage in such a way that whenever the footage shows Lelouch in that particular pose from Guilford's perspective, everyone in the audience would also see the image of Cornelia and hear her voice on the screen whenever Lelouch spoke with his hand placed on his collar.

Cornelia pauses for a moment, realizing that the more infuriated she gets with Lelouch, the more shameful her loyal knight will feel, and that is certainly not what she wants. The warrior princess takes a deep breath and counts three inwardly, forcing the rising rage out of her mind, turns to her knight and says, "No, Guilford, that's not your fault at all. It was merely your loyalty being exploited by a shameless boy who knew no bounds in using other people for his own gain," Cornelia fumes as she pulls herself into Guilford's embrace.

"Princess…!" Guilford is surprised by the sudden hug. "What are you…?"

"Shhh. Give me just a moment," Cornelia says to her knight as she hugs Guilford and puts her head on his shoulders while pulling his onto her shoulders.

Just as Cornelia and Guilford are hugging, Shirley, Milly and Rivalz are disappointed to see that Gino was right about Lelouch: not only did the raven-haired boy not genuinely trust his friend after all, he even used an underhanded method to exploit the loyalty of an upright knight to his own advantage.

"Damn, what sort of difficult situation this is," Rivalz scratches his head, "I wanted to believe that Lelouch treasures friendship again so much, yet he somehow kept denying me the evidence I needed to do just that. I know I may be too harsh on him because he was suffering from serious PTSD since he was a kid, but still…"

Milly doesn't know what to say as well. Having seen how Lelouch was desperate in rescuing Nunnally, she is about to believe that Lelouch was still a kind person at heart once again, and she understands the risk that he was taking when meeting with Suzaku one-on-one inside Area 11. She does not have a problem with Lelouch trying to put an insurance to his meeting with Suzaku just in case, but the way he tricked Guilford into protecting him in his supposedly one-on-one meeting with Suzaku at the Kururugi Shrine somehow reminded her of that time when Lelouch dared Suzaku into a one-on-one duel during the Black Rebellion, only to turn out to be a lie that actually held Milly and her friends as hostages in an attempt to subjugate Suzaku. Those might be perfect military strategy, but they are not something that a non-militant civilian like Milly can swallow down her throat easily.

"Madam President, Rivalz, I…" Shirley is sad to see how down Milly and Rivalz are. However, she has no words as well since with what has just been shown on screen, even the most ardent advocate for Lelouch can find no words to say in the raven-haired boy's defence.

Kallen also tightens her fists as well. 'Kaguya-sama is right, Lelouch's only objective was to ensure Suzaku would rescue Nunnally and nothing else. Whether Suzaku forgave him or not was merely a result, a by-product of his effort in achieving his goal, nothing more…'

"…recorded," Anya takes a photo of the reactions of the Ashford group upon seeing the last scene, as usual.