Chapter 29: "Glorification" IV – The Imperial Parents

Charles was sitting on his throne as the monitor of his airship was showing information about Kamine Island underneath the airship. Standing right next to his throne are four of his cult-like underlings, and they were reporting to Charles about the progress of his plan.

"According to the materials left behind by Director V.V. and our brethren, this location shall be optimal," a cult-like underling reported, referring to Kamine Island.

"It will synchronize with the ancient ruins scattered throughout the world," another cult-like underling reported.

"With this, we can make the Sword of Akasha to function once again," a third cult-like underling suggested.

Charles smirked. He'd never thought he would have to use such an ancient system in an outlying island in Japan.

The audience, save for Zero and Nunnally, are perplexed by what the 98th Emperor of Britannia was trying to achieve. After all, it was he broadcasted a bellicose footage worldwide to challenge Zero just some time earlier, but he didn't seem to care about the battle at Tokyo at all.

'Synchronizing the ancient ruins scattered throughout the world?' Cornelia notes that key phrase mentioned by one of the cult-like underlings of her father and thinks back all the campaigns she had been through, finally connecting the dots. 'I see… all the wars Britannia had waged throughout father's reign, they were not about world domination or the betterment of the lives of our Britannian citizens, but to obtain the ancient ruins scattered around the world!' She has long been perplexed by the rather contradictory observation that as Britannia kept expanding, her father kept withdrawing from the affairs of state and left them all to Schneizel: shouldn't her father be more involved in the affairs of the state as his empire grew larger and larger? Now she finally sees the answer: her father cared not about the territory, manpower, wealth or glory brought to Britannia, but the ancient ruins that he had gained from all those campaigns!

Nevertheless, the living standards of Britannians did improve due to all the territory, wealth and glory Britannia has gained through those military campaigns, so Cornelia can't fault her father just yet. 'Alright, so father's main concern was the ancient ruins scattered around the world, and he and V.V. mentioned that they wanted to "slay the God". How exactly would he do that and what was the ultimate objective of doing that?' she muses frustratingly.

It was evening time. Back on the Ikaruga, a timid C.C. was hiding behind a large column at the edge of the deck as Diethard was taking control and directing the Black Knights to find and destroy the Shinkirou. "Master…" C.C. whispered worriedly, wondering where Lelouch had gone.

Suddenly, the Mordred landed right in front of C.C., and Anya alighted from the cockpit. Quite unusually, Anya immediately ran towards C.C. and said cheerfully, "It's been ages since we were face to face like this. It's me!" the usually emotionless girl said cheerfully.

This confuses the audience in the auditorium. "Anya, you knew C.C.?" Shirley asks incredulously.

"…no, I didn't," the pink-haired girl answers. This further confuses the audience. Didn't the Anya on screen just said that it had been ages since she and C.C. met face to face? What is happening?

Gino then notices something different: the Anya on the screen was a lot more cheerful than the usual Anya, and she was saying a lot more words than usual. That Anya on screen defied everything Gino knows about his petite and emotionless friend and colleague. 'It's almost like the Anya on the screen was a different person!' he muses in confusion.

Then, the observant Villetta finally notices something else: there are red rings surround the pupils of the Anya on screen. 'That's… Geass? Lady Alstreim was under the influence of Geass?' she thinks inwardly with surprise as she tries to recall everything she had learnt about Geass while serving as the Captain of the OSI team in Ashford Academy. 'But why? Did His Majesty geass her? But wait… His Majesty's Geass power was to erase and alter memories, and its manifestation should not cause the victim to have his or her pupils surrounded by red rings all the time. At least, that was not what happened to Lelouch. So this must be some other Geass that's controlling Lady Alstreim. Was it Lelouch who'd cast his Geass on her to get C.C. out of the Ikaruga? But when did Lelouch geass Lady Alstreim?'

The active Anya scared the timid C.C. as she didn't seem to know who Anya was. Anya seemed perplexed by C.C.'s unusual behaviour and narrowed her eyes, slowing walking towards the lime-haired girl and grabbed her arms, "C.C., you…"

"No! I'm sorry!" C.C. screamed in fear as she tried to turn away from the approaching pink-haired girl, tears coming out of her golden eyes. Then, the screen converged into one of C.C.'s golden eye, bringing the audience into a strange dimension that looks like an art gallery with paintings showing along the corridor.

As the audience is still utterly confused about what was happening, Anya strolled through the corridor with her usual poker face until she stopped at a corner along the corridor and turned her face left. "What are you doing here?" the pink-haired girl asked, "why did you shut yourself up here again?" The scene then switched and showed a C.C. sitting on a chair, her left elbow rested on the armrest and her head resting on her left palm, seemingly contemplating things. On the wall next to her, there was a portrait of a naked C.C. sitting on a pool of blood, her back facing the audience.

"Hey, that's the painting we saw earlier at the start of the second disc!" Kallen points out, "the one that showed C.C. leaning against an altar naked while sitting in a pool of blood?"

"It seems that the previous scene was basically showing us that Lady Alstreim dived into C.C.'s subconscious, and the paintings seemed to be C.C.'s memory," Guilford observes.

"AHA! Lady C.C.'s corridor of memory!" Lloyd observes, "What fun!"

"Stop, Lloyd! Don't be disrespectful to Lady C.C.'s memory!" Cecile scolds her eccentric boss.

"Anya, how did you…" Gino is utterly confused and looks to Anya in disbelief. That seems nothing like Anya would have done. However, Anya keeps her lips tight: she knows the truth is about to be revealed soon, and she has been waiting for this to happen from the start of the screening event. She is not going to ruin the moment of revelation.

"C.C.? C.C.!" Anya continued to call the lime-haired girl's name.

"Hmph?" C.C. finally noticed someone was calling her and turned her head to the right. Her facial expression and her voice seemed to have revert back to her usual self and not the timid self she had been exhibiting since she lost her memory in the strange dimension with eternal dusk. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"It's me. See?" Anya replied as she suddenly transformed into a woman wearing a long, light orange dress.

"It's you?" C.C. seems to have recognized who the woman was, gradually standing up from her chair, "you even came all the way here? Are you that worried about Lelouch, Marianne?"

"Oh come on, do you really think I'm really such an ideal mother?" the scene switched back to a beautiful woman with long raven hair and a pair of bluish-violet eyes, smiling back at C.C.: it was Marianne vi Britannia, the 5th Imperial Consort of Emperor Charles zi Britannia, and mother of Lelouch and Nunnally.

"WHAT?" Cornelia is utterly shocked and jerks up from her seat due to the shock, her voice shaking and her body trembling in disbelief. "Lady Marianne? How could that be? She's… she's…"

"Mother…" Nunnally has seen snippets of Lelouch's memory when he was drawing his last breath, and the young Empress briefly saw her Big Brother confronting their parents. Hence, Nunnally was not as shocked as Cornelia is to see Marianne to be alive and well, though she is perplexed as to why her mother never contacted her and Lelouch after all those years, as well as to why she talked to C.C. in such a carefree tone, as if they have been friends for a long time.

"Hey! That's Lelouch during the cross-dressing festival!" Rivalz exclaims. "Why's Lelouch there in disguise? I thought he was with Rolo?"

"That's Lady Marianne," Milly corrects her blue-haired friend's misunderstanding, "Lelouch and Rolo's mother…. Err, I mean, Lelouch and Her Majesty's mother," she quickly corrects herself as she now knows that her memory has been altered by Charles' Geass.

"Oh…" Rivalz is embarrassed, although he really wants to say that Lelouch looked exactly like his mother when he put a wig on his head.

"She's so beautiful…" Shirley is in awe of Marianne's beauty. Even as a woman herself, Shirley can't help but being encaptivated by Marianne's unparalleled beauty and elegance.

'Why's Lelouch's mother there though?' Kallen is also in awe of Marianne's beauty, but she is quick to regain her sense and sees the crux of the problem, 'Wasn't she shot dead by someone almost nine years ago? How did she survive? And if she did survive, how come she'd never contacted Lelouch and Nunnally?'

Marianne and C.C.'s conversation continued. "Then why are you here?" C.C. enquired, another portrait showing an evilly laughing V.V. was exhibited behind her.

"I want to know whether you are still on our side or not," Marianne replied as she asked, "C.C., why did you seal your own Code, even when Charles was willing to grant you the wish of dying?"

"Yea, why's that? I myself was also a bit shocked about what I did," C.C. sighed, earning herself some chuckles from the raven-haired woman.

"Anyway, let's return to the reality, shall we?" Marianne suggested, which the lime-haired girl hesitated. However, Marianne did not allow C.C. to turn down her suggestion, "this is a thing I have decided, so we'll just have to do it," she gazed at C.C. with a mischievous smile.

"Well, it's only you who are like that," C.C. sighed again, confusing Marianne before the lime-haired girl continued, "The only one who always comes in and messes around with my life." The memory corridor than faded and both C.C. and Marianne, or Anya at that moment, returned to reality. C.C. also seemed to have regained her usual self and memory as well.

"I am thankful to you," Anya said, "for giving me the power of Geass."

"Even though you have never fulfilled your contract terms," C.C. chided.

"If you really think that, then you should come with me," Anya suggested.

"Ah, hold on. At least let me bring with me that thing…" C.C. smiled mischievously back this time, confusing Anya.

Cornelia is still greatly confused by what she has just seen on the screen. Wasn't Marianne killed almost nine years ago on that grand staircase in Aries Villa? Why was she alive and well? Was everything she knew about the incident a lie? Where is she now? She then realizes a key person to this and turns back to Anya and asks impatiently, "Lady Alstreim, why did Lady Marianne suddenly appear from your mind? Can you still talk to her? Actually, can we still talk to her? If so, then…"

However, before Cornelia can finish her bombarding question at Anya, she realizes that Anya's elbows are trembling, her poker face starts to falter apart as tears start to swell in her eyes. "Your Highness… I… I… I… she… she… she…" the pink-haired girl starts to sob, which then turns into full-scale crying. This shocks Cornelia and all others.

"Are you alright, Anya?" Shirley immediately tends to her friend. Anya simply turns to Shirley and buries her face into Shirley's chest as she cries even more intensely. Shirley quickly hugs Anya and pats her back to comfort her.

As the person who knows the most about what happened to Lady Marianne and Anya, Zero intervenes and said to Cornelia, "Your Highness, it seems to me that there is a lot more behind what happened to Lady Alstreim and Lady Marianne, and as you can see, Lady Alstreim is not in a state of mind to answer your questions. I believe the best course of action here is to let Lady Alstreim to calm down, be patient and wait for the truth to be revealed as we keep watching the disc."

Cornelia's mind is still puzzled and confused, but she too senses that things between Lady Marianne and Anya do not seem to be so straightforward, and Anya seems to be traumatized by it. She reluctantly agrees to Zero's proposal and sits back on her chair, turning her attention back to the screen and waits for the answers to all her questions.

Meanwhile, Nunnally picks up an important detail that the shocked Cornelia has missed. 'Ms C.C. gave mother the power of Geass? Is that the reason why…' a terrible thought comes to Nunnally's mind, and the young Empress suddenly flinches and feels a strong urge not to dig into such thought further, for her intuition is telling her that if she continues to do so, something fundamental to her belief about her mother so far would crumble.

Schneizel, Cornelia and Kanon were ready to leave the Ikaruga after they have reached an armistice agreement with Diethard and the Black Knights. This left the matter of Villetta, who, as a Britannian military officer, had effectively committed high treason by defecting to the Black Knights to join Ohgi. As Schneizel, Kanon and other accompanying soldiers had been onboard their aircraft, Cornelia was standing some distance in front of the gate of the aircraft and talked to Villetta face to face.

"I'll leave Lady Alstreim on the Ikaruga since we need someone to apprehend Zero once he's captured," the purple princess explained, before switching to a more personal tone and asked Villetta concernedly, "well, what are your plans from now on? Are you staying with the Black Knights?"

Villetta is shocked at the suggestion, but before she could have said anything, Cornelia continued while staring at the silver-haired woman intently, "Neither my brother nor I myself have any intention to hold you accountable for that… Well, or I should say, the situation has changed a lot already and we're not able to act against you."

"Uhm… Your Highness, I…" Villetta stuttered. She's torn between the two choices: either stayed with Ohgi and abandoned her military career in Britannia and the privileges that came with her baroness title she had worked so hard to earn, or to live as a glorious Britannian noble that she so wanted for a long time, but abandoning her relationship with Ohgi, a man who was willing to love her with his life.

As Villetta was still internally struggling with the two choices she had, Cornelia's facial expression suddenly softened, and the usually stoic princess chuckled before leaving an advice to the troubled military woman, "it may be presumptuous for me to say this, but you have to realize that peerage is not the only thing that matters in life," and with that, the warrior princess then turned and walked towards the aircraft as she took her leave.

Villetta wanted to say something more, but hesitated and did not pursue the leaving princess.

Chiba is pleasantly surprised by the conversation between Villetta and Cornelia. "I'd have never thought that a Britannian princess would advise you that peerage was not everything that matters, Villetta," the hardheaded Japanese woman says to the First Lady of Japan.

"Yes, and I am grateful that I heeded to Her Highness' advice," Villetta smiles with happiness filling her heart, holding the blushing Ohgi's left arm tight in her own arms. With a loving husband and a lovely son, Villetta is now the happiest woman in Japan. She then stands up, turns to Cornelia and bows respectfully, "Your Highness, I've made the best decision in my life thanks to your wise and timely advice. I myself and Kaname are eternally grateful to you."

"You've given way too much credit to me, Lady Ohgi," Cornelia blushes a bit at the gratitude she is getting from Villetta, "it's ultimately your own decision, and all I did was just to share my thoughts with you only."

"Ohgi!" Tamaki nudges his long-time friend, "shouldn't you thank the princess as well? After all, if it wasn't for her advice, you would not have a loving wife and a lovely son."

"Huh…?" Ohgi is confused at Tamaki's sudden suggestion, but then realizes that he does owe Cornelia on that. "Uhm, Your Highness, I should thank you for your advice to Chigusa as well, it was thanks to you that we were able to become family," Ohgi scratches the back of his head a bit and blushes before bowing to the princess, "thank you."

"Prime Minister, you are too kind…" Cornelia's blushes even more at being thanked by the Prime Minister of Japan. She may be experienced in handling adverse situations, but being the recipient of heartfelt appreciation is not exactly the purple princess' strong suit, after all.

Back on the Ikaruga, Diethard, Ohgi, Tohdoh, Chiba and Rakshata were discussing what to do next after Zero's ousting. Diethard suggested to announce to the world that Zero was dead, in which Ohgi and Tohdoh both had doubts about that, but Diethard insisted that "Zero" was just an avatar of justice, and there was no proof that Lelouch was Zero even if he reemerged. The group also decided not to announce matters related to Geass as it would be incomprehensible to the public and might even lead to doubts against the senior brass of the Black Knights.

Tohdoh and Chiba both frown at the scene when they watch it from a third person perspective. Having realized that Lelouch had not used Geass on them, and that they have been tricked by Schneizel into ejecting Lelouch as leader of the Black Knights back on the Ikaruga, they have become more critical of the scenes post-coup as they realize that after they had ejected Lelouch, a Britannian Prince, they essentially transferred the leading role to Diethard, another Britannian, which means the Black Knights was still an organization that relied on Britannian leadership. If that was the case and Lelouch did not use Geass on them after all, then the remaining half of the reason of why they held Lelouch at gunpoint was for no reason at all as well – why demanded Lelouch to confirm himself as a Britannian Prince if ejecting him simply means that the Black Knights will still be led by another Britannian? What was the point of doing that except to expel the best brain of the Black Knights?

Kaguya frowns at the scene as well, but for a different reason. 'Despite it was Ohgi's idea to hold Lelouch at gunpoint to force for the truth, it was clear that he didn't have a plan for the organization after ejecting Lelouch as the leader … no, he hadn't even thought of the scene when Lelouch would be ejected from the Black Knights, and he simply let Diethard to take over the helm. That's simply a neglect of duty on Ohgi's part…'

Meanwhile, Lelouch was in his Shinkirou, diving deep into the sea. He was on the phone with Rivalz.

"I see… I'm so glad to hear that, really," Lelouch smiled to the good news Rivalz had just told him through the phone.

"Yep! It's good that they have finally got the mobile phones working again!" Rivalz exclaimed, "We now know that everyone's fine… right, your house is no more, but the student club house is still here."

"I see," came Lelouch's short reply.

"Hey, where's Rolo, anyway? Is he by your side?" Rivalz asked. He hadn't seen the young boy for a while already.

"Huh? Yea…" Lelouch felt downcast upon the mentioning of his deceased brother, and immediately switched the topic, "Rivalz, can you convey my message to everyone else, please? I probably can't keep my promise of doing the fireworks with everyone." Lelouch then cut the line.

Rivalz was shocked at the sudden end of the conversation. "What's that guy saying?" he tried to call back, but Lelouch had already switched his mobile phone off.

"He switched his phone off?" Rivalz thought at the time that the termination of the conversation was due to some transmission problem, but now it is clear to him that it was Lelouch who ended his call. Suddenly, Rivalz recalls what Milly has just said to him about Lelouch didn't want to break the bad news to him. "I see, Lelouch was greatly hit by Rolo's death…"

"It seems to be his habit to cut the line whenever he had finished saying whatever he wanted to say," Milly realizes the grave feeling among her Ashford friends due to Rolo's tragic death and a depressed Lelouch after Rolo's death, and so she decides to lighten up the atmosphere by turning to her orange-haired friend with a teasing smile, "wasn't it, Shirley?"

"Huh?" Shirley is surprised at Milly seemingly return to her normal teasing self, "uhm, yea, Madam President is right. I mean, he did cut off my call back when he's in Shinjuku…"

Just as the Ashford friends are chatting, Kaguya is thinking back the sequence of events, and she realizes what Lelouch was about to do. 'I see, so that's when he had decided to go kill Emperor Charles to take over the Britannian throne. But Emperor Charles was immortal, and Lelouch's Geass wouldn't work on him. How did he do that?'

Back on Charles' personal transport, Charles was staring at the monitor with a smile on his face as his underlings were working on the system.

"Your Majesty, we have finished preparations for synchronization," an underling reported.

"Very well, let's begin," Charles ordered. A world map then appeared on the monitor, with eight points marked across Eurasia, Africa, North America and Antarctica. All the points were then linked to the one in Japan, on Kamine Island.

"All relic systems are now synchronized," another underling reported.

"With this, the current world with existing Gods shall come to an end. Destruction and creation… the Ragnarök Connection shall commence!" Charles seemed excited about what was going to happen with the synchronization of the relic systems across the world.

Suddenly, the monitor was interrupted by a communication screen: it was Monica, the Knight of Twelve. "Your Majesty, Prince Schneizel has sent in a communication request…" the lady knight reported.

"I've already told you to leave all matters to him," Charles interjected with impatience filled in his words, "such mundane affairs."

"Mundane affairs?" Monica was surprised and confused. How could the devastation of Tokyo Settlement and the well-being of the imperial subjects in the Settlement be "mundane affairs"? However, before she could respond, Charles had cut off the communication already.

'It seems that Schneizel has realized what's happening…' Charles mused with narrowed eyes, 'however, you're too late now. The game that we call "war" is going to end very soon.'

"What the hell was he talking about?" Tamaki yells in frustration, "I don't understand a word he said!"

"Ragnarök… that's the name of an old Norse mythology," Guilford says, "it is a series of events, including a great battle, foretold to lead to the death of a number of great gods like Odin, Thor, Heimdalir, and so forth, natural disasters and the submersion of the world in water."

"I've heard of it as well," Cecile joins the conversation, "after the deaths of the gods and the world being engulfed in natural disasters, it resurfaces anew and fertile."

"Cecile, you are into mythology as well?" Rakshata is surprised that a scientist like Cecile also knows something about Norse mythology.

"Well, I've read about that during my spare time when I was still in university," Cecile explains.

"The Emperor did mention 'destruction and creation'," Chiba observes, "was he trying to destroy and recreate the world?"

"But how?" Tamaki is still frustrated about not understanding a thing about what the Emperor had said, "And hadn't he been doing it already by going to war with the UFN?"

This rings a bell in Cornelia's mind. 'I see… all the wars that Britannia had waged over the years, they were made to look like father was eyeing for wealth and resources, but in reality, he was after all those relic systems for this "Ragnarök Connection"! This fully explains why on the one hand, father kept espousing the doctrine of "the strong devours the weak" to push Britannia going to war with other countries, but on the other hand, he seemed totally disinterested in the affairs of state…' the warrior princess feels complicated at this realization because on the one hand, she felt that what she had believed in over the years as she led the Britannian Army to fight for her country was a lie; on the other hand, though, it was still real that all the wars Britannia had waged against other countries did bring wealth and glory to her nation that helped Britannia to emerge as the world's strongest nation and significantly raised the living standards of Britannians.

Next to Cornelia, Nunnally frowns at hearing her father calling the affairs of state "mundane". As the reigning Empress, she always puts the welfare of her subjects first before everything, and to hear how her father so casually wrote off the misfortune his loyal subjects in Tokyo Settlement had suffered from as "mundane affairs" has shocked and upset her quite a bit. 'Father, how could you…' the young empress muses with disdain.

As Milly was doing a reporting on the breaking news that Schneizel, on behalf of the Britannian government, had signed an armistice with the Black Knights, and that the Black Knights announced the death of their CEO Zero in the temporary studio set at Ashford Academy, Xingke and Gu were accompanying a saddened Kaguya and a worried Tianzi to hurry from their base at Kagoshima to the Ikaruga in Tokyo.

Kaguya looks at this scene with sadness emerging in her mind again as she recalls how saddened she was when she received the news that Zero was "dead". As clear as it was to the politician side of her that she and Zero were simply using each other for political benefits, the maiden side of her still adores the masked hero, and it was simply a difficult time for her back then to try her best to remain as stoic as her emotion had allowed her to be in the interest of the integrity of the newly born UFN. Now that she has learnt what happened before her return from the Dalongdan to the Ikaruga, she can't help but to shoot a cold gaze at Ohgi again for his idiocy and, more importantly, his ignorance of his own idiocy of actually endorsing Schneizel's claim during the meeting with him, and let Schneizel hijacked the Black Knights into a coup against Lelouch that resulted in nothing positive to the Black Knights and the cause of freeing Japan.

"Kaguya…" same as in the footage, the present Tianzi is worried about her friend when she notices how her friend seems to be upset by the scene once again. She wants to comfort her elder friend, but she doesn't know how to do just that. 'Only if Xingke is here as well…' the young Chinese girl muses in sadness as she recalls her deceased favourite General.

Back inside a dark storage room in the Ikaruga, an angry Ohgi punched Diethard in the face as Villetta was watching from behind, causing the blond Britannian man to fall backwards against the door. "Chigusa has already told me that everything's been your idea," Ohgi seethed at the former TV producer after learning that it was Diethard who sent Sayako to tail him and subsequently locked Villetta up in the Ikaruga without getting consent from Zero. "If you are staying on in the Black Knights, I'm assuming that you know how to behave from now on!" the General Secretary of the Black Knights bellowed.

"Wow, I didn't know you can be this violent, Prime Minister Ohgi," Rakshata observes.

"He deserved it," Ohgi hisses as he watches the scene once again from a third person perspective and thinks back what Diethard had done to his wife, "he deserved to be punched for what he did to Chigusa!"

"It's good that the Prime Minister was standing up for Coach Villetta!" Rivalz says with a bright smile, "that Mr Reid was harsh to lock Coach Villetta up!"

However, the same event cannot be said to be viewed with the same positivity on the Black Knights side. Tohdoh frowns at the scene on how Ohgi seemed to be only capable of thinking things about Villetta and not for the Black Knights in general. 'As much as I didn't like the idea of Diethard taking the helm, he was still a valued member to us by virtue of his expertise in media and intelligence. Ohgi's too shortsighted to put his personal grudges against Diethard before the common good of the Black Knights… and he misled us when he endorsed Prince Schneizel's claim. What a terrible mistake we had made…'

Kaguya also scowls at the scene and shoots an undetectable gaze at the tall Japanese man who is serving as the current Prime Minister of Japan. 'Personal grudges before the common good… can Ohgi really shoulder the weight of Japan in a responsible way?'

Meanwhile, Lloyd, Nina and Arthur the cat all looked depressed as they sat on the floor of a park that is right in front of the edge of the F.L.E.I.J.A. blast radius. Cecile walked towards the group from behind and sat next to Lloyd while telling them that Suzaku had disappeared.

"I know, he's too serious as a person," Lloyd still staring at the ground, downcast.

"Quite similar to you, Dr Asplund," Nina added.

"AHA! Is that so?" Lloyd was amused by Nina's comment.

'Nina was actually quite observant there,' Rakshata muses as she turns and looks at the bespectacled timid girl, 'The Earl of Pudding may look eccentric and carefree, but he's serious when it comes to his work. Not that many people can see through his guise, though.'

Zero stares at the screen and apologizes inwardly, 'Sorry, Lloyd and Cecile, I just felt that I must end the tragedy and to atone my sins for firing the F.L.E.I.J.A. that killed 25 million people…'

"Ugh…!" a cult-like underling was killed and fell down right before Charles, who was standing right in front of the cave on Kamine Island with a stern face. "Are you doing this under the orders of Schneizel?" the Emperor asked the one who killed his cult-like underling.

"I do it on my own volition," the killer of Charles' cult-like underling answered with a stern face as well. It was the then MIA Suzaku. "Your Majesty, I am grateful for your patronage. However, you have abandoned your responsibility to your subjects as the Emperor. If I could let His Highness to bring peace by having you removed…" Suzaku then tightened his grip of his sword.

Charles seemed unmoved and simply stared at the rebelling Knight of Seven.

"You know, I would have praised how brave Emperor Charles was in facing Kururugi barehanded had I not known that he was immoral," Rakshata chides.

"AHA! The blessing of immortality!" Lloyd exclaims cheerfully.

"Well, to be fair, His Majesty was a brave man even without this immortality thing," Gino decides to defend the honour of his liege despite having learnt the shocking truth that his liege once possessed the cursed power of Geass, "I mean, one must not forget that he did survive in the previous struggle for the Britannian throne and was crowned the 98th Emperor. His life had been a long and struggling one, always fighting someone aiming for his life and position."

"But he possessed the power of Geass!" Chiba chides, "That means he basically cheated his way to the throne!"

"Well…" Gino actually understands Chiba's logic, and he speaks out for Charles simply out of a sense of duty as his Knight of Three and nothing more, so he ultimately decides to let this one go and says no more on the matter.

"Why did you sully your hands with the power of Geass?" Suzaku demanded as he finally pointed his sword at his liege as a Knight of the Round.

"Are you suggesting that doing so is a sin?" Charles enquired.

"Geass elicits the evil within people's hearts," Suzaku asserted before demanding from the 98th Emperor of Britannia, "Your Majesty, you knew everything. It would be child's play for you to save Euphy, yet you abandoned her!"

"What about it?" Charles bellowed.

Cornelia, Nunnally and Guilford all frown at Charles' total lack of concern and empathy regarding Euphemia's death. All of them, however, knew long ago that the 98th Emperor of Britannia, who espoused the idea of "the strong devours the weak", could care less of the seemingly weak 3rd Princess of Britannia, who got herself killed by doing something that was in direct contradiction to the national policy of discrimination against the Numbers.

Zero tightens his fists as he seethes at the scene inside his mask. 'I knew this already, but this is still infuriating to watch again,' the avatar of justice thinks inwardly with disdain.

"Tch…" Suzaku was infuriated by Charles' nonchalant response about Euphemia. He then raised his sword to the sky. "This sword also contains the despair of Lelouch and Nunnally. Die!"

However, as Suzaku sprang forth and almost got his sword pierced through Charles' chest, someone from the side jumped right in between them and blocked Suzaku's sword, shocking Suzaku.

"L… Lord Waldstein?" Suzaku exclaimed, not expecting to see the Knight of One here at Kamine Island. Shouldn't Bismarck be at the Kagoshima Base?

"It seems that the Knight of Seven has finally revealed his treacherous self," Bismarck hissed, "too bad for you, the Knight of Betrayal."

"Bismarck, I leave these mundane affairs to you," Charles ordered as he turned away and slowly walked into the cave.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Bismarck answered respectfully.

"Wait!" Suzaku yelled as Charles walked away, but all he got was Bismarck's smirk. The Knight of One swung his sword and forced Suzaku to slide back before the Knights started to fight one on one. Charles didn't seem to care any of that and simply kept walking into the cave.

Gino tightens his fists upon seeing this scene as he feels a sense of not being trusted by his liege quickly occupying his mind. 'I knew Sir Bismarck was supposed to be the closest Knight of the Round to His Majesty, but I still can't believe he actually knew about the twisted power of Geass all along and never told us anything about it…'

On the other side of the auditorium, Tohdoh nods to Suzaku's loyalty to Euphemia. 'Such loyalty… I have misjudged Suzaku-kun in the last disc,' he gazes at the current Zero approvingly, 'and he was even willing to do it for Lelouch and Her Majesty's sake as well, despite how Lelouch treated him earlier. He's an honourable boy after all.'

In the front row, though, Cornelia and Guilford are perplexed by how Suzaku was still willing to fight for Euphemia at that point of time. If Suzaku was that devoted to Euphemia, why did he switch to Lelouch eventually, and notably not doing so because of Lelouch's Geass but on his own volition? What had caused the change in heart? Both of them have been plagued by this question for a long time, and even until now, they still see no hint that had prompted such drastic change of heart that eventually led to Suzaku's demise during the Battle of Mt Fuji.

As the aircraft carrying Kaguya, Tianzi, Xingke and Gu was approaching the Ikaruga, Ohgi was taking over as the commander of the Black Knights, instructing an operator of the Black Knights, in a rather hesitant tone, to contact Schneizel for another round of meeting and negotiation while all senior brass of the Black Knights gathered around him in the control room. The screen then showed a beaten up Diethard staring at Ohgi with not an angry, but a disappointed gaze, apparently not satisfied with the weak and indecisive leadership Ohgi had exhibited.

"It was a tough time," Ohgi sighs at the scene, "all of a sudden, I have to take the lead of things again."

"You're our leader back before Zero appeared in Shinjuku!" Tamaki exclaims confidently, "I mean, you are now the Prime Minister of Japan, so there was no problem there!"

"Thanks, Tamaki, that means a lot to me," Ohgi smiles contently, seeing that his leadership is recognized by his long-time friend. Next to the content Ohgi, Villetta also holds her husband's hand to show her unreserved support to him.

Tohdoh, however, frowns at the scene. 'I see, so Diethard actually had considered to stay with us despite being beaten by Ohgi, but eventually got disappointed by Ohgi's leadership and ultimately decided to leave us for Prince Schneizel. As much as I loathed that man's betrayal, I can't blame him for his assessment of Ohgi… he's right on that.'

Kaguya scowls at the scene with disdain as she recalls that during the screening of the second disc, Ohgi casually dismissed Diethard's importance to the Black Knights. 'So that's why Diethard eventually left us. Well, he's not wrong – Ohgi's true nature is to be defensive of something, but not a forward-looking leader to follow, and to put Ohgi in charge of the Black Knights was, in a TV producer's vernacular, a miscast. The question is, has Ohgi since improved? Or is he still the same incompetent leader of the Black Knights? I guess the answer is quite clear now.'

Back on Kamine Island, Charles was standing in front of the giant rock entrance in the cave while Bismarck and Suzaku were still fighting outside of the cave, with Bismarck having a clear upper hand against Suzaku.

'This is not good!' Suzaku was screaming inwardly as the red rings surrounding his pupils were flashing and Bismarck slowly walking towards him, 'the "live" Geass is screaming at me to run away! Is the Knight of One that dangerous of an opponent?' "However, I have left my weakness behind already!" he barked as he once again charged at Bismarck.

"You fool!" Bismarck bellowed as his sewn left eye was glittering red light out of the slit, hitting Suzaku's sword and sending him to fly back and lay on the ground, "the 'weakness' that you have left behind was actually gentleness! Without that, all you're left with is pure violence. And if that's the case… then you shall die here and now, Suzaku Kururugi!"

Suzaku was staring intently and desperately at Bismarck as he was lying on the ground.

"Suzaku couldn't beat the Knight of One?" Kallen is shocked at seeing Suzaku being beaten onto the ground, especially having witnessed how Suzaku had defeated Bismarck in a Knightmare Frame fight.

"Sir Bismarck was an accomplished swordsman," Gino explains, "I have never seen him being defeated by anyone in a one-on-one sword fight."

"Why is his left eye sewn shut though?" Rakshata observes, "The red light glittering from the slit of his sewn left eye… perhaps he had Geass as well?"

This agitates Tamaki. "What the hell?" he exclaims, "Why does everyone from Britannia have Geass?"

"This is just pathetic," Chiba hisses, "the entire country of Britannia was built on lies and cheating power. To think that we Japanese had suffered for eight years because of such evil power…"

Cornelia thinks for a moment. 'The Knight of One was the Emperor's closest ally, and so Lord Waldstein was naturally father's closest ally as well. Given the previous scenes showing Lord Waldstein also knew about Geass and father's true intention of sending Lelouch back to Ashford Academy was to lure out C.C., it should not come as a surprise that Lord Waldstein also possessed some form of Geass. However, why did he sew his left eye shut, then? Was he unwilling to use his Geass power? Or was it…'

Just as Bismarck was about to finish off Suzaku, a sudden explosion happened on top of a hill of Kamine Island, purple flames burning through the dark sky. The screen then switched to a slowly strutting Lelouch in front of the flame alone and with no one else around him, the Geass Sigil shining on his left eye.

"My name is Lelouch vi Britannia," the strutting raven-haired boy announced himself with a determined expression on his face despite the fact that no one was around, "the eldest son of Imperial Consort Marianne, and an Imperial Prince abandoned by his Empire!"

At the same time, the Britannian forces floating above Kamine Island was attacked by their own reinforcements.

"Why are we attacking each other?" Monica, the Knight of Twelve and Commander of the Great Britannia, questioned her subordinates in disbelief.

"We are looking into the situation, but we cannot contact gun turret room no.3!" an operator reported dutifully.

"It could be that someone hijacked that gun turret room!" Another officer suggested. And indeed, as the camera moved to that room, a geassed officer is seen controlling the gun turret.

Another group of soldiers were getting close to support the Great Britannia. "Follow us, the Imperial Guards! We'll eliminate all enemies!" the commander of the reinforcement announced through the communication system.

"Yes, my Lord!" a subordinate responded, but then another Britannian Sutherland unit suddenly attacked the reinforcement force as well. The sudden attack shocked Monica as she was looking at the monitor that showed her forces being taken out one by one.

"All reinforcements from the Shikine Island Base are attacking us!" an operator reported to the blonde Knight, "We're getting reports of our own guards turning on us as well!"

"A rebellion, you say?" Bismarck was shocked by the report he got as he was on the phone with a Britannian officer, before he saw Suzaku started to run away.

'Lelouch, there is no need for you to burden yourself with more sins…!' Suzaku screamed inwardly as he ran towards the opposite side of Kamine Island, only to be stopped by a bomb falling from the sky and exploded near him. "Ugh…!" Suzaku yelled as he fell down the crumbled ground.

Seeing Suzaku had fell down with the bomb, Bismarck immediately switched his full attention to the rebellion. "Who is the commander of the Great Britannia?" he asked.

"It's Lady Monica Kruszewski, the Knight of Twelve," the officer reported.

"Very well, I shall take my Galahad with me as well!" Bismarck then rushed back to his Knightmare Frame.

"I see, so that's what Lelouch was going to do after his call with Rivalz," Gino observes, "to chase after and kill His Majesty."

"Huh…?" Rivalz is shocked by Gino's observation, "but then why he said he might not be able to keep his promise about doing fireworks with us?"

"Isn't that quite clear? Lelouch was expecting he might be dead as he was heading to kill his father," Gino answers, this time shocking both Rivalz and Shirley. Lelouch was trying to sacrifice himself to kill the Emperor?

"Well, that should be quite obvious," Rakshata observes, "he seemed to have lost everything at that moment, and the only unfinished business on his list was his revenge against his father, so naturally he's going to do just that when the Emperor was also in Japan. Though how he was going to do that and how he did that, I still have no clue."

"Indeed, Dr Chawla," Gino agrees with the Indian Scientist, "His Majesty was immortal, so I really don't know how he was going to do it."

"Just how narcissistic Lelouch was?" Chiba suddenly spats just as Rivalz and Shirley are still shocked by Gino and Rakshata's discussion, "there was no one around him at all, yet he still announced himself as if he was an important someone?"

"Lulu wasn't…!" Shirley tries to defend her love interest once again as she is still trying her best to soothe a distressed Anya, but even she can't find a good reason – who else besides a narcissist would announce himself pompously when no one was around?

"Otherwise, why did he do that?" Chiba doesn't let go of this little detail, "I simply see no reason at all, other than he was being pompous of himself!"

"Well, not exactly, Mrs Tohdoh," Milly decides to help her orange-haired friend and speaks up, knowing Shirley is still not used to speak up against super hard-headed people, "he's probably drumming up his confidence to go against his father. After all, he's risking everything he had to go after the Emperor."

"…yes! It must be that! Lulu was just trying to instill into himself confidence!" Shirley quickly jumps onto Milly's wagon to defend Lelouch. It's so good to have someone as reliable as Milly around when things get tough.

"…tsch! Whatever," Chiba can't come up with a good argument against Milly's point, and so she hisses at the Britannian teenage girls and gives up continuing her rather mild complaint against Lelouch.

"Putting whether Lelouch was a narcissist aside, I think it is clear to all of us that Suzaku's a much better friend than Lelouch," Gino continues, "we have just seen from the footage now that even after how Lelouch was set on killing him, Suzaku still didn't want Lelouch to bear any more sin."

"I agree with Gino on that," to everyone's surprise, it is Kallen who first voices out her support to Gino's comment on Suzaku.

"Why are you defending that traitor, Kouzuki?" Chiba demands in disbelief. She has always thought that Kallen is her close comrade when it comes to shit-talking Suzaku, but now Kallen is going to switch sides?

"His other qualities aside, Suzaku was clearly more loyal to his friend than Lelouch was to his," Kallen explains, "I mean, Lelouch had betrayed Suzaku time and again, yet Suzaku was still thinking for Lelouch in a time like this; whereas Lelouch didn't fully trust Suzaku at their meeting at the Kururugi Shrine by geassing Lord Guilford prior to that meeting as an insurance, and he… he ordered me to kill Suzaku simply because he mistook Suzaku to be betraying him. I think the comparison here is clear, even to Tamaki."

"Hey! What do you mean by even to me?" Tamaki yells, but no one pays any attention to him as they are thinking about Kallen's words.

"I thought you have regained your confidence in Lelouch after confirming that he did really care about you?" Milly whispers into Kallen's ear curiously.

"I… I…" Kallen stutters, but finally decides to stay true to her thoughts and whispers her mind to Milly, regardless of how she will be teased by the she-devil of Ashford Academy, "Yes, my confidence in Lelouch is restored after learning his true thoughts about me. However, I am not returning to the old days when I just blindly trusted him, even if… even if… even if…"

"…you love him?" Milly finishes Kallen's sentence in a whispering tone, to which Kallen nods with her face blushes hard. However, instead of the endless teasing Kallen is expecting, she gets a hug from Milly. "Milly…?" Kallen whispers in surprise.

Milly says nothing in return but simply hugs her red-haired friend tight, feeling happy for her friend to be finally frank about her feelings to the raven-haired boy. To witness how Kallen has been suppressing her feelings towards Lelouch until just a bit earlier when she finally gets to confirm Lelouch's true feelings to her is actually a sad thing to the caring tall blonde girl, and she is grateful that this screening event has brought some noticeable positive changes to her treasured friend who hasn't really enjoyed the life of a high school girl until very recently.

Meanwhile, Schneizel, Cornelia and Kanon were back on the Ikaruga to meet with Kaguya, Tianzi, Xingke, Ohgi and Diethard. Upon hearing the news about a rebellion among the Britannian Army happening near Kamine Island, Schneizel apologized to Kaguya in order to excuse the Britannian representation to head to Kamine Island. However, Kaguya suggested to go together, which surprised Cornelia. "We have a few points to verify before we can go on. We can continue the meeting once this matter has been settled," The UFN Supreme Council Chairwoman said, tears filling her eyes. Next to the tearing girl, Xingke also signaled his support to Kaguya's proposal.

Ohgi frowns at the scene. 'I see Kaguya-sama still had attachment to Lelouch… I should find a time to speak privately with her to help her to see reason that Lelouch was not a good person; Schneizel was,' the Prime Minister of Japan muses. He actually wants to speak up again, but he feels that there are just too many people that he needs to work on to make them see reason, it may be better for him to speak with them one by one to make the conversation more conducive and less interfering. He is also considering to bring Villetta with him as well, so that Villetta can share her experience of being threatened by Lelouch into submission directly to Ohgi's interlocutors, thereby making it even easier for them to see reason.

Kaguya also frowns, but for the exact opposite reason. 'It's a pity that I was at the Dalongdan on Horai Island when the first meeting took place. Only if I could intervene before the damage was done…' she is still flabbergasted by how naive Ohgi had to be to actually endorse Schneizel's claim and thought nothing about the consequence of hopping onto Schneizel's sugarcoated plan that seemed to be in the personal interest of the members of the Black Knights, which it actually was, but ultimately damaging to the Black Knights as an organization, which Ohgi had paid no mind about.

"Kaguya…" Tianzi is still worried about her friend, but she can do nothing about it except to stay besides Kaguya and show her support to the Japanese girl.

The scene then switched back to the strange dimension with eternal dusk, and Charles was seen reaching the top of the floating temple, a once magnificent edifice destroyed by Lelouch last time when both of them were in that strange dimension. Unlike his usual pompous Emperor persona, Charles merely stood at the top of the destroyed floating temple and gazed at the eternal dusk silently.

The audience is perplexed as to why the Emperor returned to the destroyed floating temple. There seems to be nothing there for the Emperor to use for his mysterious "Ragnarök Connection" plan.

"I don't understand!" Tamaki exclaims in frustration, "What was he trying to do there? And what the hell was that Rag-something Connection thing?"

"Well, none of us here understands what was happening there, so there is no need for you to feel bad that you don't understand either," Rakshata chides the red-haired cafe owner.

"I see… hey! What do you mean?" for a split second, Tamaki thinks Rakshata is comforting him, but then realizes that something is not right. However, he is duly ignored by everyone once again as they turn to more serious discussion on what has just happened on screen.

"I don't understand. How could His Majesty's plan work when everything's been destroyed by Lelouch?" Nina asks meekly.

"I don't understand either," Rakshata adds to Nina's point, "if His Majesty was serious about activating his 'Ragnarök Connection', whatever it was, shouldn't he at least bring a company of sappers to rebuild the destroyed floating temple?"

"Hmm…" Lloyd is perplexed as well. If it was up to him, he would have brought his Lancelot into that strange dimension with eternal dusk to rebuild the destroyed floating temple instead of standing at the top of the ruins and stared at the eternal dusk silently and did nothing.

"Perhaps His Majesty Emperor Charles was really above science…" Cecile sighs as well, not understanding what the 98th Emperor of Britannia was doing by standing there and seemingly did nothing.

Meanwhile, Back on Kamine Island, Bismarck was in the pilot seat of the Galahad, considering his options in dealing with a possibly geassed rebelling force against the Great Britannia. Suddenly, the Galahad was attacked the Mordred.

"Anya, you can't be part of this…" Bismarck demanded.

"How can you still call yourself the Knight of One when you have joined the coup d'etat?" Anya interjects with her usual monotone before Bismarck finished his sentence, and she also got her Stark Hadron Cannon ready.

"What…?" Bismarck was surprised; Anya was doubting his loyalty to the Crown? "Don't jump to conclusions! The enemies came from Shikine Island, and Monica can testify on my behalf!" Bismarck bellows as he manoeuvred his Galahad to hit the Mordred with its Excalibur hard enough to disable the Mordred's flight ability, but light enough not to fundamentally damage the Knightmare Frame piloted by the Knight of Six who had just showed to him absolute loyalty to the Crown, even willing to take a possibly rebelling Knight of One heads on.

The Mordred suffered damages on its right shoulder, and slowly fell to the ground. Anya paid most of her attention into monitoring Lelouch entering the cave, before responding to Bismarck, "I understand now. I'm sorry."

"All I ask of you is your recognition of my loyalty to the Crown. How damaged is your Knighmare Frame?" Bismarck continued.

"My air combat mobility dropped," Anya replied as the Mordred slowly landed onto Kamine Island, "I'll intercept rebel forces on the ground instead."

"Understood, then I shall defend the imperial flagship," Bismarck acknowledged Anya's message before taking off to the Great Britannia.

Inside the cockpit of the Mordred, a smiling C.C. was cramped into the cockpit behind the pilot seat, hugging her beloved cheese-kun plush doll. "What a talented actress you are," C.C. remarked.

"There is no time to explain the whole thing to Bismarck," Anya chuckled as she slowly prepared the Mordred for landing, "he won't doubt my loyalty because I doubted his first, right?"

"To think that Sir Bismarck got fooled that easily…" Gino can't believe what he has just seen. The almighty Knight of One, the most capable and discerning Knight of the entire Britannian Empire was tricked so easily into where his opponent wanted him to be? That was unheard of, at least not since the tall blond Knight of Three has heard of the name Bismarck Waldstein! What happened? Was Lelouch's mother that terrifyingly good as a warrior and strategist that not even the Knight of One, the Emperor's strongest Knight, could handle?

Nunnally is shocked and having a hard time to reconcile her vivid memory of the gentle 5th Imperial Consort with the cunning former Knight of Six prior to her marriage to Nunnally's father. In Nunnally's memory, her mother had always been the gentle consort that was so doting to Lelouch and her, and she can hardly associate the cunningness her mother had just displayed on screen with the elegance that the raven-haired Imperial Consort had always displayed in Aries Villa and the wider Imperial Court. 'I… I am aware of mother's capability from the fact that she was once the strongest Knight of the Round, her unparalleled skill as a Knightmare Frame pilot, snippets of Big Brother's memory, and the footage just now… but it's still shocking to see mother could actually played Sir Bismarck in her hand with such ease…'

Cornelia is a bit surprised at Bismarck falling for Marianne's trap so easily as well even though she idolized her, expecting Bismarck to be a bit more competent than what has just been shown on screen. Nevertheless, she is more curious as to what did Marianne mean by "the whole thing" that she claimed she had no time to explain to Bismarck. 'Lady Marianne seemed to have noticed Lelouch entering that cave on Kamine Island at that moment. Was she planning to help Lelouch?' she muses as she tries to figure out what was going on.

Kallen, however, is focused on C.C.'s comment regarding Marianne. 'A talented actress… so that's where Lelouch got his acting skills from. And the way she so easily tricked the Knight of One… that's probably where Lelouch got his intelligence from. I'm still curious as to how C.C. got to know Lelouch's mother, though. Back when Lelouch was confronting Prince Clovis, Lelouch mentioned that his mother was a commoner by birth. Perhaps C.C. met Lady Marianne when she was around the same age as Lelouch when C.C. met him?'

Next to Shirley, Anya has finally recovered from her emotional outbreak due to the appearance of Marianne on the screen. She simply seethes at the scene with the least amount of facial movement and curses, 'That vile woman… she robbed my identity! How dare she impersonated me to fool Sir Bismarck like that…?'

"Anya…" Shirley looks at her friend worriedly. She has just tried her best to soothe Anya from her emotional breakdown, and to see her friend once again being riled up by Lelouch's mother is just painful for her to look at.

Inside the strange dimension with eternal dusk, Charles was once again standing silently at the edge of the platform, with two giant twisting pillars spinning slowly and continuously. Charles reached his right hand out and showed the glowing Geass Sigil on his right palm.

"God, hear me!" Charles bellowed, "It's time to settle this once and for all!"

"AHA! So that's what His Majesty Emperor Charles had planned to fix the damaged floating temple!" Lloyd clicks and exclaims as he turns to his blue-haired assistant, "it turns out that you are right, Cecile! His Majesty was indeed above science!"

"Alright, I thought Code only gives people immunity to death and aging," Rakshata chuckles, "turns out that it can do other things as well."

Unlike Lloyd and Rakshata who are excited because they have finally got the answer to a question they previously could not solve, Nina cringes at what Charles has just said on screen. "His Majesty… was challenging a supernatural being? What… what kind of…"

Milly chuckles a little at the scientist corner's discussion. 'They are no doubt all brilliant people, but when it comes to things that cannot be explained by science, they seem to have been limited by their own source of intelligence as well. But Ms Croomy has got it right: the Emperor was indeed above science.'

"I was right back during the screening of the second disc," Guilford observes, "His Majesty did have a theological bent to things after having ruled the strongest and largest empire in the world for so long."

Next to Guilford, Cornelia grits her teeth. 'Was that it, father? You were so into getting into the next level of the game, you abandoned Euphy and everyone else…?' the purple princess has long known how merciless and ruthless her father was, but she also understands that mercilessness and ruthlessness are essential to a successful ruler of a global power such as Britannia, and she had long assumed that however merciless or ruthless her father was, he was doing everything he could for the betterment of the Empire and hence the livelihood of his subjects, which seemed to be the case as Britannia had become more and more prosperous as it expanded globally throughout the years. To face direct evidence of what her father actually cared about and thus the real source of his mercilessness and ruthlessness that ultimately led to her beloved full-blooded younger sister's demise greatly angers and saddens the resolute 2nd Princess of Britannia who, while not as gentle and benevolent as her younger sister ever was, is nevertheless filled with the sense of duty to the well-being of the Empire and its loyal subjects, as well as love and affection to all her siblings.

However, before Charles could have done anything further, another voice came behind the immortal emperor. "You're mistaken! Gravely mistaken, Charles zi Britannia! Your opponent is not God. It's me!" a young yet stern voice came from behind the towering Emperor.

Charles turned back and saw his renegade son, Lelouch vi Britannia.

"Whatever you do, I've already attained immortality, just like C.C.!" Charles said to his son confidently.

"Hmph… I must thank you," Lelouch stared at his father, "it's because you've entered this dimension that gave me the chance to win."

Just as Charles was wondering what did Lelouch mean, lightning and thunder suddenly slashed the yellowish-orange sky of the strange dimension with eternal dusk as the bombs attached to the outside of the giant rock entrance in the cave on Kamine Island exploded.

"You sealed the exit?" Charles demanded.

"That's right. I surmise that this dimension exists on the realm of imaginary numbers," Lelouch smirked, "hence, by sealing both you and myself here, the reality will not be affected by any activities happening in this dimension – no different than being dead."

"Lelouch…" Charles bellowed as he was slightly surprised by what Lelouch had done, but surprisingly, he didn't seem to be angry or reacting violently to Lelouch's actions.

"The system that you've created has become a prison which now holds your own soul captive," Lelouch's smirk became deeper as if he had finally had a taste of victory against his father, "Now, let us repent. Suffering together for all eternity!"

"Wait? What happened?" Rivalz can't believe what he has just seen on the screen. "You mean Lelouch locked himself up with His Majesty for eternity?"

"I see… so that's why he told you he couldn't fulfill his promise with us," Milly observes.

'Big Brother…' Nunnally is saddened as she sees her Big Brother intended to sacrifice himself to fight their father. Why did things have to end up like that?

"Hey! That's strange!" Tamaki suddenly yells again, "Lelouch was doing a good thing for the world!"

This jolts the Black Knights. Did Tamaki just say something ridiculous? Or is it not as ridiculous as it sounds to be?

"Look, Tamaki, you really have to see reason here…" Ohgi once again tries to lecture Tamaki to see reason, like how a good teacher at school will try to help students to understand the concepts of right and wrong, "Lelouch did lie to us, and he threatened Chigusa…"

"…" Chiba was about to voice her support to Tamaki, but ultimately decides against it because she doesn't want to risk jeopardizing her beloved husband's relationship with the holder of the highest office in the land of Japan. Hard-headed as she may be in not willing to forgive Lelouch for exploiting her JLF comrades back during the Battle of Narita and then killed them all by blowing them up at the Port of Yokosuka, she is still capable of realizing that what Lelouch was doing on the screen now is to the benefit of the Japanese and all others. Also, having seen the Ikaruga coup from a 3rd person perspective and realized that the Black Knights might have been misled by Ohgi into helping Schneizel's strategic goal of weakening the Black Knights, she has become a lot warier about what comes out from the mouth of the tall Japanese man, despite him being the current Prime Minister of Japan.

Next to Chiba, Tohdoh scowls at both the scene and Ohgi's continuous babbling about how evil Lelouch was. The eminent Japanese General may still be mad at Lelouch because he killed Katase for his own gains and tricked Tohdoh into serving the murderer of his true liege, but that doesn't cloud Tohdoh's judgement here: Tamaki is right that Lelouch was indeed doing the world a big favour by sealing off the militaristic Charles in the strange dimension with eternal dusk and not letting him to further terrorize the world with his Darwinistic rule any longer. Having listened to Kaguya's analysis about the Black Knights' coup against Lelouch and viewing the whole incident from a 3rd person perspective has enabled the stoic Japanese man to realize just how shallow Ohgi really was.

In the front row of the auditorium, Guilford is trying to figure out what was happening on the screen as well. "I wonder if His Majesty was still in that dimension, though," Guilford raises the question, "after all, we now know that His Majesty was immortal and cannot age further nor die."

"That begs three questions, though," Gino points out, "first, how did Lelouch get out of that dimension and proclaimed himself the 99th Emperor of Britannia; second, was his proclamation of killing His Majesty Emperor Charles a lie, since His Majesty was immortal? Third, if His Majesty is indeed alive, why didn't he come out of that dimension like Lelouch had?"

The questions Gino raised are indeed difficult questions to answer, and as everyone sinks into their thoughts to ponder what exactly happened in that strange dimension with eternal dusk, Cornelia notices that something was not quite right. 'Despite Lelouch's actions and words, father didn't seem to be hugely surprised or upset. Also, Lady Marianne was on her way to that cave as well,' then, a possibility pops into the purple princess' mind. 'Perhaps Lady Marianne found a way to restore the destroyed entrance and rescued Lelouch out of the dimension?'

The screen then suddenly gets blurred, but gradually becomes clear again. An image of a curious Anya holding a marker is shown. Then, the screen showed an awakened Suzaku. It seems that the scene was to show the moment when Suzaku regained his conscious after falling down the crumbled ground caused by the explosion that took place next to him when he was running away from Bismarck. Anya seemed disappointed at losing the chance to draw on Suzaku's face as she spun the marker's writing side back to her side.

"You woke up too soon," Anya complained to the awakened Suzaku before she backed off.

Suzaku then looked around and saw a lime-haired woman with a plush doll gazing at him. "C.C.!" he exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Anya asked Suzaku, catching Suzaku's attention once again.

"Anya…?" Suzaku was puzzled. Why was Anya here at Kamine Island?

"I'm now Marianne, Lelouch and Nunnally's mother," Anya smiled as she explained with a somewhat mischievous tone, shocking Suzaku.

"I've got to say, Suzaku's quite tough," Gino observes, "he didn't get seriously hurt even after falling down the crumbled ground like that."

"Perhaps it was due to that "live" Geass command Lelouch had cast on him?" Rivalz suggests.

"No, not only that," Tohdoh interjects, "when Suzaku-kun was young, I trained him hard and he was one of the strongest kids I've ever seen in my life."

"Well, he's surely full of brawn," Kallen adds.

In the front row, Cornelia is still shocked at learning Marianne's still alive. "So it's really Lady Marianne…" she mutters before turning into her inner thoughts. 'Lady Marianne mentioned that she's thankful to C.C. for giving her Geass. Does that mean she had used her Geass power on Lady Alstreim? Why did Lady Alstreim look so shaken when I mentioned Lady Marianne to her? And to think that even the esteemed Lady Marianne had her hands dipped into the evil power of Geass as well… what had happened back then?'