Chapter 34: "Glorification" IX – The Zero Requiem

As the fight between Lelouch's army and the UFN forces outside the Damocles were going on, the vi Britannia siblings were confronting each other as well.

"It has been eight years since I have seen your face," Nunnally said with a stern face, "the face of a murderer." This caused Lelouch to gasp: that's the last thing he would want to hear from his adorable younger sister.

"…Although that would most likely be my face as well," Nunnally continued.

"I see… the F.L.E.I.J.A. warheads that have been launched so far were all your doing?" Lelouch asked.

"Yes, I wish to stop you," Nunnally plainly admitted, "even if… if that would result in your death. I can't allow you to have control of the F.L.E.I.J.A. warheads, that's why I can't hand this key to you. And I wouldn't hand it to you even if you…" Nunnally stuttered for a moment before finally mustering the determination to say it, "even if you use your Geass on me!"

Lelouch gazed at Nunnally in disbelief. He would never imagine his sister to be that adamant.

"Nunna…" Shirley can't believe Nunnally said that. The always gentle and sweet Nunnally was willing to stop her brother by killing him?

"Dude…" Rivalz feels sad for Lelouch and Nunnally. Why would the most loving siblings he has ever known, now that he has regained his memory, be confronting each other and threaten to kill the other if him or her got into his or her way?

"Nunnally…" Tianzi feels sad for her friend and Britannian counterpart. Why would she have to directly confront her own elder brother like this? The confrontation on the screen now is incomprehensible to the young Chinese leader.

Kaguya, however, understands why Nunnally said such strong words to Lelouch. 'It's because you love your Big Brother with all your heart, right? You love your Big Brother so much that you were willing to shoot strong words into his heart to wake him up,' Kaguya muses with sadness.

Outside the Damocles, as the Tristan Divider finally landed on an exterior structure of the Damocles safely, the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements and the Lancelot Albion, the only two 9th Generation Knightmare Frames in existence, confronted each another. "Kallen, are you going to stand in my way no matter what?" Suzaku demanded.

"Suzaku, I have misjudged you," Kallen replied, "Even though we're on opposite sides and our methods differ from one another, I always thought you cared about Japan in your own way. But now…" she manoeuvred her Guren to raise its giant right metallic claw towards the Lancelot.

"But now?" Suzaku also manoeuvred his Lancelot to raise its MVS towards the Guren.

"You can't be allowed to live. I'm going to defeat you and stop Lelouch!" Kallen exclaimed.

"I can't let you have that!" Suzaku activated his "live" command, and the two most advanced Knightmare Frames immediately jumped backward to start shooting at each other, thus entering into their last battle.

Elsewhere, Jeremiah and Anya were battling as well. "You, power without a master!" the loyal man hissed as he manoeuvred his Sutherland Sieg to fire numerous missiles at the Mordred.

"You, who must depend on someone else. A weak man," Anya muttered as she manoeuvred her Mordred to fall back a little, allowing her Knightmare Frame to regain a good battle posture before quickly firing back at the Sutherland Sieg through its Hadron Cannons.

"Why do people always have to fight?" Tianzi is troubled. The young Chinese girl fails to understand why people can't live happily together instead of fighting against each other.

"I can't speak for others, but I fight because it is my duty to protect the Japanese," Kaguya answers.

"AHA! You know what they say," Lloyd chimes in, "War is the mother of invention."

"Nonsense, Earl of Pudding. You don't care one bit whether or not your invention benefits mankind," Rakshata retorts before she turns to the bespectacled girl with dark green hair, "What about you, Nina?"

"I was just… doing whatever I could…" Nina says unsurely. Ever since the first F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead was dropped on Tokyo Settlement, she has been searching for the answer to all that had happened in the past two years.

"You see, we simply didn't want it to happen again," Cecile adds.

"…recorded," Anya takes a photo of the scientist group having their discussion.

'What an interesting discussion they are having over there,' Jeremiah muses.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between Nunnally and Lelouch continued inside the Damocles.

"Big Brother, you do not have the mandate to rule the world," Nunnally criticized, "You, who assumed the Zero persona and kept stomping on and humiliating the will and dignity of so many!"

"Are you suggesting that it would be better to continue life in exile and remained in hiding?" Lelouch retorted, "Do you want a future of living in constant fear of assassination? For the sake of your future…"

"When did I ever ask for any of the things you've done?" Nunnally demanded, "All I need is to live with you, that's all!"

"However, the reality is bound and controlled by numerous factors!" Lelouch shot back at his sister, "That's why rising up and fighting back is necessary!"

'I see, Nunnally is really persistent on her familial bond with Lelouch,' Kaguya muses, 'If only Lelouch knew earlier that his mother was not dead, and his father had no intention to harm them, things might have turned out differently for them.'

Cornelia also thinks inwardly about the discussion between Nunnally and Lelouch. 'With hindsight, Lelouch's rebellion was necessary to stop father's attempt to drag everyone into a world that does not allow lying, not even out of good faith. However, as things turned out to be, Lelouch's argument that the reality forced him to rise up and rebel against Britannia was based on the false assumption that his and Nunnally's lives were at peril, whereas the reality was that father never had the intention to harm them; quite to the contrary, father was doing all he could to protect them from V.V., however twisted his method was. Hence, Nunnally was right in a logical sense, but Lelouch was right in an after-the-fact sense. Things are just so complicated…' the purple princess muses as she bites her lip and tightens her fists, recalling how Lelouch killed Euphemia and Darlton in the process. 'Euphy… Darlton…' she muses as she is still troubled by what to make of Lelouch's actions.

"That's the reason I've been fighting on the side of resistance!" outside the Damocles, Kallen shouted as she piloted her Guren to fire several missiles at the Lancelot.

"There should be ways to achieve your ideals within the organization!" Suzaku bellowed as he piloted his Lancelot to shot energy spheres from the energy wings to cancel out the missiles.

"What about those who cannot get into the organization or system? What should they do?" Kallen retorted as she had her Guren shot the slash harken and destroyed the Lancelot's VARIS particle rifle, "How could you just dismiss those who fight on the side of resistance? Don't you dare look down on others and lecture them!"

"What about those who have no choice but to join the system?" Suzaku bellowed as he piloted the Lancelot to swing its MVS and sliced off the Guren's left arm, "Where is Justice?"

As the two Knightmare Frames kept fighting against each other and finally disabled each other's energy wings, forcing the battle to once again become land-based, C.C. stood on the cockpit of her decimated Lancelot Frontier floating on the Pacific Ocean and looked up towards the Sky Fortress. 'I've seen it before. I've seen it over and over. Human history is one of struggle. Even so…'

The grand debate between Nunnally and Lelouch, as well as that between Kallen and Suzaku, have led several people among the present audience to reflect on their views on the matter from a 3rd person perspective. What is right? What is wrong? And who decides what is right and what is wrong?

Kallen reflects on her debate with Suzaku. She had chosen to fight on the side of resistance, but it is now clear to her that she actually could have worked from within, and so she was not the ones who could not join the organization or system; quite to the contrary, as the daughter of the ennobled Stadtfeld family and with her intelligence, physical prowess and Knightmare Frame piloting skills, she had every right, privilege and opportunity to attain high positions in the Britannian army and work within the system to change things for the better, a prime possibility being working for Cornelia or Euphemia, or even joining the Knights of the Round as Gino had previously suggested. Therefore, what she said to Suzaku could only be considered as speaking on behalf of Ohgi, Tamaki and her Japanese friends, but definitely not for herself. Kallen realizes that she has actually self-ostracized herself from the Britannian society, however righteous she might have thought that to be, and forgone the possibility of changing for the better from the inside, like how Suzaku did with Euphemia in an attempt to forge equal treatment for the Japanese by establishing the Special Administrative Zone of Japan.

Zero also reflects on his words in his debate with Kallen. It was true that Suzaku, a non-Britannian, fought hard against all the odds stacked against him, finally rising the ranks and became one of the strongest and most powerful knights of the Empire. However, now looking from a 3rd person perspective, Zero realizes that his rise within the system was accompanied by a considerable amount of luck: he was rescued by his friend Lelouch from certain death when the purist faction wanted to execute him in Area 11; his trial at court had caused him to accidentally met Euphemia, who happened to be a member of the Imperial Family and the Sub-Viceroy and Area 11 and who, miraculously, did not strictly follow Britannia's national policy of discrimination and, even more miraculously, was selfless enough to sacrifice herself for the Japanese, to which she had no affiliation with besides the fact that her personal knight being one of them. Even after the failure of the SAZ and the death of Euphemia, Suzaku was once again, by chance, contacted by V.V. who informed him about Zero's supernatural power, leading him to apprehend the mask terrorist, who happened to be his best friend and who did not apply his usual callousness and coldness on him, allowing him to present the said friend to the Emperor of Britannia who happened not to believe in his own nation's discrimination policy and was fine with promoting Suzaku as one of the top knights of Britannia, paving his way towards eminence within an otherwise stratified empire. As such, the path that Suzaku espoused for his fellow countrymen could not be viewed as viable because his success was more of an exception than a norm that is reasonably achievable by other non-Britannians. Where would Ohgi find a friend who happened to have supernatural power to rescue him from the purist faction's scapegoat plan? Where would Tamaki find a member of the Britannian Imperial Family who would be willing to put Tamaki's ideals into reality? No, had they chosen to take Suzaku's path, they would both have died prematurely and meaninglessly as Honorary Britannian soldiers deployed to the field, serving as sacrificial decoys for Britannian soldiers and units.

The person that is hit by the grand debate the most, however, is Cornelia. Born as the 2nd Princess of Britannia and trained as a professional soldier, she started as a staunch supporter and defender of her empire, and she considered any insurgence against Britannia as impudent and lack of appreciation of what advancement Britannia had brought to her conquered lands. However, after she had lost Euphemia and discovered that the most wanted insurgent rebel against her beloved country was in fact her favourite half-brother, everything that defined her worldview crumbled, and in order to cleanse her dearest younger sister's tainted name, she abandoned everything and went rouge to seek for the truth. In the process, she had the chance to gain firsthand experience of living as the suppressed and powerless, as well as receiving help from those she would otherwise never have come into contact along her way in seeking for the truth. She was captured by the Black Knights and held prisoner; her family was annihilated by the F.L.E.I.J.A. dropped on Pendragon; she was gunned down by Schneizel upon learning and disagreeing with his ultimate objective; she was forced into exile upon Lelouch's proclamation of world domination; and she eventually had to form her own resistance cell to fight against Lelouch's Britannia. One can even say that she has experienced everything Lelouch had experienced, only in reverse order and in a much more painful and difficult way due to Euphemia's death; not seeking help or shelter from influential noble families, such as the Ashfords, after abandoning her imperial title and privileges; not being given the power of Geass; and the lack of a trustworthy accomplice who holds secret powers such as C.C. After experiencing all those and now returning as an Imperial Princess of Britannia, Cornelia has come to see the merits on both sides of the argument, and tends not to judge one against the other as long as the practitioner of that particular route tries his or her very best to strive in a generally acceptable manner.

"The world and people in it, they'll never be what we want them to be!" Suzaku shouted as he manoeuvred his Lancelot to position in an open area.

"And so you force them to? That's…!" Kallen yelled as the Guren shot its slash harken at the Lancelot.

"…that's despicable!" back inside the Sky Garden of the Damocles, Nunnally narrowed her eyes as she asserted, "Geass, the power that stomps on people's dignity and bends people's will…!"

"Then what about the Damocles?" Lelouch retorted at the top of his lungs, "A system that forced people to cower before it. Is that not despicable, then?"

Nunnally's facial expression turned solemn. "Damocles shall become the symbol of hatred," she said, shocking Lelouch, "all hatred shall converge right here, so that everyone can head towards the future!"

Lelouch closed his eyes in realization. 'I see, Nunnally, you too… then…!' "Lelouch vi Britannia orders you," Lelouch opened his eyes again and took away the contact lenses from his eyes, revealing the Geass Sigil, "Hand over the Damocles Key to me!"

"Huh…?" Nunnally was stunned as the Geass Sigil flew into her eyes, rewiring her mind. Her bluish violet pupils were encircled in red, and her hand started to move upward while holding the Damocles Key against her will.

"N… No!" Nunnally fought against the Geass command and used her left hand to pull the right, "I can't give it to Big Brother! I can't… let more sins… be…" Sadly, the power of Absolute Obedience was not something a mere human can fight against; Nunnally eventually succumbed to the power of Geass and smiled, holding the Damocles Key on both of her hands as she extended them out, "please, have this, Big Brother."

Jeremiah grits his teeth upon seeing this sad moment. 'It is most regrettable to see the children of Lady Marianne fighting with each other. I only pray that Her Majesty would eventually understand His Majesty's true intention as the truth is revealed later,' the loyal servant to the vi Britannia House muses, unaware of the fact that Nunnally's special power has allowed her to learn the truth behind the Zero Requiem already.

"He actually used his Geass on Nunnally!" Rivalz says incredulously, "How could he do that to Nunnally?"

"So the demon had finally cast the evil power on his full-blooded sister! Why am I not surprised?" Chiba spats. As much as Lelouch had kept saying he did all of what he did for the sake of his little sister, the evidence presented thus far is clear to Chiba: he used his Geass to bend his little sister's will into giving him the nuclear button, disregarding his little sister's true wish in favour for his own world domination ambition.

Nunnally, however, bites her lip as she sees this from a 3rd person perspective and is able to listen to her elder brother's internal thoughts. 'Big Brother, so you forced yourself to cast your Geass on me…'

Meanwhile, Guilford is still bewildered by what is happening on screen. "Your Highness, I still find it hard to believe Lelouch actually used his Geass on Her Majesty, despite how he repeatedly said that what he had done was all for her sake," Guilford turns to Cornelia, "Do you think… Your Highness…?"

To Guilford's surprise, Cornelia tightens her grip on the armrests of her chair and grits her teeth. "I see, so this was your plan all along…" she mutters with a tint of frustration in her tone.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" Guilford asks worriedly.

"Guilford, I think I know the truth behind Lelouch's death already," Cornelia whispers into Guilford's ear, albeit in a rather displeased tone. This shocks Guilford. "Your Highness? But how?"

Cornelia takes a deep breath to calm herself down a bit before continuing whispering into Guilford's ear, "Guilford, what did Nunnally just say on the screen?"

"Her Majesty said it's despicable to use Geass to bend one's free will," Guilford doesn't understand why Cornelia asks him such question, but he answers in a suppressed tone nonetheless.

"No, the one after that," Cornelia clarifies her question.

"Oh… umm, Her Majesty said that all hatred shall converge at the Damocles, so that everyone can move into the future," Guilford dutifully answers.

"Correct. And if all the hatred had converged at the Damocles, what would you need to do in order to allow everyone to move into the future?" Cornelia continues.

"Well, the most logical way would be to destroy the Damocles with all the hatred converged at it. That must be obvious," Guilford answers.

"Right. And where did all the hatred actually converge at?" Cornelia finally asks the key question.

"All the hatred converged at… oh, hold on, but if that's the case, then… no way… crikey!" the bespectacled knight is shocked as he finally sees what his princess has just seen from the previous scene. "Your Highness, you don't mean… you do mean…!" Guilford continues to whispers to his princess in a suppressed but nonetheless shocking tone.

"Guilford, we've been tricked, thoroughly tricked by my dear little brother," Cornelia scowls as she mutters, "the two months we've spent hiding and planning to assassinate him and rescue his prisoners were wasted time and effort; everything that we did was well within his prediction and calculation."

"But… if that's the case, then who's this new Zero?" Guilford asks incredulously, albeit also muttering so that no one other than Cornelia can hear him. He's utterly shocked by the deduction that he has just made with his princess' guidance.

"Well, I think I know who he is, but I'm not entirely sure yet," Cornelia whispers as she takes a quick glance at the current Zero sitting behind Nunnally, "there are still some unknowns that need to be uncovered before I can be sure of it."

Outside the Damocles, Jeremiah manoeuvred his Sutherland Sieg to fire against the Mordred's Stark Cannon, however his Knightmare Giga Fortress was outgunned and destroyed.

"Grr… clever little trick…!" Jeremiah hissed.

"Record, complete," Anya said in her monotone as the Knightmare Giga Fortress exploded.

"Not quite!" however, Jeremiah was not done yet. He piloted his Sutherland Knightmare Frame out of the Siegfried exterior and jumped onto the top of the Mordred, catching the Mordred's head before Anya was able to react and activated its Blaze Luminous shield.

"Explosion!" Jeremiah shouted as he self-destructed the Sutherland, thereby blowing away the head and the cover of the cockpit of the Mordred as well. As Anya was enduring the tempestuous air current caused by the explosion, the semi-cyborg jumped out from his cockpit and landed right in front of Anya, pointing his blade at her. "Memorize this Jeremiah Gottwald, the man who brought you defeat!" he proclaimed.

However, tears started to swell on the pink-haired girl's eyes. "Memorize it? That is beyond me," Anya hissed sarcastically as she turned her gaze away from the teal-haired semi-cyborg, "I have no memory."

'Huh? No memory? It can't be…' Jeremiah thought inwardly as he opened his left eye cover, revealing the Geass Canceller.

"Thank you, Jerry," the present day Anya expresses her gratitude to Jeremiah again for helping her to regain her memory.

"My pleasure, Anya," Jeremiah smiles back at the poker-faced girl. It has been a great time ever since they have started to work on Jeremiah's Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm, and both enjoy the company of the other very much: Jeremiah feels like he now has an adopted daughter, while Anya feels like she's finally got an adoptive father, in addition to the copious amount of tasty oranges for her to enjoy.

As Kallen and Suzaku were still fighting against each other, Gino was trying hard to reboot his Tristan Divider by switching it to low level settings and switching off all of its non-essential functions. "Move, Tristan, move!" Gino pleaded as he kept pressing various buttons in his cockpit, "just fly at the very least…!"

Meanwhile, the fight between the Guren and the Lancelot was entering its final phase. "Grr…! My Radiant Wave Surger is out of ammo…!" Kallen hissed in frustration.

"My Blaze Luminous shield is out of energy…!" Suzaku muttered in frustration as well.

"Even so…!" Kallen shouted as she piloted her Guren to launch a physical attack on the Lancelot, which dodged and quickly cruised up the walls to an upper open space. The battle had finally grinded down to the clashes between slash harkens, punches and kicks.

"I… can't win?" Suzaku couldn't believe it, "even if I have used the Geass cursed on me already? Kallen, why do you possess such strength?"

"Even though my machine has better specs…" Kallen muttered in disbelief as well, "Suzaku, why do you possess such power?"

Both pilots manoeuvred their respective Knightmare Frames to further cruise up the walls and moved to yet another upper open space, continuing their Knightmare Frame sparring.

"Let's end this once and for all, Kallen!" Suzaku shouted with his "live" command activated in full force.

"If you have justice in you…!" Kallen shouted back as the Guren's giant metal claw blocked the Lancelot's right kick and crushed it, causing the Lancelot to start sliding on the floor due to inertia.

"Grr…!" Suzaku groaned as he pushed the button to shoot the Lancelot's leg slash harkens at the Guren, dismembering the Guren's head and right arm.

"How come? I didn't hit him…?" Kallen cried in disbelief as the Guren's system went out.

"No, Kallen… you hit right through…" Suzaku muttered in pain, and the screen showed the Guren's metal claw had penetrated the Lancelot's chest. Kallen smiled as she saw it before passing out, the cockpit and the remaining part of the Guren collapsed and fell down from the open space, only to be caught by a floating but gradually descending Tristan Divider that was heavily damaged; the Lancelot exploded a few seconds after that.

"I see… you won, Kallen," Gino said as he witnessed the end of the Knight of Zero.

"See, my child prevailed against your monstrosity!" Rakshata smugly declares.

"Grr…" Lloyd groans, but he has no words to hit back.

"Oh, come on, you two," Cecile groans as well, "Why are you two always so insensitive to the surroundings?"

"Suzaku…" on the other side of the auditorium, Rivalz is saddened to see Suzaku got killed, and tears start to swell up in his eyes. Milly also closes her eyes and shakes her head in sadness, but she quickly regains her composure thanks to her professional training and experience as a TV news reporter.

The Japanese side of the auditorium clearly has another view on the matter, though. "Heh! He's finally dead for the good of mankind!" Chiba spats, "a traitor to his country, his countrymen, his father and even the Britannian princess he had sworn to serve! What a scum!"

"Yea! What a scum!" Tamaki follows suit, but sadly cannot attract any attention to him.

Villetta, on the other hand, feels complicated when she sees the Lancelot Albion exploded and killed Suzaku. She first knew Suzaku as an Honorary Britannian soldier to be used as a scapegoat for the purist faction's rise to power in Area 11, only to be utterly crushed and humiliated by Lelouch's daring performance and his irresistible Geass power; later, a Villetta who just got out from her amnesia due to Diethard's betrayal came under the supervision of an elevated Suzaku who was the then Knight of Seven and one of the top twelve knights of the empire. To be frank, Villetta was actually extremely jealous about Suzaku's rapid rise: here she was, grinding the stone hard for years since she had graduated from school and joined the Britannian military, and she was only able to advance herself from a commoner to a mere baroness, the lowest peerage among the Britannian aristocracy; Suzaku, on the other hand, rose from a measly Honorary Britannian on the verge of death to a top Knight of the Empire within a year, outranking almost everyone in the Empire aside from his fellow Knights of the Round and the members of the Imperial Family. What was more, he was then further promoted to the position of "Knight of Zero", a Knight of the Round that was above and beyond every other Knight of the Round by his emperor friend.

Nevertheless, on a personal level, Villetta was able to find her one true love and formed a loving family with her man, while Suzaku had to endure the eternal loss of his one and only true love while working for the man who was responsible for her death. So should Villetta be envious of Suzaku or not? That is a question that Villetta would have kept pondering had she not received the timely and invaluable advice from Cornelia: "peerage is not the only thing that matters in life." With that, the present day Villetta, while still feel complicated about Suzaku, is absolutely sure that she would not trade her one true love and her family for peerage or glory she once so wanted to have.

Just as Villetta is making up her mind about her views about Suzaku, Kallen is confused as she now sees what happened after she fell unconscious. 'The Lancelot Albion exploded? I thought Lelouch just made up Suzaku's KIA. But if that's the case, then how come Suzaku survived that blast? Was his "live" command that powerful?'

Cornelia, on the other hand, frowns. 'Did I guess it wrong? But who else could it be the current Zero if Kururugi isn't?' the warrior princess muses puzzlingly.

Back in the Sky Garden, a pious Lelouch knelt on his left knee before Nunnally and took the Damocles Key as he bowed to his younger sister. As Nunnally had completed what the Geass order commanded, she regained conscious and saw a standing and smirking Lelouch holding the Damocles Key. Nunnally looked at her empty hands incredulously. "You used it! The Geass!" she burst out in anger. How could Lelouch do that to her?

However, Lelouch looked down at her for a brief moment before he turned back and started to walk away, saying nothing. Nunnally was shocked: how could her brother do that to her? "Wait!" she started to motor her wheelchair to chase after her elder brother, but she narrowly missed Lelouch as he walked down the stairs that blocked the wheelchair's further movement. "Wait! Don't go! Ah…!" Nunnally struggled before falling down the stairs.

Sadly, Lelouch didn't turn back but just kept walking away. "How cruel…!" Nunnally exclaimed as she tried to support herself up futilely. What wasn't made known to her was that Lelouch's facial expression was one of sadness.

Milly bites her lip at the sight of the scene and scowls deeply. 'Lelouch, why? Why did you force yourself and Nunnally to confront each other? Now that Prince Schneizel's under your control, you shouldn't have anyone stopping you to reveal your true self to Nunnally if all was part of your plan. Why did you geass your younger sister, and then abandoned her coldly on the staircase? Why?'

Shirley is also saddened at the sight of the scene, even if she knows Lelouch's entire plan this whole time. 'Lulu, you didn't need to be that cold to Nunna, did you? Why did you smirk at her evilly when you actually cared for the welfare of your younger sister? I don't understand…'

"Sigh… if only we could return to the good old days when we enjoy every fun-filled day with the old gang again. The way we used to," Rivalz sighs. He really doesn't want to see his friends fighting with each other.

'Lelouch, you deceived your sister yet again… you gigantic coward,' Kallen hisses internally with sadness as she recalls how moments ago she has finally discovered that Lelouch had deceived her on the staircase of the Student Club House in Ashford Academy.

'Your Majesty, I understand your frustration of seemingly not being able to have your words reaching His Majesty's heart, but please know that all your words had in fact reached His Majesty's heart, and that's exactly why he was doing that to you,' Jeremiah inwardly apologizes to Nunnally. 'Please forgive His Majesty for this undesirable but necessary step to complete the Zero Requiem.'

In the front row, Nunnally simply stares at the screen without saying a word as two lines of tears were drawn right underneath her bluish-violet eyes.

Suddenly, a F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead exploded in the sky, and Lelouch appeared on every monitor on the world, proclaiming Shcneizel's surrender to him, and his victory over the Black Knights and the UFN.

"It can't be… if Lelouch's using the F.L.E.I.J.A., that means…!" Xingke exclaimed in disbelief as he piloted his single-armed Shenhu to narrowly escape the blast.

"How can that be…!" Chiba watched in disbelief as she was sitting next to the infirmary bed where a heavily injured Tohdoh lied on.

"You're kidding me!" an injured Tamaki exclaimed from his infirmary bed as well.

Inside a dark room in the Sky Fortress, Lelouch was standing on a world map as he faced the camera, while a geassed Schneizel stood some distance behind him. Two geassed Britannian soldiers held a drugged Kanon at gunpoint, who was gazing at Lelouch in a crawling position in utter disbelief – Lelouch actually overcame all the odds stacked against him and took control of both Britannia and the F.L.E.I.J.A.?

Back on Horai Island, Villetta rushed into Cornelia's infirmary room, where the 2nd Princess of Britannia sat up on her infirmary bed and, together with Guilford and Claudio Darlton, watched her younger brother's proclamation about how the Black Knights no longer possessed the power to go against him and Schneizel had surrendered to him, thus leaving no one who could challenge his supreme authority anymore. Elsewhere, a stunned Ohgi was still driving his lorry to evacuate civilians affected by the eruption of Mt Fuji as he watched the proclamation, learning that Lelouch had gained control of the F.L.E.I.J.A. warheads.

Inside the Ashford Academy Student Council room, both Milly and Rivalz were downcast as they listened to the broadcast of Lelouch's proclamation, while Shirley, who travelled to some other place prior to the outbreak of the Battle of Mt Fuji, was also watching the broadcast, with worry filling her beautiful face. And it went without saying that the same footage also shocked people all around the globe, who were all watching a raven-haired teen boy proclaiming that the world had just fallen into his hands.

"…Lelouch vi Britannia hereby orders…" Lelouch smirked sinisterly as he pointed his right index finger in front and swung his right arm towards the right and bellowed at the top of his lung, "Obey me, world!"

"All Hail Lelouch!" Jeremiah chanted as he stood proudly on the cockpit of the Mordred, a fainted Anya was seen leaning against the pilot seat with her eyes closed.

"All Hail Lelouch! All Hail Lelouch! All Hail Lelouch!" all the Britannian soldiers followed Jeremiah's lead and chanted their praise to the 99th Emperor of Britannia, who had just conquered the world.

-Two months later-

-Japan, Imperial Crown Colony of Britannia-

It was a sunny afternoon, and along a thoroughfare with numerous geassed soldiers lining up on its two sides, six Vincent Ward Knightmare Frames and four tanks were opening the way for a giant white motorcade, two large reddish orange trucks and a small blue truck through the thoroughfare. On top of each of the two reddish orange trucks, six prisoners who were at the centre of fighting against Britannia at the Battle of Mt Fuji were in white straightjackets and tied to a giant metallic stand; on the much smaller blue truck, a geassed Schneizel was tied up to a giant metallic stand by a thick golden chain, with Jeremiah standing proudly behind him; on the top of the giant white motorcade, a smirking Lelouch was sitting on his throne, while at the bottom of it, a depressed, bare-foot Nunnally in red dress was chained up with weights. Behind the giant white motorcade, there were six tanks and three Vincent Ward Knightmare Frames guarding its rear. It was a victory parade for Lelouch, sending his 14 prisoners to the execution ground as a display of his power as the absolute ruler of the world.

Back in the devastated Pendragon, where it was at night due to time difference, a saddened Arthur the cat was seen sitting in front of the tombstone of Suzaku Kururugi, the Knight of Zero.

"So C.C. skipped the two months between Lelouch's world domination proclamation and the day he was killed," Cornelia observes, "I guess she couldn't find the time and resources to follow us and record our activities in Hong Kong."

"Hong Kong…?" Nunnally asks curiously as she gradually recollects herself from the previous scene.

"Yes, I had actually formed and led a resistance cell with a few people who were not apprehended by Lelouch at the time, and we met secretly in Hong Kong a month before the scheduled public execution in Tokyo to prepare our insurgence against Lelouch's Britannia, to look for ways to destroy the Damocles floating over Spain, as well as to assassinate Lelouch in order to free his prisoners. Not that they matter now," Cornelia explains to her younger sister.

"Big Sister…" Nunnally is touched at how Cornelia was still willing to risk everything to save her after everything that had happened to her. "Thank you, Big Sister. I am so fortunate to have you as my Big Sister," Nunnally expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the purple princess.

"That's because I love you, Nunnally," Cornelia smiles back and pulls Nunnally into her embrace. She has lost Euphemia and almost all her half siblings because of Lelouch and Schneizel respectively, and now with Lelouch's dead and Schneizel reduced to being a stringed puppet of Zero, Nunnally is the only known sibling to Cornelia who is still alive and well, and the only one Cornelia still loves and adores with all her heart.

As the parade went on and a TV announcer kept extolling how majestic and glorious Lelouch was, his subjects standing on the two sides were staring at the smirking Emperor silently and musing with disdain. 'What glory?' 'That's just a dictatorship, isn't it?' 'Those who opposed him were all sentenced to death…' Even the producer at the K-TV station was infuriated at being forced to report what Lelouch was doing in such a positive light as a poker-faced Milly was checking the scripts.

'Lelouch, is this what you wanted to do?' on the left hand side of the thoroughfare, a saddened Rivalz mused, 'to dominate the world and control everybody…!'

Inside two large prison cells of a massive prison, Rakshata was ridiculing Lloyd, Cecile, Sayako and Nina for betraying Lelouch. "You're so silly. Why go against Lelouch back then?" the Indian Scientist asked.

"To seek the future," Nina answered, taking Rakshata by surprise.

"It's through repeated successes and failures that we advance," Cecile said, "That not only goes for science, but people as well, right?"

"That's evolution," Lloyd added.

"It should be progress, shouldn't it? Earl of Pudding," Rakshata shot back.

"That nickname… are you still mad at me?" Lloyd questioned.

"Who knows? Why don't you take a guess?" Rakshata shrugged the question off.

"Dr Asplund and Dr Chawla…" Nina turned to Cecile, "was there something happened between them?"

"Some trivial matters that is hardly worth mentioning," Cecile smiled, "And when I think back on it now, it wasn't anything at all. It was just a starting point."

"So what exactly happened between Dr Asplund and Dr Chawla?" Gino is curious.

"AHA! It all started with…" Lloyd is about to spill it out, but he is immediately stopped by Rakshata. "Don't you dare saying it, Earl of Pudding!" she hisses before she turns to Gino and gazes at him intently, "trying to pry for a lady's secret is not something a gentleman would do. Am I right, Mr Knight?"

"Oh, well, if you put it like that…" Gino backs off.

"Well, it was nothing at all, Lord Weinberg," Cecile smiles, "it was just a starting point, really."

Inside a dark room of a building on the side of the thoroughfare, a resistance cell led by Cornelia and consisted of Guilford, Villetta, Xianglin and a few others were gazing at the parade through a Venetian blind-covered window. As they observed the parade, Villetta noticed that Ohgi was among those to be executed. She immediately turned back and wanted to rush down to rescue her fiancé, but was stopped instantly by Cornelia standing next to her.

"If you go out there now, you'll fall right into their hands," Cornelia warned.

"But…" Villetta muttered. She understood the risk, but if she let the parade went on, then Ohgi would be left to die, which was something that Villetta absolutely did not want to see.

"Chigusa…" Ohgi is touched by his wife, who was already pregnant at the time but was still willing to risk her life to rescue him, "I owe you a lot."

"Don't say that, Kaname," Villetta says sweetly into Ohgi's ear, "we're an item, remember?"

Ohgi leans closer to his wife and holds her hand a bit tighter, to which Villetta happily does the same.

"Woah…!" Suddenly, the crowd exclaimed and attracted the attention of Cornelia's resistance cell, causing them to turn back and look at what was happening on the thoroughfare. It occurred that the Vincent Ward at the forefront halted and opened it sensors to see what was in front of them, and at the furthest end of the thoroughfare, there stood a masked man in a black cape.

"Zero?" Rivalz exclaimed.

"Huh… Zero?" Nunnally raised up her head as well.

"Ze… Zero?" Tamaki exclaimed in disbelief as he turned his head towards the end of the thoroughfare.

"That's impossible!" Kallen also stared at the masked hero in disbelief before turning her head towards an incredulous-looking Lelouch on the throne, "Lelouch's over there!"

Inside the church at Ashford Academy, C.C. knelt in front of the altar and prayed silently. Meanwhile, on the right hand side of a thoroughfare, Shirley was gazing at the scene with sadness on face.

"It can't be…" Kallen suddenly exclaimed in realization as she turned back and stared at the "Zero" at the end of the thoroughfare, "What Lelouch was planning…!"

"Kouzuki, you realized something at that moment?" Chiba notices what Kallen said right before Zero dashed forward.

Kallen hesitated for a moment, but eventually nods her head, "Yes, I did realize what was happening at that instant."

Cornelia nods inwardly. 'As expected from Lady Kouzuki. Was it due to her warrior instinct? Or was it due to her love to Lelouch? Either way, it seems that she was the first one who realized what Lelouch had truly planned for,' the warrior princess also notices that Sayako was in prison and C.C. was praying in a church, 'That leaves only one possible answer as to who this Zero really is. Hmph… what a tough man. How did he escape from certain death when his Knightmare Frame exploded like that?'

Aside from Cornelia, though, Kallen's answer actually shocks quite a few people among the audience, especially Zero, Jeremiah and all others who were informed about the Zero Requiem plan prior to its implementation. They thought Zero Requiem is such a well-kept secret that no one would ever realize what happened back then until C.C.'s discs reveal it, and never have they imagined someone would have guessed what happened right on the spot.

"I… also guessed what happened as Zero was rushing towards the giant white motorcade, and I believe I know what actually happened," Kaguya decides to raise her hand and inform the audience as well.

"What do you mean, Kaguya-sama?" Ohgi asks incredulously before he thinks he knows what Kaguya is referring to, "you mean you know who this Zero is?"

"That was part of it, but not all," Kaguya replies, "why don't we all just keep watching? I am sure it will be revealed to us very soon."

Zero started to dash towards the motorcade while the Vincent Wards started to shoot at him. However, Zero dodged all the bullets at inhuman speed, hopped onto the Vincent Ward at the forefront and jumped pass it, causing it to turn over and took aim at the masked man.

"Don't shoot! I shall take care of him!" Jeremiah ordered the geassed pilot inside the Vincent Ward as he jumped off the small blue tank and rush forward to confront Zero, only to be used as a springboard by the masked man to leap forward. As Jeremiah fell down, the loyal servant to Emperor Lelouch, rather surprisingly, smiled.

"Orange smiled? Why?" Chiba begins to sense that something was off with the whole rescue mission. Why would Jeremiah smiled when he failed to halt the assassin from passing through him?

Tohdoh, who has long realized who the current Zero is, suddenly notices some new and unsettling information from his wife's observation. 'No way… did Lelouch actually…' he muses in shock as he finds out that his previous hypothesis is likely to be entirely wrong.

Zero landed at where Jeremiah stood originally and caught the geassed Schneizel's attention before taking another jump, this time landing right in front of a shocked Nunnally. He then took one more jump and landed right in front of Lelouch, prompting the raven-haired boy in white imperial gown to stand up from his throne.

"Impudent fool!" Lelouch shouted as he drew his gun from the inner pocket of his gown, but as soon as he pointed the gun towards Zero, the gun was sent to the air as Zero pulled out and his highly ornamented sword, swung it and hit the gun away from Lelouch's right hand. Zero then positioned the sword to point at the now armless Lelouch, ready to strike.

Lelouch's incredulous face suddenly turned into a victorious smirk.

"What?" Chiba exclaims incredulously. "Why did the Treacherous Emperor suddenly smirk as if he's achieved something? Was he mad?"

"I don't understand! What happened?" Tamaki yells, but no one responds to him.

"Oh my God…" Villetta suddenly exclaims, drawing the attention of the Black Knights group.

"What's wrong, Chigusa?" Ohgi, while still being confused by Lelouch's sudden smirk, asks his wife concernedly.

"That sword," the observant Villetta points at the screen, "that sword held by Zero… that was the same sword that Lelouch swung when he was making his speech to his army right before the start of the Battle of Mt Fuji!"

"Huh? Perhaps Zero stole it from Lelouch?" Ohgi is a bit too obtuse to get why his wife is stunned by the sword Zero was holding on the screen.

Gino, however, gasps at Villetta's words. He still can't connect all the dots yet, but he also feels that something was strange about what happened on that fateful day.

-Flashback-

Inside an empty and dark throne room at the Imperial Summer Palace in San Francisco, Lelouch and Suzaku were standing face to face in front of the throne.

"In accordance to our plan, the world's hatred is now focused on me," Lelouch began, "and now all that is left is to get rid of me to finally sever the chain of hatred." He then produced the mask of Zero as Suzaku stared at it intently.

"What?" Rivalz shouts incredulously. "Suzaku's not dead? And what are they…?"

Milly is shocked as well as she finally understands what Lelouch and Suzaku were trying to do. 'You mean… all this time, you were planning to…'

Tianzi, Ohgi, Tohdoh, Villetta, Chiba, Gino and Rakshata can't believe their ears, while Kallen, Kaguya, Cornelia and Guilford all tighten their fists and grit their teeth as Lelouch had finally confirmed their conjecture of what really happened on that fateful day. Shirley, who knows the entirely plan before the start of the screening event, is hesitating on whether to keep looking at the scene or to turn away from it. Tamaki, on the other hand, groans in frustration as he still needs a lot more hint to get the gist of what Lelouch's words actually meant.

"The legend of Zero lives with the Black Knights. Schneizel will obey and serve Zero as well," Lelouch continued, "with this, the world will gather not for an exchange of force, but for an exchange of open dialogue around one table, and mankind will be able to move forward into the future."

Suzaku took the mask with both of his hands as he continued to stare at it intently, finally murmured, "And this is…"

"Yea," Lelouch nodded.

"…the Zero Requiem," Suzaku said solemnly.

"What?" A good portion of the audience turned to the current Zero in utter shock. "You are Suzaku (Kururugi) (Lord Kururugi)?" they exclaim in utter disbelief. So the masked hero, the avatar of justice is actually the treacherous Knight of Zero who betrayed his friend, his lover, his liege and his own country? How could that be?

Zero, however, remains unfazed at the audience's sudden realization of his true identity and keeps staring at the screen.

'I see, this confirms my guess,' Cornelia, one of the few who has guessed the current Zero's true identity before the on-screen revelation just now, muses.

"Your Highness, did you…?" Guilford whispers into Cornelia's left ear, to which Cornelia nods.

"Back in C's World, we both understood that people are seeking the future," Suzaku continued.

"Say, Suzaku," Lelouch suddenly said in a light-hearted tone, "don't you think a wish is similar to Geass?"

"Huh?" Suzaku was puzzled. What did Lelouch mean?

"It's a request to someone to give you the power to achieve what you can't on your own," Lelouch explained.

"A wish…?" Suzaku asked.

"That's right. And I'm going to grant a wish called Geass to all the people everywhere," Lelouch said, "For the future of the entire world."

-End of flashback-

Back to that fateful moment, Zero pointed his sword towards Lelouch as a shocked Nunnally stared at what was happening before her very eyes incredulously while a helpless Kallen kept screaming at Zero, begging him to stop but to no avail. Kaguya also turned towards the top of the motorcade, seemingly realizing what was going to happen. On the two sides of the thoroughfare, Rivalz was yelling incredulously while Shirley couldn't stand to see what was going to happen and sank herself behind the parapet. Inside the K-TV studio, as the TV producer and other staff members were staring intently at the monitor, Milly also turned around and rushed to the monitor with an incredulous expression on her face.

'Lelouch… you coward…' tears start to swell on Kallen's beautiful sapphire eyes as she watches that moment once again. 'How dare you tied my hands up and forced me to watch you died in front of me…?'

The present day Shirley doesn't have the stomach to watch her dear Lulu being stabbed as well, but this time she does not turn away from the scene like she did last time. 'If Lulu was brave enough to face his death, then I should at least be brave enough to witness his last moment, even in the form of a recorded footage,' she cheers herself up internally as she sees how dauntless her dear Lulu was in facing his end.

"Lelouch, you…" Rivalz continues to sob as he once again witnesses the scene he'll never forget, only that this time round, he finally gets to know the truth behind the seemingly abnormal behaviour of his best friend ever since the said best friend became the 99th Emperor of Britannia.

'Lelouch, I never thought you're that of a fool…' Milly sobs as she inwardly scolds Lelouch, 'Why did you choose to martyr yourself like that? I thought you were a clever boy? If you truly were clever, then come up with a plan that you didn't have to die!'

"Big Brother…" tears start to fall down Nunnally's eyes again. She now fully understands the length her elder brother had gone through in crafting up the Zero Requiem besides the memory snippets she saw during her elder brother's last moments.

Inside the building, Cornelia immediately reacted, throwing her cape aside and led her resistance cell to rush down the building and to the thoroughfare, seizing this godsend opportunity to rescue Lelouch's prisoners.

Cornelia frowns at the scene. 'Lelouch, you've got us played right into your hands. I guess I should take a leaf out of Schneizel's book and applaud your brilliance,' she muses with a tint of frustration in her mind. Even though Cornelia has taken a leaf out of Schneizel's book, her fiery personality means that she can never be as void of pride and emotion as Schneizel can, which makes it hard for her to praise Lelouch without being angered at being played by him at the same time.

"Your Highness, are you alright?" Guilford notices Cornelia's tint of frustration as she watches the scene and asks concernedly.

"It's nothing, Guilford," Cornelia brushes her knight's worry off, "I just found out that I can never be as calm as Schneizel."

"Your Highness, that's actually a good thing in my opinion," Guilford suggests before continuing hesitantly yet in a straightforward way, "I'd prefer Your Highness to be full of emotion than being void of emotion because… because… because that's exactly what… what… what makes you… attractive…"

Cornelia is stunned by her knight's straightforwardness and blushes hard. "I… I see. I… I'm glad to hear that you… you prefer me to be like that."

Guilfordthen musters up enough courage and holds Cornelia's hand as he blushes hard, while Cornelia also blushes hard and holds back Guilford's hand.

Inside the church at Ashford Academy, C.C. had finished praying, but kept kneeling before the altar. "Lelouch, for casting Geass on people, the price you're going to pay…" the lime-haired girl couldn't finish her sentence as tears fell down and out of her golden eyes.

"The only ones who should kill… are those who are prepared to be killed!" Lelouch once again recited his mantra as he stood still with a realizing smile on his face, facing his impending death. 'Suzaku, you shall become a hero. The messiah who rescues the world from the grip of Emperor Lelouch vi Briannia, the enemy of the world... as Zero.'

"What? You mean Lelouch planned to be killed from the beginning?" Tamaki exclaims as he finally understands what was going on. Sadly, his realization comes too late and nobody pays any attention to him as everyone is emotionally overloaded already.

"No!" Tianzi can't stand to see Lelouch being killed on screen, and she quickly buries her face into Kaguya's chest. Kaguya hugs her friend tightly as she starts to weep for Lelouch. 'I understand it completely now, Lelouch. You wanted to expiate your sins while giving everyone a chance to seek their future.'

'Zero…' Ohgi finally understands the whole plan Lelouch had been working on since he became Emperor, 'you had the whole world under your thumb, yet you were willing to sacrifice yourself for the whole world to…' tears start to form in the Japanese Prime Minister's eyes – what Lelouch did greatly touches the tall Japanese man's heart.

"Kaname…" Villetta is worried about her tearing husband while being utterly shocked at Lelouch's excessively selfless plan, willing to use his death as the basis for a more peaceful and just world. What Lelouch did on screen goes against everything Villetta had learnt about him through either OSI documents or direct interaction.

Lelouch gasped in pain as the sword thrusted through his chest, and everyone in the world was shocked and speechless by the scene.

"Le… Lelouch!" tears started to fall down Suzaku's emerald eyes. Things went as he and Lelouch had planned, but it was at this very moment that he finally realized what he had done: he had just stabbed his childhood friend to death.

"This… is also a punishment to you," Lelouch whispered into Suzaku's ears. "You must now live behind the mask of Zero as the avatar of justice, but not as Suzaku Kururugi anymore." Lelouch then strove to raise his right hand, now with his own blood soaking his fingers, to reach Zero's mask, leaving a red mark on the left eye part of the mask. "You shall sacrifice the ordinary pleasures of your life for the betterment of the world. For eternity…"

"This Geass… I do solemnly accept," Suzaku whispered back as his voice trembling and tears continue to fall down. He then swiftly drew back the sword out of Lelouch's body, sending the raven-haired boy, whose eye bags started to blacken, tumbling forward and then sliding down, thus drawing a long, vertical blood lane on the elongated Britannian flag, finally stopping right before a stunned Nunnally in chains.

"Suzaku, is that you?" Rivalz turns to the present day Zero, "you're Suzaku, right?"

"Lose that mask, Kururugi, stop hiding yourself behind that damned mask…!" Chiba spats.

"There is no need to keep wearing that mask now, Kururugi…" "How did you survive, anyway…?" "Did you really plan this whole thing with Lelouch…?" "Suzaku, you must be sad…" "You actually stabbed your friend to death just like that…?" "Hey, how dare you tricked us into believing you to be dead…?" Suddenly, a lot of questions are thrown at the current Zero. Just as Nunnally starts to get worried and is about to intervene, Zero suddenly raises his right hand into the sky, pausing everyone from bombarding him with more questions.

"Suzaku Kururugi… is dead," Zero declares.

"What? What nonsense are you talking about?" Tamaki yells, "We all see that…"

"Suzaku Kururugi, the Knight of Zero, the Treacherous Knight who served the Treacherous Emperor, is dead," Zero interjects Tamaki and insists.

'I see, so that was what you were fighting for, Suzaku-kun. Such determination...' Tohdoh muses as he thinks back to Suzaku's answer to his demand back during their confrontation at the Battle of Mt Fuji, 'so you truly wanted to fight for a future… in that case, I shall…!'

"Hey! Stop joking! We all have just seen…" Tamaki isn't ready to give up yet, now that he's finally realizes something big.

"Suzaku-kun is dead," Tohdoh interjects Tamaki, shocking most in the audience.

"General Tohdoh…?" "Kyoshirou…?" Ohgi and Chiba asks concernedly.

"Suzaku-kun has sacrificed himself for the future of mankind already," Tohdoh asserts, "the one who's here with us today is Zero, the avatar of justice."

The audience falls into silence as they take in what Tohdoh has just said, while Zero turns and slightly bows to the Japanese General to express his gratitude towards Tohdoh's acknowledgement to his resolve to carry on as no one but the one masked hero of the world.

Meanwhile, Cornelia inwardly nods to Suzaku's resolve as well. 'I was wrong. You didn't betray Euphy's dream and aspiration, and you are willing to sacrifice everything you have to realize your true liege's wish. Euphy was right to pick you as her knight, and I cannot be more proud for both of you.'

Guilford also inwardly salutes to Suzaku's loyalty. 'Even though he had switched allegiance several times, he had never once strayed from the one and only princess he should serve. I salute you, Lord Kururugi.'

"…Big Brother?" Nunnally whispered as she touched Lelouch's right hand. "Huh…?" she then realized. She finally realized Lelouch entire plan behind his world domination campaign. "How come… Big Brother, you have been doing all this…" Nunnally couldn't believe it. Tears started to swell in her beautiful bluish-violet eyes as she held up Lelouch's right hand and got close to him and exclaimed, "Big Brother, I love you!"

The dying Lelouch, reaching the end of his tribulation at last, seemed not reacting to what Nunnally had said, but to her euphonious voice instead. "Ah… I've…" he murmured as flashbacks started to run through his mind at high speed, with the last few images showing children Nunnally, Suzaku and Lelouch himself smiling genuinely as they enjoyed their short-lived worry-free childhood together, "destroyed the world… and… created it… anew…"

And then, the raven-haired boy drew in his last breath and shut his eyes permanently – Lelouch vi Britannia, the 99th Emperor of Britannia, CEO of the Black Knights and the 2nd Chairman of the UFN Supreme Council, was dead.

"…!" Nunnally realized what had just happened. "Big Brother! No! Please open your eyes! Big Brother! Big Brother!" she screamed frantically in despair. On top of each of the two reddish orange trucks, Kallen and Kaguya both stared intently at Lelouch's dead body, realizing that it had been his plan to reach this culmination all along.

As Zero swung his sword once again and sprayed Lelouch's blood on the sword onto the elongated Britannian flag to writ large the undoing of the two-month regime of absolute terror, Cornelia's resistance cell had also reached the side of the thoroughfare. "Lelouch the Demon Emperor is dead!" Cornelia declared, "Free his prisoners!" At her signal, Guilford, Villetta, Xianglin and the rest of the resistance cell members rushed out from behind, and the crowd also rushed towards the prisoners at the purple princess' signal, apprehending the geassed soldiers while praising Zero's name.

Jeremiah got back on his feet and smiled at the successful completion of the Zero Requiem. "It's no good. Retreat! Retreat at once!" he "frantically" instructed the geassed soldiers through his walkie-talkie.

As Zero stood proudly on top of the motorcade, Tohdoh, while not realizing the entirety of Lelouch's plan, did realize who this Zero was. "It can't be… he is…"

"It's Zero," Kallen interjected as she stared at Zero and caught Tohdoh's attention, still in a sobbing but determined tone, "That… is Zero!"

"How unfair… all I wanted was to be with you, Big Brother..." Nunnally sobbed, "a future without Big Brother is… is…" the crippled girl couldn't finish her sentence, but instead buried her head into her elder brother's chest and cried hysterically, while all the people surrounding the motorcade were exhilarated as they kept chanting and praising the name of Zero, the messiah who saved the world from the grip of the most treacherous tyrant ever walked the Earth.

"What a guy," Gino mutters at the conclusion of the third and final disc as he finally sees the ultimate sacrifice of his "old man" had made, "What a guy."

'I salute you, Your Majesty,' Jeremiah cannot be more proud of what his liege's eldest son had done for the world and mankind, 'All Hail Lelouch.'

"Zero…!" Tamaki starts to cry loudly as he finally catches on what had exactly happened and what Lelouch did to the world, "You're my best bud ever…!"

"Zero…" Ohgi feels an immense amount of guilt as he finally realizes what Lelouch had been trying to do after he had become Emperor of Britannia, as well as how his own naivety in politics had led him to mistakenly fall for Schneizel's trap, unknowingly forcing Lelouch out of the Black Knights and ultimately resulted in what he has just seen on the screen. 'What have I done…' the tall Japanese man muses quietly as he stares at his trembling hands.

"I see… so that's the truth behind Lelouch's world domination campaign," Rakshata says in realization.

"AHA! You've made a good guess though!" Lloyd says in his usual cheerful tone to his longtime rival.

"And you have kept the truth from me all this time, Earl of Pudding?" Rakshata scowls at Lloyd.

"I am simply being nice by not spoiling you of the joy of making new discovery… ugh!" Lloyd continues to talk in his cheerful voice until being stopped by Cecile, who pulls the eccentric scientist's left ear.

"Lloyd, stop teasing Rakshata, please," Cecile says.

"But I am not wrong, right?" Lloyd continues, "The biggest joy of being a scientist is when you make a discovery on something new… ugh! Alright, alright! I will stop teasing Rakshata…" Lloyd begs Cecile to stop pulling his left ear as Cecile's smile starts to twitch.

"Dr Asplund, Dr Chawla, Ms Croomy…" Nina is nervous and doesn't know how to intervene the trio from bickering from one another.

Just as the scientists are discussing the excitement of making a discovery on something new, the Ashford Group is having their own discussion as well. "Shirley, you knew what Lelouch had planned before it happened, right?" Milly suddenly asks her orange-haired friend, "That scene when Ms C.C. approached you before the Battle of Mt Fuji and how you reacted when… when that happened, you must have known beforehand."

This shocks Rivalz. "Is that true, Shirley?" he asks incredulously.

Shirley remains silent for a moment, and as she is ready to speak again, tears start to fall from her eyes as her suppressed emotion is finally spilling out. "Madam President, Rivalz, I… I was informed by Ms C.C. about Lulu's plan right before I left Tokyo for my trip. She… she told me everything because she knew… she knew that I was dating Lulu and… and she felt that I should at least be informed of what he was trying to do…" Shirley then starts to cry and can't continue.

"Shirley…" the tall blonde girl pulls her orange-haired friend into her embrace, "Shh. That idiot did that and left behind this wonderful world to us. I don't know if it is a blessed one or not, but we should at least embrace it with smiles instead of tears, right?"

"Prez…" "Madam President…" Rivalz feels as if his eyes are opened, as is Shirley. They both smile and nod to Milly, to which Milly also smiles and nods back.

Kallen, meanwhile, is staring at the screen. 'Well, you've succeeded in deceiving everyone and had all sorts of hateful and evil deeds being blamed on you now. I guess when compared to Nunnally's plan to converge all the hatred on the Damocles, yours is the more logical choice since people would find it a lot easier to blame it on a person with a name rather than on a lifeless machine. Even so, you…' Kallen can't stop tears falling from her eyes as she keeps staring at the image of the dead body of the man she has fallen in love with. Realizing that Lelouch had actually cared about her, she is both thankful to him for actually doing all he could to enable her to move on to the future, yet also bitter at him for denying her own will and wish to walk together with him to face come what may.

'Big Brother…' same as her past self, Nunnally is saddened to see the death of her elder brother, and tears keep falling down from her bluish violet eyes. However, this time round, having learnt the complete and true meaning of her brother's self-staged death, Nunnally is determined to succeed Lelouch's vision by striving for a better future for herself and mankind. She has also made up her mind on something about the future of Britannia that she has been pondering for quite a while already, but unsure of it until this very moment, after learning the whole truth behind Lelouch's entire journey in the past two years.

Next to the young Britannian Empress, Cornelia is unsure what to make of Lelouch's actions. On the one hand, she appreciates what Lelouch was trying to do for Nunnally and Euphemia, but on the other hand, she simply can't find it in her heart to forgive him for all the sins he had committed that deeply hurt her, Euphemia, Darlton, Guilford and all others she cares deeply about, despite how Lelouch actually got himself killed and reputation forever ruined. 'I don't understand… Lelouch had finally paid for his sins he had committed at the highest price possible. Yet, why is it that I still can't find it in my heart to forgive him? Am I that petty of a woman? Why…?'

A row behind Cornelia's, Tohdoh and Chiba seem to have a similar problem. "Kyoshirou, I still can't forgive Lelouch for all his wrongdoings to us and our JLF comrades even if he sacrificed himself for the world …" Chiba mutters to her husband in a frustrated tone. She can't understand why she simply can't forgive Lelouch, even after finding out that Lelouch had basically expiated his sins by offering his life and reputation to create a peaceful world for people around the world to seek a better future.

"I don't understand why I can't forgive him as well, Nagisa," Tohdoh admits to his wife that he, too, can't find it in his heart to forgive Lelouch for killing and exploiting Major General Katase, Tohdoh's true liege, even though what Lelouch did at the end was clearly something that only a saint could do. 'Have I been reduced to a spiteful middle-aged man who knows no forgiveness? How pathetic I have become…' the Japanese General muses worriedly, 'perhaps the time has come for me to go re-train myself under a waterfall again.'

Kaguya, who is still hugging the crying Tianzi and recollecting her own thoughts about the truth behind the Zero Requiem, knows the answer to Cornelia, Chiba and Tohdoh's frustration, though. 'Those who have committed sins must be justly punished, and the very definition of punishment involves the guilty in question being subjected to pain or loss against his or her will that would serve as retribution for his or her sins. What Lelouch did, however, would make punishing him impossible because any condemnation and cursing of his name would actually help with his goal of laying his dead body and infamous name as the very foundation of this new, peaceful world, as per his exhaustive calculation and planning. This effectively strips those who were wronged by him the right and ability to make him suffer against his will because the more people curse his name, the more they are actually helping with his objective. The only real way to seek vengeance against him would be to destroy this peaceful world that he had created and left behind, which is something that Princess Cornelia, General Tohdoh and Mrs Tohdoh would never do. Plus Lelouch had never formally apologized for his wrongdoings to any of them. Hence, Princess Cornelia, General Tohdoh and Mrs Tohdoh would probably never be able to forgive Lelouch because Lelouch had basically forced his good intention onto them, which was, according to Lelouch himself, no different from an evil act,' the young UFN Supreme Council Chairwoman then closes her eyes and pauses for a brief moment before reopening her eyes and looks at the screen again, this time with a gentle and appreciative smile, 'Well, you did what Suzaku had urged you to do at the Kururugi Shrine, to "use your malice to save the world". Even so, this "evil act" of yours and its results left to us are still better than what Emperor Charles or Prince Schneizel would have brought to us had they succeeded. Right, Lelouch?'