A.N. Hello everyone sorry for the wait on this chapter. I had some pretty bad writer's block for a good part of this and it also did not help that I have other things going on in my life. But here is what I came up with and I am satisfied with what I have written. I would also like to thank all the people who have followed me and this story and my other story, it means so much to me that people enjoy my writing, you have no idea how happy it truly makes me to get those notifications in my inbox.

I truly hope that you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 27

Beijing, UFN March 4, 2021 a.t.b.

Burning, the Palace was burning, fire and smoke jumped crevice's, cracks and windows. Dead men littered every exposed area outside the walls of the palace, and courtyards, gunships, knightmares, airships and other VTOLs covered every area of the exposed building with interlocking fields of fire as soldiers on foot stormed the building. The hallways echoed with the sounds of weapons fire, bullets and hadron blasts tore holes in the walls and sent soldiers to the ground dead or wounded. Sawasaki fumed inside the CIC, his anger palpable as his hands trembled and twitched. After having recovered from the strange seemingly psychic, attack the CIC had gone back to some semblance of order. Sawasaki's thoughts raced, "how could this have happened? It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to be the Man of Miracles this time!"

"M..m..my lord," a tentative voice said. Sawasaki turned to look at the man. Said technician shook as he spoke, "S….ssss…..sssir, we have reports coming from the escape tunnels below. It seems enemy troops have occupied the end of the line and are patrolling forward."

Sawaski's hands stopped trembling and his eyes flashed red for but a moment, he then stood with seemingly a sense of purpose. HE turned to the man and smoothly pulled his pistol, and his blazing with a silent rage that did not match his face, pulled the trigger as the man screamed. A single gunshot stopped any hope of bargaining and the man's head shot back as his brain's were scattered behind him. The other members of the room stared as the technician crumpled to the ground.

The brainwashed officers drew pistols as well, their free will well and truly gone now, and took aim at the staring technicians and waited. Sawasaki turned back to the room as a hole, "every man here will draw a weapon and move to the upper levels. I expect you all to make for yourselves a valiant death in the face of the state's enemies."

The officers then moved forward and shouted and pushed the technicians from their seats. Vermillion Guards joined in herding the men from the room towards the closest armory or kitchen where they could arm themselves. Sawasaki followed behind and turned to make his way to his throne room.

Outside

"Report," ordered Lelouch as he sat in the Gawain's cockpit. Outside lines and cables were removed from the machine and it was made ready for takeoff.

The speaker crackled as the reply came back, "Mass Geass Canceller fired successfully, initial reports suggest majority of city occupants unaffected. Vermillion Guard that have been observed have begun acting sporadically. Guards closest to the Palace seemingly maintain a semblance of their previous demeanor. As well my lord new intel reports that enemy formations are beginning to press upon the flanks of our advance to the palace and that resistance is beginning to stiffen."

"Very well, maintain pressure on the enemy and order all air elements to give covering fire for friendly ground units."

"Yes, my lord," came the reply.

Grasping the control sticks and feeling the Gawain's computer systems sink to his neural link and the emperor of Britannia took off. Eight Imperial Guards formed up around him as did the large fortress knightmare of Jeremiah Gottwald. The formation then turned and dropped like stones toward the enemy palace. With barely a twitch the Radiant Hadron Wave cannons burned to life and twin beams of crimson death tor into the palace. The beams sliced great gashes in the already decimated building leaving fiery trails in their wakes. But even as he tore away chunks of building Lelouch did not turn his course. The shots to open up apparent breaches were not but decoys to confuse his already confused enemy, though Lelouch knew in his heart that by this point Sawasaki knew that he was now the target and no other.

Lelouch's guard likewise let loose a hail of burning shot, targeting any enemy that attempted to appear. Despite the overwhelming amount of fire being poured upon the buildings of the palace compound enemy fire still yet persisted. Tracers and small rockets arc up from positions within and wivincentthout of the palace. The shields of the knightmares flared as some of the enemy's shots found home. Though in spite of the concerted efforts of the defenders the return fire from the imperials was far stronger than their own.

As the group descended a warning light blinked to life in Lelouch's cockpit and not a moment later the radio crackled to life, "my lord we are detecting a large increase in power within the palace."

Before Lelouch could respond a series of concentrated rocket hits knocked the Gawain side to side. Large caliber cannon shells arched up and into the formation sending several frames off course as they were pummeled under the onslaught. A Vincent-Cobra swiftly pushed itself in front of the Gawain and absorbed much of the oncoming fire with its shield powered to full.

"My lord," came over the radio. "Enemy resistance has increased, and our forward units are reporting renewed counterattacks from inside the palace.

If Lelouch were any younger he would likely have rolled his eyes as such an obvious fact, but at the current juncture he appreciated the command and logistical structure he had formed around him. Lelouch then with a quick thought pulled up a map showing the disposition of his troops and the enemy nearby. The red indicators showed that enemy formations were indeed pushing hard for the palace and that defenders from inside were making almost suicidal charges from the rubble. The occasional tank accompanied by a knightmare added firepower to the attacks and some could be seen performing kamikaze attacks as well.

Thinking quickly Lelouch replied, "order all ground forces to secure their positions and hold till further orders. Those ground forces attacking the palace will likewise pull back and secure defensive positions in tandem with the rest of our forces. The fleet will maintain a covering bombardment while myself and my guards force our way to Sawasaki."

"But my lord, you'll be exposed. I cannot in good conscious…."

"Increase the bombardment of the surrounding buildings of the palace compound, that should give myself and the guards ample cover. Use out IFF signals to coordinate the firing arcs."

The reply came quickly though forced, "y..yy… yes, my lord."

Lelouch then turned back and quickly adjusted his frames course and aimed for the most ostentatious building of the palace. Lelouch furrowed his brows and pushed the Gawain forward and down, his guards likewise committed to the dive. Using the sheer force and bulk of the war machines Lelouch smashed his way through the roof of the palace. Debris fell to the ground as tracers, and red energy blasts crisscrossed the room filling it with a deafening cacophony.

As the noise fell silent and the fire slackened the sight that could be beheld could have been comical if it was not so tragic. The knightmares had torn a gaping hole in the building several floors deep to fit their immense bulks. The out of place machines were surrounded by dead bodies that were burned, blown apart, and eviscerated with their life blood staining the rooms. Many of the intact corpse held looks of fear and surprise as they had not expected the terror of the mechs crashing through the ceiling to stand amongst them.

Factspheres scanned the area and Lelouch's features hardened as his guards fired shots through walls and floors at enemies only seen through technology. With a purpose only a man of conviction could must Lelouch released his neural connection to the Gawain leaving its advanced virtual intelligence system run the frame. He then unholstered his VARIS pistol and checked it over, seeing no blemishes he released the magazine and checked its capacity. Satisfied he reinserted the clip and re-holstered the weapon and checked his reloads. Completing this he opened a small storage compartment and removed his brand-new helmet. The piece looked much like his old mask save that the spikes that adorned the top were larger and formed a seeming crown, as well two distinct eye hollows were visible.

He slipped the helmet over his head and felt the rear panels close over his head and a satisfying his signified an airtight seal had formed. This allowed the compact air filter in the mask to siphon away any contaminants in the air. While the first to admit he technically didn't need such a device, the filter did in fact allow for at the least a modicum convenience. Dying was not the concern but being incapacitated by having poisonous fumes or smoke choke and disorientate the emperor during combat. The eye hollows glowed a deep violet /red as the orbs behind them aligned with them and the dark violet eyes of the emperor looked out. A HUD popped up and his communicator beeped to life connecting him to the world outside of his vicinity.

Almost in unison the cockpits of five of the knightmares opened as did the Gawain's and five guards and the emperor descended with their powerful VARIS and Hadron sidearms. From above Jeremiah ejected from his frame and dropped through the roof. His cyber enhanced muscles absorbed the impact of his fall, and as he stood, he joined the black and red cloaked guards looking about for any threats. Two guards remained in their frames and "gently" hovered inside the large hole in the roof. Gently being a large misnomer as they did occasionally bump into a piece of debris. Lelouch then coldly ordered, "move out."

As they moved through the broken building towards the large open room that appeared on their scanners their communicators crackled to life. "EM interference is rising your majesty, as well we have detected streaks of radiation emanating from below ground. We believe that there might be a fusion weapon below the palace sire, please fall back."

Once more Lelouch's eyebrows furrowed in anger, was Sawasaki planning a suicide attack or something like Berlin? Gritting his teeth, he replied, "understood, order all troops to begin pulling back in good order but with all possible speed. Have the air fleet aid in lifting all the wounded and cover the withdrawal."

Turning to Jeremiah, and ignoring the reply that came from the fleet, Lelouch continued, "Jeremiah return to the fleet and command the retreat."

Before the knight could argue Lelouch cut him off, "Unlike me you are not immortal old friend, and despite what you may think Sawasaki will not live through the rest of the hour. Now go."

Jeremiah bit his lip and bowed before turning and running off back to where they had come. Turning to his guards he ordered, "Put your frames in remote mode, have them ready to pick you up when I give the word."

The Guards silently consented as they continued through the hall toward the throne room. The halls were empty, and lights flickered under the damage cause by the battle outside. The helmets of the party however lit up the darkened passageways like it is midday outdoors. Two of the guards scanned with infrared and others sent radar pulses around them looking for unseen enemies. A guard then held up his hand and motioned saying, "movement up ahead."

The group crouched and leveled their weapons in the direction of the incoming threat. A panting scream echoed in the hall and from the flickering hall ran a crowd of soldiers dressed rather poorly for soldiers. Flack vests and poorly fitting helmets covered rather normal looking clothes and they held weapons that were by no means the new, but rather scrounged from the battlefield itself.

The charging enemies opened fire; their weapons set to full auto the metal slugs flying over the heads of the imperial party. Their poor aim mirrored their poor appearance and echoed what could only be the poorest training on their weapons. The Imperial Guards opened fire in return but in a far more professional fashion, to be precise a rather staggered volley. Three VARIS shots and a Hadron blasts tore into the charging group. The screams of the enemy turned to screams of agony as the volley turned many to broken corpses whose life had not yet fully ended. Several more volley followed till the hall was painted in black and red, with the blood and ashes of the Imperial's enemies.

From the end of the passage double flashes could be seen, two small objects flew through hall just slow enough to be partially seen before it the wall and exploded in a bright colored flash. The guards who had seen the incoming grenades had jumped to cover the Emperor adding their own armored physics to the Kevlar armor their liege wore beneath his clothes. Pushing his guards off Lelouch looked down the hall to see a pair of red clothed and armored Vermilion Guards. Gritting his teeth in annoyance Lelouch raised his pistol and fired, as the Vermillion Guard ducked back behind the corner he had hid behind. But the green bolt did not miss its target, the VARIS shot hit the corner square and the wall disintegrated. The Vermilion was hurled forward as the VARIS bolt took his arm off, the man grunted as his conditioning shut his pain receptors off. But before the man could hit the ground another VARIS shot from one of the Imperials tore his chest apart.

The second Vermillion in the meantime had been hit several times by Hardon blasts and holes sizzled in his body. Like his counterpart his conditioning shut down his pain receptors and the man fought back. Unlike rabble from before, the Vermillion's fire was far more professional, however even though he felt no pain the Vermillion's wounds affected the aim. A few slugs connected with a guard, but the low-tech bullet was no match for the state-of-the-art armor. And like his counterpart the second Vermillion fell under a barrage of Imperial fire.

Only then was Lelouch able to take stock of his situation, only two of his guards remained. The grenade had obviously been far more powerful than he first assumed, though the spectrum of the explosion likely meant that the bomb was filled with Sakuradite. This was further evidenced by the punctured forms of the dead guards who were peppered in large shrapnel wounds that no ordinary grenade could have hoped to create. As well Lelouch tasted iron in his mouth likely from a few ruptures cause by overpressure, in his mind he thought, 'must consider a pressurized body glove in the future.'

Lelouch sighed as he stood and continued forward his remaining two guards at his side.

Outside

Outside the Black Knights pulled back through the streets of the embattled city covered by the air fleet and artillery fire. The defenders of the city repeatedly attempted to break the retreat and turn it into a route. However, the leadership of the defenders was far from unified with Sawasaki's retreat to the throne room. The general officers of his staff had left the bunker and palace however their brainwashed minds had them repeatedly order frontal attacks on the Black Knight lines. A few times they tried to turn the flanks, but these too met grisly ends.

Jeremiah had several times used his Sutherland Sieg to smash apart the smaller headquarters of the defending generals. Now however he had taken up his station on the bridge of the Yamato. Jeremiah barked orders and the troops below him obeyed, but despite the large amount of attention he gave to the mission at hand he still kept thinking back to his liege.

In the Palace

It did not take long for the small group made it to the doors of the thrown room. The Guards rushed into position by the doors. Lelouch looked the doors up and down, the gaudy things were poorly decorated, and their carvings were gilded in gold leaf. Done quite poorly too, only a fool with no taste would call such things grand or beautiful. The wooden monstrosities stood out on the whitewashed wall as though someone had forgotten to finish decorating the hall. Though considering the fallen beams and debris the hall looked better than what it likely looked before.

Nodding his head to his guards the two raised their weapons and two VARIS bolts tore through the door. The twin wooden slabs swung in hard on their hinges, the screws screamed as many were torn from the wall by the force. The Guards rushed in the entryway and fired several shots at the Vermillion guards who stood therein. Said Vermillion guards could not even raise their weapons as the Imperial entrance was so swift. This left only Lelouch, his guards, and two others in the room, though the final two both held the same form.

Sawasaki looked at the intruders from his throne, his face was plastered with an icy anger. That anger manifested in the dark smile that spread across his face, while his hollowed eyes gazed at the intruders. Too Lelouch however he saw the second person who looked upon him from behind the maddened eyes of Sawasaki. The outline of a sickly crimson that branched out into Sawasaki's bloodshot gaze.

Sawasaki chuckled, his voice echoed with a higher pitch not his own, "well, we must say that we did not expect this outcome."

"It is strange then that I saw this coming from quite the distance," replied Lelouch.

"He..Hee..Indeed, Though I did not see this coming I still know the ending of this," Sawasaki grinned. "Only one of us will leave this room."

"Indeed," replied the Emperor. "No showy trials or victory parades with you in chains. We have gone beyond that now."

"Quite," Sawaski then waved his hand and pointed at the two guards. "Though I think this should be a fight between monarchs don't you think."

Two successive booms echoed in the chamber and were it not for his helmet Lelouch would likely be deaf and bleeding from the ears. However, his two final guards fell, gapping holes in their bodies where the explosive rounds had detonated. Sawsaki looked up into the rafters, "well done, now begone."

A Vermillion guard then stood for Lelouch to see, he wore black and Lelouch's mind deducted that beneath the outer garments was a glove that shielded him from scans. The man's mouth seemed to move beneath his mask before he shivered and fell to the ground with a sickening thud. The body twitched before becoming still.

Sawasaki's then answered the unspoken and unasked question, "cyanide. No more real use for him now was there."

Lelouch looked up at the man/thing and saw a small trickle of blood oozing down the side of his face from his ear. Though Sawasaki did not seem to notice or care about the injury, nor did it seem to affect him and his hearing in any visible way. Lelouch was drawn back to Sawasaki as the man continued, "well, since you say we are beyond the formalities and grandiose gestures I think its time we got started, don't you?"

In a surprisingly quick movement Sawasaki drew a pistol and fired, the bullet, slammed into Lelouch's chest. Though no blood poured from any wound as the bullet had merely stopped inside the bulletproof vest. Lelouch barely thought and pushed on through instinct and drew his own pistol. Likewise, he pulled the trigger sending a VARIS shot shrieking through the room. In another quick movement that one could tell the man should have been impossible of making, Sawasaki leapt from the throne as the green bolt tore it apart. A flurry of dueling gun fire choked the room as both figures moved through the room, firing, taking cover, and running again. This process repeated itself until the ground jumped to the ceiling on its own accord with a resounding, haunting, roar.

Outside

Jeremiah's eye widened as he watched a large section of what was the palace heave into the air in fire and steam. Alarms blared on the bridge and the floor shook slightly as the shock of the blast passed by. The debris from the blast landed amongst the palace and in the streets below. Unseen those below screamed in agony as they were burned, crushed, or bleed out. Snapping back to reality Jeremiah belted, "report?!"

"Radiation levels rising sir! The source is coming from below the palace and is spreading!"

"Where to?"

"Everywhere," Jeremiah looked back out at the seen and saw that the smoke from the blast was beginning to move through the streets. A fire raged from the place where the blast had originated, and the flames in an ironic twist began to burn the city and those within without even touching them.

Jeremiah turned again to look back at the palace, he squelched the feelings of desperation for his liege. Knowing that Lelouch was immortal did not damper Jeremiah's wish to go and retrieve his master. However, with the Gawain's IFF signal still blazing and signaling its functionality Jeremiah turned to continue with his standing orders. Jeremiah once more belted out orders, "all airborne ships commence saturation bombardment, flatten everything between our troops and the enemy. All ground units will pull back double time, air units will in turn pull back. Every ship, and vehicle with air filtration equipment is to switch over and push the equipment to the limit. Radiation decontamination protocols are in effect."

Inside

Lelouch stood and dusted himself off as best he could, as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room, he saw the damage his helmet had taken. Several large cracks filled his vision as did flickering patches of static from its damaged systems. Grunting his frustration Lelouch reached up and touched the button to remove the helm. The piece made pained noises as it begrudgingly left its wearers head.

As he held the mask in his hands Lelouch was able to see that his left arm had had the clothes ripped and burned off. His skin burned bright red and black spots pock marked its length, however Lelouch felt little of the pain. His mind then came up with the answer, "nerve damage."

He then made an inspection of himself, and it was then that the pain began. Every breath he took burned and though he could not see it, more of his skin turned bright red as unseen fire burned him. He stumbled to his feet, coughing and grasping at anything to help keep his balance. As he stood, he did his best to survey the room. Pieces of ceiling littered the ground leaving the darkened sky visible, smoke and dust hung in the air.

A weak snicker caught his attention and Lelouch turn to see the form of Sawasaki standing against a broken beam. The man's right arm was missing and the stump leaked blood, every piece of exposed skin was beat red, and his eyes glowed a sickly yellow. Yet despite the obvious amount of pain that should have rendered the body completely useless, Sawasaki grinned a bloody grin.

"Why?" asked Lelouch.

"I burned once before," Sawasaki replied. The voice however was broken, it sounded as though the voice was itself a flaming coal burning endlessly. Yet despite the broken raspy-ness of the voice, a tone beneath showed the female origin of the words. "Those centuries ago when your witch condemned me to burn. But I am a phoenix and I rose again; it took so long before this cursed body was given to me. But here I stand, burning is nothing new to me Emperor, can you say the same?"

Sawasaki's good arm rose with pistol in hand and Jeanne's ring glistening on his finger, "I wonder how long you'll burn before you curse C.C. and your code."

Lelouch's bloodshot eye twitched, and anger rose within him, he felt heat and pain, and was angered further. Clenching his teeth Lelouch lashed out and screamed, no words, just raw emotion. Lelouch felt his power flare and in his anger channeled it towards the focus of anger. Sawasaki recoiled as if struck and let out blood curdling scream as he/she dropped the pistol. Sawasaki's body fell back against the beam then to the floor its one arm scratching at its head.

Lelouch felt the psychic nail drive into the two minds that occupied the head of Sawasaki's body. Both screamed in agony as their minds were clawed at by unseen talons. Lelouch saw pieces of memory, he saw Sawasaki's cell door open and saw the familiar form of Bismarck enter and give to the Japanese man the ring that held the imprisoned soul of Jeanne d'Arc. He saw the soul of the witch possess Sawasaki and the two make a pact, at the same time he saw the woman burn and fight. The memories merged and diverged as Lelouch's power ran rampant.

With an angered cry Lelouch tore himself from the twisted psyches of the two. Stumbling forward Lelouch growled out his response, "you say you are no stranger to burning witch. Then you can test your resistance in hell."

Lelouch dropped to his knees and reached out grasping the ring and Sawasaki's head in his damaged hands. "Burn."

Sawasaki's eyes widened and pain once more coursed through his body, but this time also through the two souls that occupied the corporeal vessel. Sawasaki's mouth opened in attempts to scream but no sound came forth though both minds screamed in agony. Lelouch jerked Sawasaki's head towards him and looked the creature the man had become in the eyes. And as the two souls burned, they saw the world around them fade and in its place C's World and as their perception changed, they saw Lelouch. Gone were the pretenses of flesh and left only the image of the soul. Wings of fire burned bright while eyes of red flames gazed upon them. Wisps of darkened hair danced in unseen wind as golden hues glowed in place of skin. In place of Lelouch, was an avenging angel.

The two guilty souls screamed as ring, body and soul turned to flame and burned, and were no more. Thus, leaving only the Emperor and a burning body.

A.N. For those that do not know exactly what happened (I can hear a few questions), first I will say that Sawasaki forced a meltdown of the nuclear reactor beneath the palace that's what the explosion was. Secondly no Lelouch and Sawasaki did not enter C's World, what happened was in the last seconds before death Sawasaki and Jeanne saw past the corporeal plane and into the C's world and saw Lelouch's soul. Which by the way I am not saying that Lelouch's is pure or an angel by any stretch, what I am saying is that is what Sawasaki saw. It is a matter of perception.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you next time. (And no this story isn't over yet)