I do not own Code Geass. I only own any original characters created by me.

~ ~ ~ AVE IMPERATOR ~ ~ ~

~ Chapter 4: Where the war begins ~

[Pendragon (Royal Palace) – 19th August 2018 a.t.b.]

The first Empress, as well as Lelouch's wife, Cera ci Britannia, was busy tasting a pizza with sausage, French fries and buffalo mozzarella, savoring every single bite, when she felt a new presence near the building.

She looked lazily in the direction in which she sensed that presence and raised an eyebrow "Oh? A Geass user? It could be one of the soldiers of V.V." without turning, she pressed a button at the base of a small screen placed on the table and in a few moments, Jeremiah's face became visible.

"Lady Cera, is there something wrong?"

"We could have a survivor of the Geass Order, they just used their Geass to get past the guards at the main gate." explained C.C. with a calm voice.

"An assassin?!" Jeremiah's face was a mask of hatred and fury "Someone wants to assassinate His Majesty?! They will first have to pass over the cold corpse of Jeremiah Gottwald!"

"Yes yes, loyalty to the Emperor, no one will pass and yada yada yada..." Cera swallowed another bite "Whoever it is, seems to be alone and is approaching the main door of the building."

"I'll stop them at once!" shouted Jeremiah before ending the communication.

C.C. sighed in exasperation before biting another slice of pizza "That Jeremiah is a good knight but damn if he isn't too zealous and fanatic with his loyalty..."

Jeremiah put away the small cell phone he had just used to talk to Cera and looked ahead with indomitable fury in his eyes.

'An assassin. Here!' the man growled making sure the retractile blade in his arm was functioning as well as the gun he carried hidden in his jacket 'Whoever they are, they won't even be able to get close to His Majesty as long as I am breathing!'

He was about to run to the main entrance when a "Lord Jeremiah?" he caught his attention, and only then did he remember Lelouch's two guests who, at the time of the call, were close to him.

"Is it true?" asked Angelique, staring at the loyal cyborg with firm eyes "An assassin is here?"

Jeremiah watched her for a moment before looking at Lucifer and then back at Angelique "Yes, I have just received news that a stranger is about to reach the main door without any authorization. After what happened with His Majesty's mother, Lady Marianne, we cannot take risks, so I will immediately stop this intruder."

"Then please let me accompany you." said the young girl taking a step forward but Jeremiah shook his head.

"I can't let you that. You are a guest of his Majesty, if something should happen to you, his credibility would be very much affected as well as my honor for not being able to stop a possible murderer in time."

"His Majesty is in danger and I am a soldier of the Britannian army." replied Angelique with one hand over her chest "It is my duty to protect my sovereign."

Jeremiah didn't even blink "This killer is an unknown enemy and we don't know their abilities."

"During my service in Europia I also had to perform spy assignments. Going against unknown enemies is part of the job." said the young girl with a small smile, soon mimicked by the cyborg.

"Very well, then follow me." he looked at Lucifer "What about you?"

Lucifer merely shrugged "I prefer to be alone."

Angelique looked at him with a frown on her face before throwing him a combat knife that she had hidden in the sleeve of her uniform. Lucifer managed to catch it with one hand without letting it fall but then raised an eyebrow, clearly confused by the gesture.

"I saw how you move. You are unarmed." explained Angelique flicking her wrist to get another knife out "I hope you at least know how to fight with that if the assassin should come here." and, without waiting for an answer, she sprinted down the corridor with Jeremiah. Fortunately for them, despite the vastness of the building, the guest section was close to the main entrance and, with their speed, Jeremiah and Angelique managed to get into the huge atrium just when the door was being opened from the outside.

What they didn't expect, however, was to see a small figure enter, wrapped in a black cloak with a hood pulled down over their face.

"A child...?" wondered Angelique, catching the intruder's attention.

"Someone has noticed me? And to say that I didn't see anyone at the windows." asked the presumed assassin with a male voice, which however made his young age evident "Oh well it doesn't matter, something unexpected can always happen."

'What is he talking about?' thought Angelique with a raised eyebrow 'Outside there should be at least twenty guards...he killed them all? Or maybe they are all traitors?' that last thought made her frown for a moment, but then her attention shifted to the intruder who, from under his cloak, threw something to the right and, instinctively, she and Jeremiah looked towards that object for an instant, remaining confused to see that it was only a pebble.

Angelique looked back at the child but, much to her shock, he was gone 'What the-?'

A sudden blue glow seemed to encompass the whole room and in that instant the alleged assassin reappeared in front of her, with a knife in his left hand. Reacting to the best of her abilities, Angelique raised her right arm and managed to block the child's blade with her knife before trying to hit him with a kick in the chest, but he avoided the attack and jumped back to distance himself from her and Jeremiah.

"Well...this is curios..." said the child looking at them "My Geass was canceled..."

'Geass...?' wondered the young girl for a moment, remembering how she had heard that word during the conversation between Jeremiah and Cera.

The cyborg, however, didn't give her time to think about it further because he dashed towards the assassin, sliding out a strange golden blade from the sleeve of his jacket, with which he tried to decapitate the child, who, however, lowered himself to avoid the blade. He then tried to stab Jeremiah's right leg but the man stepped back before kicking him, slamming the child against the now closed door.

Three small spheres seemed to fall from the murderer's right hand and, when they touched the ground, exploded in large clouds of black smoke that forced Jeremiah to desist from continuing his assault. The man jumped out of the smoke, and remained on guard for every possible attack, which arrived earlier than expected in the form of three throwing knives.

Jeremiah blocked the first two with his blade, while the third missed him but was grabbed by Angelique, who began to spin it in her left hand. When she saw a sudden movement of the smoke to her right, she threw the knife in that direction but when the blade sank into the fabric of the cloak, she nailed it to the wall without difficulty.

'He took off his cloak to get our attention...a decoy!'

For the third time, a blue glow enveloped the room and, on the left, she saw the child running along the wall. As said, he was a child, about thirteen years old, with short brown hair and red eyes, but the left was a different shade of red from the right one, with a strange symbol in the iris.

The assassin made a sprint for the door behind Angelique, but she barred his way as Jeremiah quickly arrived behind him, and together they tried to hit him from above but incredibly, the child grabbed Angelique's wrist with his free hand, while with the knife in his left hand he blocked the cyborg's blade. That second of hesitation on their part was all that was needed for the child to spin slightly on himself and thus be able to make them lose their balance before running towards the door.

Jeremiah was the first to recover and drew his gun, aiming at the assassin's back, but the child had already dropped other small smoke-filled spheres that created another thick cloud of black smoke.

Angelique spun her knife, grabbing it by the blade, and relying only on the sound of the child's footsteps, threw her weapon into that black wall. After less than a second, she was rewarded with a grunt of pain and a loud 'thud' against the floor. She and Jeremiah looked at each other for a second and, after nodding, they waited for the smoke to clear. It took several seconds, but in the end they saw the assassin's body slumped to the ground with the knife stuck in his back.

Angelique was the first to approach to make sure he was dead, but when she was close to him she noticed a big detail. Only the tip of the knife was stuck in his back and, despite the small puddle of blood beneath him, there was no blood around where she had hit him.

It was then that the child spun on his back, pointing a small pistol at her head and Angelique could see his left sleeve, first hidden by his body, completely covered in blood. Before he could pull the trigger, however, a quick slash from Jeremiah cut the gun clean, rendering it useless, and then pressed one foot against the child's right wrist, pinning him to the floor.

"It's over, assassin." hissed Jeremiah pointing his own gun at the child's head while Angelique quickly recovered her knife.

"Ah now I understand why my Geass was ineffective..." said the child, staring at Jeremiah orange mask "A Geass Canceler. So you were part of the Order too?"

"The fact that you know of my Geass Canceler is a more than obvious proof that you are an assassin from the Geass Order." Jeremiah narrowed his visible eye "Why are you aiming at His Majesty's life? Are you here to get revenge?"

The child looked at him with confused eyes "Why should I? I didn't feel any kind of love or bond for the Geass Order, much less for V.V. or the previous Emperor."

Now the confused one was Jeremiah "Then...why are you here, equipped as if you were to kill someone?"

Despite his position, the child managed to shrug "I just wanted to test the new Emperor. If he really managed to kill Charles it means he knows his stuff."

A strange silence followed his words as Jeremiah looked at him in confusion, Angelique tried to figure out what they were talking about and the child watched them both, almost oblivious to the bleeding wound on his left arm. However, after a few seconds someone clapped their hands and, looking up, they saw C.C. walking towards them with Sebas and Lucifer behind her.

"Okay okay, that's enough." she looked at Jeremiah "Let him get up, it is clear that he isn't a threat."

The cyborg did as requested and took a step back, letting the child stand up. The aforementioned child then turned to C.C. and bowed briefly "It's an honor to meet you, C.C. I heard about you during my brief service in the Order."

"Oh?" C.C. arched an eyebrow "What's your name, child?"

"Azalen Kazen." said the child "Former assassin and spy of the Geass Order."

"Particular name, I imagine it was V.V. to choose it for you." Azalen nodded "Typical of him. Well we might as well go and sit down to hear your story. I have the impression that Lelouch will be particularly stressed at the end of the day."

Cera turned to leave, when Angelique caught her attention "My Lady, if I may ask, what is this Geass you are talking about?"

The immortal witch stared at her for a moment with surprised eyes, but then a disquieting smile formed on her lips.

"Oh this is going to be fun."

Lelouch rubbed his eyes, sighing. He had just spent several hours talking to his troops in Europia, as well as those in the motherland, and he hoped he could rest for a while. Evidently, his wife didn't want to give him any rest, because as soon as he left the conference room, she had informed him that an assassin from the Geass Order had broken into the building and that, in stopping him, Angelique had learned of the Geass.

"So you're telling me..." he looked at the child sitting on the other side of the coffee table "...that you are thirteen...since at least two years, because you are part of a special project for creating Knightmare pilots?"

Azalen nodded after putting the fifth sugar cube in his tea "Yes, the purpose of the program was to create more skilled and 'smaller' pilots so that they could use smaller cockpits for the Knightmares. I and the few successes were trained to kill like the other members of the Geass Order, but in the end I was the only one left. Also due to the assault of the Black Knights at the base of the Order." he then pulled a small USB stick from his sweatshirt "Here are the few data that I managed to recover. After the death of V.V. the command was passed to the previous Emperor but since he hasn't inserted any special codes any more, all the data have started to cancel automatically as a security measure."

Lelouch cursed mentally. He didn't want to use all that concerned the Geass Order, but those fanatics at the service of V.V. had devised several noteworthy things, such as the cybernetic enhancements for Jeremiah. He would have liked to see at least what they were working on.

"I see...and what are you going to do now?"

Azalen shrugged "I could serve you. I have no contact outside the Geass Order and one with my skills could be useful to you."

The Emperor seemed to think about it and then nodded "Very well, you will be one of my personal assassins and also a Knightmare pilot. However at the moment I don't have a designated base for those with your skills, so for now you'll stay here in the guest section. In order to avoid questions from unknown people, I will grant you a noble title. You will be the only heir of an old family believed to have disappeared for several generations."

The child nodded with a happy smile "Does that mean I will have a personal manor? In that case, I want at least one chef capable of making good cakes."

Lelouch sighed again "I'll see what I can do about that." and then he stood up together with Cera, then moving his gaze to Angelique, currently sitting on a small sofa with Ash "I'm sorry you ended up in the middle of all this."

"You must not apologize, Your Majesty." said Angelique while bowing her head "Yes, it's all a bit absurd but with all the things I've seen tonight I can't deny the obvious."

"Glad to know that you weren't too shocked, even after hearing the whole story from Cera." the young Emperor then walked toward the door "It's been a long day, so I'll go to bed. Tomorrow will be even more challenging. Sebas, I want the orders for moving the troops to be ready before noon."

"It shall be done, Your Majesty." said the loyal butler, walking out of the room with the Emperor, Cera and Jeremiah.

After a few seconds of silence, Azalen looked at Ash "So, how did you lose your eye?" the albino, who was now sporting a black eye-patch over his left eye, looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Azalen touched under his own left eye "How did you lose it?"

"Oh I didn't lose it." Ash removed the eye-patch, showing the Geass symbol in his eye.

Angelique and Azalen stared at it for a few seconds, until the child said "Permanent Geass?"

"Yes, today I had to use it for several hours and in the end it became this way. His Majesty assured me that tomorrow I will have a special contact lens to cover it." explained Ash with a light shrug.

"Several hours?" asked Angelique, still new to the concept of Geass "What's your power?"

"It's called 'Loyalty Perception'. It allows me to understand how much a person is loyal to the person to whom I am loyal. In this case, the Emperor." said the albino looking at her "Right now, you're surrounded by a white aura, so you're loyal to the Emperor." he then looked at Azalen "You, on the other hand, are surrounded by a light gray aura, so you are loyal even if less than her."

"What about him?" asked Azalen pointing at Lucifer, currently sitting in an armchair with a book in his hands. During the whole meeting he had not uttered a word and for a moment they had even forgotten his existence.

'He could become a good assassin.' thought the child, sipping his tea.

"Gray aura. Equivalent to neutral as far as I know." said Ash with narrowed eyes before looking back at Angelique "Since Lady Cera told you about Geass, did she also tell you that she can grant you one?"

The young girl nodded "Yes, she asked me if I wanted to make a contract with her before His Majesty's arrival."

Ash and Azalen (and even Lucifer even though he didn't show it) now were really curious.

"And...?" asked the child "Have you accepted?"

"Well...I..."

[Toromo Agency's Base (Argentine) – 20th August 2018 a.t.b.]

"It was a long time since we had a small family reunion. Isn't it, brother?" asked Pollux, looking at his twin who was sitting at his left.

Castor nodded with an amused smile "Far too long. How are you, Cornelia? Always busy with the army?"

Cornelia glared at the two twins "Of all my brothers and sisters, you are among those of whom I would willingly do without." she then looked at the last member of their family, currently sitting at the head of the table "Was it really necessary to summon them, Schneizel?"

A thin smile formed on the lips of the White King "Come on, dear sister, they are family. It is also thanks to them that we have been able to gather so many loyal soldiers. By the way, how much are our troops, right now?"

"We have about forty thousand light infantry soldiers, three thousand Knightmare Frames with their pilots, at least two thousand tanks with their crews, ten G-1 bases, four Caerleon-class battleships and two Logres-class battleships." said Cornelia without missing a beat "Quite high numbers if we consider that they come only from five states."

Schneizel smiled, satisfied to hear that his plan was proceeding without too many hitches. The beginning had been slow and uncertain, but with the help of the rui Britannia twins and the Toromo Agency, everything was progressing for the best. His eyes slowly lowered onto the map that covered much of the table, where the southern part of the motherland was represented.

Lelouch was most likely struggling with the issue in Europia, which would have become much more unmanageable in a matter of days, while Schneizel had spent the last weeks creating a power base right within the empire claimed by his little brother.

'It was so simple.' thought the blond, ignoring the discussions of his siblings 'Lelouch has never had a chance to get used to court life, so he cannot know that many of the nobles on this continent were fervent supporters of our later father. A word here, a promise there and you get an army of soldiers who are ready to do anything to overthrow you, Lelouch.'

The numbers listed by Cornelia were correct, but what needed to be said was that only a fifth of those numbers were currently in their main base.

The rest of the troops were still inside Britannian military bases, mixed with Lelouch's loyal soldiers.

'And in four days, when I give the signal, all those soldiers will attack from the inside. The chaos will reign supreme and, unfortunately for you Lelouch, the same will happen in Europia. How will you react?' thought Schneizel staring at the few nations who weren't on his side 'Colombia and Venezuela will have no way to defend themselves and within a few hours, the entire South Britannia will be in our hands. With a new conflict on multiple fronts you won't be able to last long.'

His thoughts were interrupted when his faithful right-hand-man, Kanon Maldini, entered their dining room with a worried expression on his face.

Your Highness, there seem to have been unexpected developments." said Kanon, handing him a folder of papers, which Schneizel began to read under the curious gaze of his siblings.

After a few minutes, the White King raised an eyebrow "Lelouch is repositioning his troops in Europia?"

"Yes, we checked and all the reports from your men say the same thing. The most peculiar thing is that he is only moving some soldiers, not whole armies." nodded Kanon "The worrying thing is about the soldiers he is moving."

"What is he talking about, brother?" asked Cornelia, trying to get some info out of him.

"Lelouch is moving the soldiers not loyal to him with extreme precision." Schneizel read a few lines again "Many of my agents are being sent to the front with the remaining states of Europia, while those who are loyal to him are being put to defend the major cities."

"How is it possible?" asked Pollux with a frown "Did he discover the identity of your spies?"

"No, he is also moving those who are not my spies but it could be a strategy for not making me understand that he has found them all." said Schneizel with a small frown 'However, this does not explain how he managed to identify them. Did he use the power of his Geass? But if so, why send them away and not use them to your advantage, Lelouch?'

Something was wrong, he was sure of it. Lelouch would never have done something like that, especially with a power like his, and as far as he knew Lelouch had never met any of his spies. The only time he had seen them was during a series of announcements the young Emperor had made the previous day on all military bases. Schneizel didn't think his brother's Geass had become so strong that it could even be used that way, so there was only one option left.

"Another Geass." everyone present turned to him "Lelouch has another Geass, or rather, one of his allies has a Geass that allowed him to identify my spies."

Cornelia slammed her fist on the table "Another one?! His own power is already terrifying! What will we do if he has an entire army of Geass?!"

"It is not an option." replied Schneizel keeping a calm face "Too many people with such powers would risk revealing the existence of the Geass to the whole world and I doubt he wants to get to that point. No, if Lelouch has other Geass at his disposal, they will only be people he trusts blindly. Most likely his most loyal and influential supporters."

"However, it remains a big problem. Now we know that there is a Geass that allows us to identify the hidden spies, but who knows what else he will have at his disposal." added Pollux looking at the blond "Brother, we may have to change our plans."

After a few seconds of silence, Schneizel smiled again "Not necessarily. Lelouch has made a small mistake that will allow us to weaken him even further." he showed them the documents "What do you see?"

Castor and Pollux read the various lines several times, but finally shrugged, not understanding what they should notice, while Cornelia, who had a sharper mind than they, immediately noticed a detail.

"Japan." she said that word with venom in her voice "He removed a good part of the troops, but did not replace them."

"Correct. To be precise, he removed all the wounded soldiers during the last conflict and the subsequent detonation of the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead." nodded the White King with a pleased smile on his face "He probably did it to allow the various hospitals to focus on the civilian population, so as to maintain the appearance of a benevolent ruler. However, despite being the Emperor, he will not be able to replace all those soldiers within a few days. It will take at least a week to prepare everything, and by then we will have already implemented our plan...but I think an extra precaution cannot hurt."

Without another word, he stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Pollux with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm going to make a phone call...and make sure Lelouch's hands are too full to take care of us." replied Schneizel, before closing the door behind him, with Kanon at his side. The two walked for a few minutes until they reached the personal office of the White King. Schneizel sat down behind his desk and turned on the computer.

After typing something, the screen went black and in the center appeared a green phone that rang. The image remained the same until, after about five minutes, Ohgi's sleepy and confused face appeared on the screen.

"Good afternoon, Kaname Ohgi. It only occurred to me now that in Japan, at this time, it's one in the morning. I apologize for my forgetfulness." said Schneizel with a small smile.

"Schneizel?!" shouted Ohgi looking at the screen with wide eyes, while behind him appeared a confused Villetta Nu "What do you want? How did you get this number?!"

"I will answer the second question first. The security of your Ikaruga is impressive, but a simple encrypted phone call can easily overcome your security measures against viruses and hackers." explained the blond with a light chuckle "And as for the first question...I just thought it was time to keep my word."

Ohgi narrowed his eyes "What do you mean?"

"Simple. It is time for Japan to go back to being free and with my help, you will be able to take it back." his smile was calm, but Ohgi didn't care.

"Bullshit! We know you lied to us! When you were still Prime Minister you didn't have the political power to free an entire nation! You deceived us!"

"Deceived is such an unpleasant word. I revealed to you Lelouch's plans and his dark power, right? It would have been only a matter of time and then I would have succeeded in removing Japan from Britannian rule. In fact, I have information here with me that could be very useful to you and I am willing to give it to you without asking anything in return." said Schneizel without losing his smile.

The member of the Black Knights stared at him for a moment before asking "What kind of information?"

Schneizel clicked a few buttons and, in a few moments, Ohgi received data on the movement of Lelouch's troops, more precisely those in Japan. The General Secretary read those lines a few times before widening his eyes in surprise.

"I see that you understand the importance and value of the data I have just sent you. How to best use them, it's up to you." for just a moment, Schneizel's smile turned cold and sharp "After all, it's the perfect opportunity to claim Japan." and then, his normal smile returned to his face "With this I wish you a good continuation and leave you to your well-deserved rest. Good night, Black Knights."

"Wait-!"

The connection was abruptly interrupted and Schneizel found himself looking at his reflection in the black screen.

"That was particularly cruel, Your Highness."

The White King chuckled.

"Believe me, Kanon. In the coming days I will do worse, much worse."

[Tokyo (Ikaruga) – 21st August 2018 a.t.b.]

"What do you think Ohgi will want to talk about at this time?" asked Benio before yawning, without bothering to cover her mouth. After all, it was only seven in the morning and all the core members of the Black Knights, plus some extras, had been summoned to an extremely important meeting.

"I don't know and I don't care." replied Kallen with a frown on her face. She wasn't exactly a morning person.

After what seemed like hours, they finally reached the door of the conference room always used for this kind of meeting, and when he slipped inside the wall, the first thing they saw was Tohdoh's fist hit Ohgi's face hard, knocking him down to the ground. Both Kallen and Benio were shocked to witness such a scene but, before they could intervene, Tohdoh said "How dare you? How dare you propose such a dishonorable solution?!"

"You must understand!" shouted Ohgi standing up with the help of Villetta "This is our only chance!"

"This does not justify such a tactic! What you are proposing is something absolutely barbaric! Perhaps not even the Britannian would do something like that!"

"No, they would do something far worse!"

Now Kallen was both worried and curious. Ohgi had never screamed against Tohdoh and, on the other hand, the miracle man had never been so angry with any of his allies. It was clear that Ohgi had proposed something that was not good for Tohdoh, but to make him react that way...

"What is going on?"

Kallen nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been so surprised by the behavior of the other members that she hadn't noticed Kaguya's arrival with Xingke by her side.

"Lady Sumeragi, I...I received information that could help us get Japan back." said Ohgi with Tohdoh still glaring at him.

Kaguya stared at both of them for a moment before going to sit at the table, along with all the others "What kind of information?"

Ohgi took a deep breath before inserting a USB key into a computer and, in a few moments, the data contained was shown on the various screens of the room.

"As you can see, this is a report on the movement of British troops here in Japan. Many soldiers were transferred elsewhere, all of whom were injured during the explosion of the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead. and, since they were all here in Tokyo, many soldiers from the rest of Japan were transferred here." explained Ohgi pointing at some data "Currently, all military bases in Japan have few soldiers and only here in Tokyo, Britannia barely has a hundred Knightmares...this is the perfect opportunity to push them out of our lands."

"Have we confirmed that this information is reliable?" asked Xingke with narrowed eyes.

"Yes." Ohgi nodded immediately "Some of our spotters have confirmed that they have seen several military aircraft departing from the airport, completely loaded with military personnel, while few Knightmare are visible inside the Britannian military base here and the city patrols have decreased."

Kaguya looked at the screen with calm eyes before shifting her gaze toward Ohgi "This is very tempting, but I have to ask you, General Secretary...how did you get this information?"

Ohgi took a deep breath, knowing that this was the moment of truth.

"Last night I received a call from...Schneizel. He was the one who sent me this data..."

Predictably, chaos broke out in the conference room. On one side were Tohdoh and others who shouted at Ohgi for accepting this information, while on the other hand, the original members of the Black Knights who were previously part of the resistance cell, tried to support the General Secretary in his decision.

Of all those people, only a handful weren't screaming like everyone else.

Kallen was furious with Ohgi, she couldn't deny it. It was Schneizel's fault if everything went down the drain. Sure, he had revealed Lelouch's power to them, but in the end what had they gained? Nothing! They had simply lost a leader who later became the new Emperor of Britannia.

Rakshata was not particularly interested with those information, as much as to the fact that Schneizel had managed to connect with the Ikaruga without triggering any kind of internal alarm, so she had decided to overhaul the ship's computer system.

Xingke was sitting in silence but it was clear he was about to reach his limit and, a little later, he would have to scream too to bring the silence back into that room.

Kaguya was the last one who wasn't screaming like everyone else, her mind focused on analyzing the information obtained. After carefully thinking about what to do, she looked at the Chinese soldier to her right, who nodded before slamming a fist hard against the table.

"SILENCE!"

Everyone quieted down after that sudden shout, and when calm returned, Kaguya asked "Currently, what is the military power of the Black Knights?"

"In addition to the Ikaruga, we have at least three hundred Knightmares here in Tokyo plus another four hundred scattered throughout Japan and another five hundred in the U.F.N." said Xingke with a calm voice, having already guessed what Kaguya's intentions were.

Kaguya nodded before turning her gaze to Ohgi "General Secretary, although I am glad that this information has come to us, I want to remind you that Schneizel el Britannia is not a person we can trust, and that he always has a plan for everything." the man lowered his head, having realized his mistake "However, if we have had the opportunity to confirm what is reported in this data, we cannot let this opportunity slip from our hands. It is clear to me that the General Secretary had proposed to attack the Britannian military base here in Tokyo. Is it correct?"

"Yes." said Tohdoh with a nod "I'm against the idea. Not only are the Britannian in a state of confusion like us, but they are also helping the Japanese who were injured during the explosion of the F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead. Attacking them now would be a dishonorable act."

"We cannot always look for honorable solutions! We are still at war with Britannia!" shouted Ohgi while glaring at Tohdoh "By the end of the week, even within a couple of days, Lelouch could send new troops and that would be the end for us!"

"You both make good points." said Kaguya "The military base is close to several inhabited buildings, and attacking it could lead to the death of many innocent people. However..." everyone looked at the young girl with confusion in their eyes "We will not let this opportunity slip away."

"Lady Kaguya! You-!"

"This..." her firm voice forced Tohdoh to shut up "...is how we will act."

[Tokyo (Britannia's Military Base) – 22nd August 2018 a.t.b.]

"Man, this base seems desolate now that all wounded soldiers have returned home." said a soldier with a sigh.

"You can say that." nodded a comrade to his left "Who knows when the reinforcements will arrive. I don't feel comfortable knowing that those damned Elevens are out there, ready to fight."

"Yeah...the Black Knights are still here in Tokyo but with the ceasefire of His Majesty they have not yet tried anything..." agreed a third before seeing someone walking toward them "Oh crap...she's here."

"Who?" the other two looked ahead, only to see a young woman with waist-length orange hair tied in a ponytail and sharp icy blue eyes, dressed with the uniform of a knight.

The three soldiers paled slightly before standing at attention "Good day, My Lady!"

Bianca Frost walked in front of them without deigning to look up at them, being only a meter and sixty-four high and consequently lower than them. Her cold gaze was turned forward as she advanced towards her office. She was in command of the entire military base, which became the only one present in Tokyo after the explosion of the bomb, and had to take care of all the soldiers therefore she could not waste a second talking to her subordinates. Entering her office, she went to sit behind the desk before turning on the computer, resting her head on the right hand, her thumb lightly stroking the scar that ran from her chin to near the right ear.

'More requests to send reinforcements.' she scoffed 'How did these people get in charge of a military base? Have they not yet understood that we too are understaffed?'

She quickly wrote an answer without bothering to be delicate with words. Those were difficult times and she had no time to be kind and to hear the constant complaints of commanders who, most likely, had never fought on the battlefield, unlike her and many others.

After sending the necessary emails, she leaned against the back of her armchair and looked at the empty walls of the office, which was particularly devoid of decorations and anything else. There was a specific reason for that.

'Now...I wonder how long it will take before...' her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a soldier entered her office and threw open the door.

"My Lady! It's an emergency!"

Bianca looked at him with her cold eyes, sending a shiver down his spine "Have some control, soldier. You're not a five-year-old child." she stood up "Now, what's the problem?"

"The Black Knights! They are here!" said the soldier, without bothering to sound calm, much to her disappointment "They appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the base!"

"I see..." she started walking towards the door but then stopped beside the soldier "I want my Knightmare ready to go and...what is your name and rank, soldier?"

"D-Daniel Hawks, Lance-Corporal...My Lady." said the soldier with sweat running down his face.

"From tomorrow onwards, considered yourself degraded to the rank of Private for your lack of self-control." hissed Bianca before walking out of the room. She saw other soldiers running in all directions in agitation, though fortunately there were some who could keep their cool. After a few minutes, she stopped beside a window to look at the situation outside and had to admit that the view was not the most reassuring.

'Hm...perhaps I will not make official my decision to degrade that soldier.' thought Bianca before reaching the hangar of the base, where a lavender and white Vincent Commander Model was being prepared together with four Vincent Wards.

"My Lady." a mechanic approached her before standing at attention "Your machine is ready to go. Same for your escort."

She nodded before boarding her Knightmare, while four other soldiers were ready to leave. In a matter of seconds, Bianca started her machine and got out of the hangar, followed by her escort, before stopping in front of the thick black gate of the base.

'Kinda useless when even our enemies have units equipped with Float Systems.' thought the young commander as the gate was opened. The first thing she saw when she came out of the base was a red machine. A Knightmare that she knew very well having been in Japan since Zero appeared with his Black Knights. The Red Lotus was currently about twenty meters from her, with at least a hundred Akatsuki by her side, many of whom were currently flying.

"The Guren..." murmured Bianca before switching to an open channel with their enemies "I'm Bianca Frost, commander in charge of this military base. State the reason for your presence, Black Knights."

"We are here to take back Japan, Britannian." said the cold voice of Kallen as she flexed the claw of her Guren "You have the chance to leave your base and head for the port to be able to return home, or you can stay here, try to defend your base and die while trying."

Bianca could almost hear the grinding of the soldiers' teeth beside her, but she didn't have time to think about that detail. The lives of all the soldiers under her command depended on her decision.

"Very well." she switched back to the private channel "Soldiers, get ready to leave the base."

"W-What?! My Lady, this is-!"

"An order. That's what it is." hissed Bianca turning her machine to look at the Vincent Ward at her right "Now go and warn the others."

The pilot seemed to be against the decision but eventually turned back and returned to the base with the others, leaving Bianca alone with the Black Knights.

"We'll go with the first option." said Bianca returning once more on the open channel.

"Smart choice, Britannian." replied Kallen lowering the Guren's right arm "For once you have decided to act with a bit of common sense."

Bianca didn't even deign to answer her.

It had taken a few hours, but in the end all the Britannian troops in Tokyo had been gathered at the port and were boarding the few remaining warships, while Bianca watched everything from inside her Knightmare. Many of the soldiers were visibly furious and certainly the shouts of derision from the Elevens didn't help, but they couldn't do anything about it at the moment. They were clearly at a disadvantage compared to the Black Knights and couldn't hope to face them and win.

When the warships finally sailed to the open sea, Bianca moved her machine towards the bow of the ship where she then used the zoom integrated in her Factsphere Sensors to observe the vastness of the ocean in search of something. For almost an hour she saw nothing, but then she finally saw them.

On the horizon there were six huge Britannian ships, oil tankers to be precise.

When they were close enough, someone quickly turned on and off a torch aboard the nearest oil tanker and a small, cold smile formed on her lips as she thought about the conversation that had taken place in her office two days before.

- Flash-back -

"I'm sorry...what?" asked a confused Bianca as she stared at the screen of her computer.

"You heard me, Lady Frost." said Lelouch with a calm smile on his face "In the coming days, the Black Knights will attack the military base under your command, and it is likely that they will do the same with all the other bases in Japan."

Bianca was speechless. The Emperor knew of an imminent attack on a national scale and did not seem at all worried.

"Does that mean you will replace all wounded soldiers with reinforcements that can withstand such an attack?"

"On the contrary. I want you and all the other commanders to leave your bases and return home when the attack begins." Lelouch kept the smile on his face even when she looked like she was on the verge of screaming.

"I beg your pardon, Your Majesty...but why?"

"For several reasons." Lelouch looked at his side for a moment before focusing back on her "In the coming days I will have to reposition most of my troops, because I am certain that a new war is upon us. My brother Schneizel will probably do everything to keep me busy while he remains hidden somewhere and it is clear that the next war will start again in Europia."

"How? The few remaining E.U. states are too few to hope to face Britannia in a new war." Bianca told him with a raised eyebrow but Lelouch merely chuckled.

"Never underestimate those who are outnumbered. Look at the Black Knights, they were fewer than the Britannian army and yet look where they arrived." he then went on "Schneizel probably has spies around the world and I'm trying to flush them all out, but when he sees the troops moving, he'll try to take advantage of the situation and, if I know him well, he'll send someone to cause trouble...in this case, the Black Knights."

"Is that why you won't send reinforcements?"

"Precisely." the young Emperor nodded with a satisfied smile "Despite having the advantage on their side, the Black Knights will not attack indiscriminately and will seek a solution that does not lead to the death of innocent people. Therefore, it is very likely that they will try to push you out of Japan using the simple force of numbers. When that time comes, I want you and all the soldiers to leave the base and head for the motherland. The more soldiers there will be for the new war, the better. Also, leaving Japan to the Black Knights, we will remove a possible enemy from the board.

"I will trust your judgment, Your Majesty." she bowed toward him for a moment before asking "But...what will we do with the Sakuradite? Without Japan..."

"Oh don't worry about that." a cold smile appeared on his face and, for once, Bianca was glad that she was on his side "I already have everything ready."

- End Flash-back -

When the ships were close enough, she made her Knightmare jump on the oil tanker before waving its hand to two Sutherlands nearby, who went to open a large trap door. While they were executing the order, Bianca received a communication from the ship's captain "My Lady, I have just received confirmation from the other fleets that all the soldiers have been successfully evacuated and have joined the rest of the ships."

"Excellent." nodded Bianca while a strong pink glow came out of the open hatch, illuminating her Knightmare and giving a strange light to her eyes.

"Everything went according to His Majesty's plans."

[Tokyo (Ikaruga) – 22nd August 2018 a.t.b.]

"A toast! To the freedom of Japan!" shouted Ohgi raising a cup of sake with all the core members of the Black Knights.

"CHEERS!"

A party was in full swing on the Ikaruga while the Black Knights celebrated their important victory where not even one bullet was fired. Despite his hatred of that tactic, even Tohdoh had been satisfied with the results and like him, many others had had nothing to say. Even people like Kallen and Xingke were celebrating along with everyone else, happy that a long conflict had finally come to an end.

"Finally...it's over, onii-sama..." said Kallen with a sad smile, looking at the moon in the sky before sipping a cup of sake with Kaguya at her side.

"The only thing that would make this moment even better would be to be with Lelouch, isn't it?"

Kallen didn't want to, but she had to agree with the Chairwoman. Without Lelouch...without Zero, it wasn't the same thing. It was he who had created that group to liberate Japan, and now that they had finally achieved their goal...he was gone.

"I guess that this too is a kind of punishment for having betrayed him." mumbled Kallen with a sigh.

Kaguya giggled for a moment but, before she could answer her, a soldier entered the room screaming before falling to his knees due to the fatigue.

"L-Lady K-Kaguya...i-i-it's terrible!"

"Calm down, soldier." she handed him a glass of water, which he swallowed without too much ceremony, while the others were now looking at them "What's going on? Why are you so agitated?"

He looked at her with fear in his eyes "W-We...we received a r-report from the teams sent to monitor the m-mines around Tokyo!"

Not knowing what he meant, Kallen and many others felt a chill down his spine, as if their victory was about to turn into a heavy defeat., Kallen and many others felt a chill running down their spine, as if their victory was about to turn into a heavy defeat.

"It's g-gone!" said the soldier, looking at the now shocked face of Kaguya.

"The Sakuradite! It's gone!"

~ Next Chapter: War Anthem ~

A.N.: Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I had said that this chapter would have been longer than the previous one, but I preferred to change my mind during the work! As usual, I don't think much happens during the chapter, but in the end it's also up to you to decide.

Currently I was hoping for more reviews, mostly from those who decided to take part in the fic, but in the end it didn't matter much, I'm still happy to receive them, be they good or critics. I also want to respond to a Guest who said that I did not even write Angelique's hair color. My answer: the hair is dark purple, and I wrote it exactly when she moves a strand of hair behind her ear. You just have to read more carefully.

While for CamTheThief, I understand your concerns but in the end the fic will go as it will go, after all you can't please everyone. I would just like to reiterate that all the OCs you see will NOT be mine, but of the users who created them. The only OC of mine, if you want to call it that, is Sebas who, as I said, is taken from Overlord. The other characters are part of the Novels and Spinoffs.

Hope to see your thoughts on the chapter in the reviews and until next time!

That's all for now, may your day be perfect.