Chapter 13: Banquet of Awe and Fear

Prince Schneizel watch the development of new Knightmare Frame models Vincent Ward and Gareth, the designs for the Vincent Ward are based on the Lancelot and the prototype Vincent, Gareth is similar with some weaponry from the 6th generation Knightmare Gawain, and what's more is mass production of Float System for Knightmares that will give them an aerial advantage against their opponents. They'll mass produced thousands of them within few months, but for now they're able to produce five Vincents and two Gareth, this will be enough for a little demonstration at the party.

"Are these ready for transport? These must be scheduled in a party by tomorrow." He said.

"Yes, they'll be on time."

"Very good, if that is all then I shall take my leave." The people in front of him bow as he turn to leave, he then asks Kanon the situation on Alnus. "Any news on the frontier?"

"Just a few, reconnaissance reported that the Saderans are gathering their forces, setting up walls and forts along the borders; and more of those Bunny women are either joining the Foreign Legion or declaring themselves as allies, in fact, over half of the Foreign Legion are Warrior Bunnies." Kanon reported.

"All thanks to Ahvara, I must say that it went very- well, almost perfect." The White Prince smirks. "So what's the news on the other side?"

Kanon hands him a file. "Lady Marianne has launched a mission to capture the perpetrator behind the Flame Dragon's rampage."

"Someone's been controlling that thing?"

"It appears so, from what we knew, this Apostle named Giselle is very skilled in taming dragons, and Marianne wants you to pressure her into our services."

Schneizel smiles when he thinks about it, they were the only one who manage to kill a Flame Dragon with little trouble, and with someone like her in their side than they might tame every other powerful and wild dragons. "I can't wait to meet this "Giselle."

One certain Apostle is sprinting for her life through the forest, now why would Giselle flee when she have special ability of healing and superhuman strength? Well apparently, her skills are not that useful against the Iron Giants that are currently chasing her. What do they want with her? She didn't do anything that could earn the ire of the Britannians, but then again it could do something with awakening the notorious Flame Dragon.

"There she is!"

"Don't let her get away!"

"She's within my sights!"

"SHIT!" Giselle narrowly dodges a rocket that missed her and hit a tree. A giant rappels in front of her to whom she turns left to avoid projectiles coming from its weapon; she tried to get away from them with her immense speed but no such luck as they're gaining on her.

"Surrender now!" More rockets were launch from Sattel Waffens, and Giselle once again barely able to dodges it. More of their aircraft flew by and drop bombs that destroyed trees and vegetation near her, every injury that she gain are healed immediately thanks to her Apostle's ability, but the blast and shrapnel are doing a good work in slowing her down.

"Got you now!" An Iron Giant appears on her left and goes to strike her with its oversized lance. She blocks it but the force is too much as it sends her flying and crashing to a tree; she recovers quickly and just in time to get avoid the incoming lance that impales the tree.

Running some more until she reached a clearing, this might be a bad idea as they will see her more clearly but it doesn't matter since they can find her so easily through the forest. She stops when she saw a familiar face. "Rory? What are you doing here?"

The Apostle of Emroy sat on a boulder looking at the Apostle of Hardy with a smirk. "Nothing much, just lending out a helping hand to my friends... So what are you doing these past weeks?"

"None of your business- Now if you excuse me I'm off, because I'm being chased." She went to run.

Rory got into a playful thinking as if she find the draconian's predicament funny. "I wonder why- maybe it got something to do what the Flame Dragon..." This put a stop to Giselle's rush. "After all, the Flame Dragon isn't supposed to be awake for another fifty years, someone must've disturbed it." She grins at Giselle.

Giselle pointed at Rory accusingly. "You led the Britannians here didn't you!"

"Why of course I lead them here, your pet cause a lot of damage and the Britannians have to put a stop to it, and now they want to apprehend the one who cause all this- which happens to be you." She smiles further since Giselle didn't deny it. "Plus, it's also personal since I'm doing this so you won't be able to follow any orders of your goddess."

"Guess I'll just grab you while on the go." She prepares her scythe and prepares to charge but Rory laugh.

"I don't think so." She pointed upward.

Giselle looks up and to her dismay are the famed flying ships of Britannia, five small ship escorting a huge one, looking at Rory were she saw Britannian infantry coming to view from the boulder and surrounds her, Iron Giants coming down from VTOLs, swarms of Metal Dragons flying above, all to ensure that she won't escape.

Then she saw it, flying with dominating aura, the one that killed the Flame Dragon with a strange beam of red and black, the Black Iron Giant, or what is now known throughout the realm as the Dragon Smiter. With such odds she decided to surrender and drops her scythe.

Outer Perimeter Base No. 4

Just outside the Perimeter Base is a small party, Pina send a message to his father about this and invited senators, generals and nobles who are either neutral or peaceful. She saw some familiar faces but she knew only few, some of them even brought their children with them, one little girl she knew is Sherry of the Tyueli family. They have fears and doubts at first but she reassured them that they'll be safe, and so they come.

She would like to wear the black dress that Lelouch gave her but for this occasion she's going to wear the Saderan royal clothing.

So far, things are going according to Schneizel's plan: over half of the ruling elites have come, meet and greet between the two authorities, and now came the demonstration of advanced weapons as Casel El Tiberius and other senators went with Princess Cornelia to a clear field.

While Schneizel is talking with Sherry who appears to be attracted to him Pina went to the clearing. They were in complete denial upon learning the Britannian's terms but she knew that mindset will change once they got to see their weapons up close.

She arrived just in time to see the ten Britannian infantry firing their weapons at the target which happens to be Saderan armor, the bullets flew a hundred times faster than an arrow as it rips through the armor like a needle through cloth.

Then comes to explosives: mortars, rocket launchers, and tanks; carts, tents, wooden houses, and groups of mannequins wearing Saderan armor are obliterated from the destructive blast.

"W-What's sort of magic is this?" Senator Cicero La Moltose asks who is making plans to buy them.

"Magic?" Cornelia said with an amused smirk. "No, there's nothing magical with these, to make it simple for you all to understand, think of it as crossbow but far advanced, it shoots hundreds of small metal that cannot be dodged."

Another senator Dussie was about to speak until Cornelia added some more info. "And before you say "Iron Elephants"- no - those are called "tanks", Just think of them as armored carriages that doesn't need horses, the armor is durable enough to take hammering hits from an ogre while powerful enough to release an explosive force strong enough to destroy a castle."

"Can you tell about more about this "Iron Giant"." Marquis Palesti requested, as he was very curious and wanted to know more of these metalic beasts.

"The Humanoid Autonomous Armored Knight, Knightmare Frame or Knightmare for short." Cornelia explains. "These weapons of war are nothing like your ugly war beasts, these are comparable to men wearing massive metal suits of armor who can got toe to toe or go even with a flame dragon, and as we all know nothing in your primitive world can match up to a flame dragon, also unlike your ogres they are quick enough keep pace with your horses or wyverns."

Guilford steps forward and whispers something to Cornelia's ear; she smiles as she turns back to them. "Good news, it seems that all of you will witness the demonstration of the new models."

"What do you mean by that?" Casel asks.

"It means we have new types of Knightmares that are much better than the previous one." And coming into view are seven Knightmare, and to their surprise, these things are flying like the one Lelouch's been using. "The Knightmares you saw before are models Gloucester and Sutherland, and the ones flying which are much better are called Vincent Ward and Gareth."

"They're requesting permission to fire onto testing field." Guilford relayed the pilots' word to Cornelia.

"Granted." Cornelia answered as she awaits the action of the two Gareths. The latest model then fired their Hadron Cannon at the field leaving many of the decoy items destroyed and left a trail of burnt destruction.

To the Saderan elites this was a horrifying sight. Some have frightening vision of their Capital in flames, the skies swarmed by these flying Iron Giant, casting these powerful and destructive magic, obliterating many of the magnificent structures and annihilating any resisting forces.

Such power is almost comparable to the gods, Casel thought to himself, if he wasn't angry at Molt for sending an invasion force to the other side of the Gate and the commander who attack the Britannians without a second thought then he's angry now after seeing these weapons up close.

"How can we defeat an army like this?" Marquis Cicero expresses his utter distress on the Britannia's power.

"You can't..." They turned to Cornelia who has a knowing smile. "- No chance at all, really. Challenging us is comparable to a tiny little insect trying to beat giant titan."

The senators paled at that, this was the moment were they talk about their final decision. "What should we do? The price of their terms is simply too much, but we can't afford to let this war to continue."

"Maybe we can convince them to reduce the reparation, that way we won't end up in such a huge debt."

"But what if the Britannians didn't agree to this?"

"There have to be something we can offer other than money and gold."

"How about slaves, they might be interested in Warrior Bunnies and other humanoids."

"I don't think slaves will be enough, I pray that they won't demand our sons and daughters."

At this they turn to Casel who was silent, thinking deeply, they await his opinions and to hear his sayings. Breaking from his thoughts, Molt's political rival spoke. "In order for our nation to survive we must seek peace with Britannia, it is better to give up half of our territory and majority of our wealth rather than to lost it all in this ill-fated war, as you can see it in their eyes, they are determine to destroy our nation if not subjugate it. So what do you all say?"

One by one, they agreed that it is in the best interest of the Saderan Empire, to make compensation rather than trying to best them though brute force, but there is one question that worries them, what happens when the Britannians have acquired those territories, would they use them as buffer zones against them? They pushed that thought away for now as they're focusing in making peace.

Once they've all agreed Casel turns to Cornelia. "Your highness, we've reached a decision to pursuit peace with your nation."

"That's good to hear, but you will have to discuss all the details with my brother, Schneizel."

"Of course."

Pina is watching from the distance and hearing their choice, she sigh a relief as this is one step in making peace, she heads back to the party and there she saw Sherry clinging to Schneizel asking a lot of questions about him. Cornelia is enjoying the party with her Royal Guards, children of nobles playing around, there is one person whom she's waiting for, Lelouch.

As if reading her mind a voice is heard behind her. "Enjoying the party?"

Pina turns around and saw him standing there, calm and prideful, but seems a bit tired. "Prince Lelouch, where have you been? I thought you're supposed to be the one leading the demonstration."

"There are some businesses that my mother wanted to take care of, but surely everyone can manage without me."

"Oh, I see." Pina would've asked more about it but figures that it's none of her concerns as they watch the party. "I'm rather glad that they've think it through and decided to accept the terms."

"Are they afraid when they saw the new models?"

"Yes, I can see it on their faces, I'm certain that some of them are about to piss themselves." Pina joked as Lelouch chuckles.

They remain silent for a while and watch the ongoing party, Schneizel was surrounded by senators and nobles talking about the terms with Sherry still clinging to his right arm, Cornelia and Guilford enjoying champagne, kids playing around, and then the musicians began to play a new tune and a few couple dances in the middle.

"Would you like to dance with me?" He asks, his hand rose towards her and bowed slightly.

Pina looks at the Black Prince of Britannnia with a flustered face. "I-I-I d-don't know any of your dances."

"Don't worry, I'll teach you right now."

And so, Pina hold his hand as he led her to the middle, telling her what to do and how to move.

Zorzal's Bedchamber

Shirley Joseph Fenette is curled in a corner, naked and whimpering and crying after suffering another night of abuse and rape at the hands of the sadistic prince. How long have she'd been here? Weeks? Months? She've lost count.

It used to be a typical day, she and her friends were supposed to buy Milly her favorite pastries until these strange men in ancient looking armor came bursting through the bakery's door and began killing everyone, Rivalz was one of the unfortunate victims. She and Sophie escaped through the back to avoid the massacre, since Rivalz still have the keys in his pocket they're forced to flee on foot amidst the chaos, they try to getaway by going through the alleyway but to their horror they ran straight into group of these invaders. It was sickening sight, the street is littered with corpses of men, women and children, a huge pile of them were form so one of them can plant their flag. They would've turn to escape but the enemy were quick to caught them.

That day is the beginning of Shirley's suffering, these men grabbed her and friend by the hair as they're being dragged towards the hill near the Hollywood sign, when they're brought to their encampment the students watch in horror as they they saw a few of these invaders raping their fellow Britannian women and girls, and fear crossed their minds upon that they could be next. Because Sophie was injured these bastards decides to violate her while she's still breathing, Shirley begged for mercy as she closed her eyes but couldn't block the screams of her friend.

But relief came as they saw the Britannian armed forces arriving at the besieged city, Floating Battleships, VTOL gunships and Knightmare tranports swarm the skies. But the hope of being saved is vanished like a candle light in a raging storm as she were loaded into the caged wagons along with other captured Britannians and rushed into the mysterious structure.

Then the long march began, these "Saderans" as they call themselves were very cruel and sadistic to their prisoners, some of the captives were dragged behind wagons or horses and when they fell down because of exhaustion they were beaten up and forced to stand and continue to walk, some were even murdered to break the captives' will, and during night time they mercilessly raped at least three women and girls. She was lucky enough that she wasn't violated yet but knew that it'll be a matter of time before they get to her.

There must be over a hundred of Britannian citizens who're capture and these savages murdered fifteen during the ride, after that horrendous journey they stops at the slave market at the Saderan capital.

It is there were Shirley met her buyer and tormentor prince Zorzal El Caesar, at first she thought that he was a kind person since he gave her food and clothes until she was dragged into his bed were he repeatedly violates and abused her.

She prays every night for her country to come to this city and save her and the rest of the captive countrymen.

Comforting her is Tyuule, former queen of the Bunny women of the Northern Plains. These Warriors Bunnies were well known for their superhuman agility, reflexes and speed, and highly skilled fighters. Before Tyuule united and rule them all, this race were divided into several tribe and often times fight and hunt each other, when the threat of a Saderan invasion is looming she have convinced every tribe chieftains to unite to form a nation.

Sadly, even with their superior fighting prowess and combined forces to fight a common foe, the Saderan numbers are far too great and they're overwhelmed. In desperation to save her people Tyuule came to prince Zorzal to offer herself as a slave in exchange to sparing her people, and so they stripped her and chained her. But it was later on that she learned that the brute for a prince lied to her and ordered the slaughter and enslavement of her people, to add insult to injury he make it appears like she betrays them.

For three years she's been plotting her revenge, one were she ensures that bastard suffers slowly, and now she might be able to gain that pleasure. For the following months she's been listening to what's happening on the war with the nation from beyond the Gate, she was surprise that there's a another empire which not only surpass the Saderans in terms of might but also wield advanced weapons such as flying ships and Iron Giants.

Thanks to their Flying Ships the former queen is now familiar with who the Britannians are and also get to see the battles, they also shows the crimes done by the Saderan legionnaires against the people of Britannia. Despite the Britannian soldiers wearing mask to conceal their faces Tyuule can see that they held immense hatred against the Saderans as they kill and in some cases torture without mercy.

She watched with glee as the Britannians make the final moments of every Saderan soldiers a living hell. She watched as a legless legionnaire is crawling away and begging for help only to be killed when a soldier came by, a squad of Britannian infantry cornering a group of Saderans and proceeds to kill the trapped soldiers, ogres were helpless against the Iron Giants, dragon riders being blasted from the sky, phalanxes massacred, she even enjoyed as three captured Saderans are being lynched by a mob of angry people.

And thanks to Marianne's speech many of her people are coming out of hiding and began attacking Saderan army or joining the Britannians in the war. Marianne's word even emboldens her were she hasten her plans, escape and rally her people to take their vengeance against the oppressing enslavers. Only one problem she'll have to deal with when coming into contact with her people is to convince them that she did not betray them during the final days of the Bunny-Saderan War, she cursed Zorzal again for turning back on his words and lie to her people, but she's confident that she can make them see the truth.

The Saderans are now getting a taste of their own medicine; they now know what it's like to be helpless, to be powerless against a greater force, to know that they're no longer dominating the battlefield, to suffer humiliation and defeat. Tyuule looks back at Shirley and hugs her. "Do not worry, your suffering will soon come to an end and your prayers will be answered, for judgment day will surely come."

Chapter End

AN: And done, have to admit it though, writing Shirley's point of view is kinda difficult but I just went through with it.

Also, here's some more Extra scene.

Extras

Lelouch vi Britannia

Before the Invasion

(play Game of Thrones Soundtrack, Two Swords)

The Black Prince of Britannia examines the standard of the Saderan legion, instead of an eagle like the ancient Romans have this one is a dragon, he have to admit that the design is exquisite and unique especially knowing the fact that it's handcrafted. He gave it to an engineer who bowed and take the pole with the dragon standard.

He scans the table that have a pile of Saderan armor, helmets, greaves, pauldrons and other type of body protection. The engineers pierced or welded chains into them, they then hook it up to the Gawain to make it look like it's wearing a belt, necklace and bracelet.

It's a bit of psychological warfare, when the enemy sees the decorative accessories they'll see that the wearer had killed many of their fellow legionnaires. Of course, Lelouch knew that this experimental Knightmare will be able to solidify it's notoriety very quickly since twin Hadron cannons are place in its shoulders, killing hundreds or even a thousands of men will be an easy feat for him.

He then picks up the flag of the Saderan empire, the design is unique, purple background, with a slightly pale purple dragon on top, and a cross design with a dragon wings sprouting from the middle and reaching the corners.

He crumples it into a ball and walks up to a furnace, he placed it in and turns up the heat, standing back as the flag burst into flames. As the fire consumes the flag Lelouch smiles knowing that the Saderan nation will meet the same fate as this peace of cloth.

Once Britannia is done with the war, Sadera will be nothing more but an empty shell of it's former self, yes, and when the rain weeps over their halls and not a soul to hear.

Vengeance is Burning Bright

Over a thousand Saderans were captured during the four way assault, half of them are been loaded up inside these glass prison while the other half will have to walk all the way, they've been given the simplest necessities which are food and water.

A good number of them are defiant with some trying to escape or fight their captors, but the Britannians were anticipating these types of behavior were they deal out severe punishment.

Right now the Britannian infantry are torturing dozens of Saderans for their failed attempt to escape, these prisoners tries to overpower them and take their weapons but were killed or subdued when the soldiers brought in reinforcements.

The punishments were very harsh to say the least, but the Britannians wanted to make them suffer for the death and destruction that's been inflicted to the people of Los Angeles.

"Alright, you fucker! Tell me who planned that stupid stunt that you and your friends trying to pull?" When the soldier didn't get his answer he forced the Saderan's head into a bucket of water; the prisoner is struggling but is held down by two other soldiers.

Another unlucky sap got a noose around his neck as a Knightmare pulls him up to the air. "Okay, drop him." The prisoner falls to the group and gasped for air. "This is your last chance, is the mastermind behind your little jailbreak is dead or alive?"

"So, you like hurting the innocents, do ya?" The soldier swings his baton to the Saderan's bloodied head. "Like to chop off heads and rape girls?" He hit the prisoner on the abdomen.

"Where's your bravado?" Another Britannian shouted as he hit the man at the jaw so hard that it knock out a few teeth. "What happened to the "Glory to the Empire", or "Our will cannot be shattered", or any other stupid shit you're spouting?"

They all stop in their activity when they heard a voice. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" They turn to one person that and they froze, it's the notorious Luciano Bradley, the most sadistic man in Britannia, the man who wanted to be a part of the Knights of the Round but was denied multiple times due to his unacceptable ethics, he was even called the Mad Knight and was rumored to have been committed to a psychiatric facility but was released for unknown reasons.

"Ser Luciano? We didn't know that you would visit here." Said the lieutenant.

"Just wanting to see the proceedings, so, what is going on here?"

"They tried to escape so we're just disciplining them and try to find out who orchestrated the escape attempt." He said nervously.

The Mad Knight smiles as he answers. "Good, but because of their primitive minds we'll only get little information, if you want some results you have to stoop to their level." He approaches one tied up prisoners and before anyone knew it he thrust a knife through the man's leg causing him to scream. "This is how you do it, now, let's squeeze the information out of these savages." And so one the torture continues.